A new chapter for Oblong Books and Stissing Center

When Oblong Books co-owner Suzanna Hermans ran into comedian Murray Hill in New York City, she saw an opportunity.

Hill, the self-described “hardest-working middle-aged man in show business,” had a new memoir, “Showbiz! My Life as a Middle-Aged Man,” coming out, and Hermans was eager to bring him to the Hudson Valley for an author event.

She approached him and suggested a visit to “an independent bookstore in the Hudson Valley.” Hill asked where the bookstore was located.

“Millerton,” Hermans replied.

“Oh my God, Oblong?” Hill exclaimed.

As it turned out, Hill already knew of Oblong with its locations in Millerton and Rhinebeck. His friendship with actor and comedian Bridget Everett had brought him to the region, and he had visited the shop before.

“It was a marriage made in heaven,” said Helen Seslowsky, Oblong’s events director.

The chance encounter led to an evening of laughter, storytelling and an exuberant conversation between Hill and Everett on Thursday, Oct. 8, at Stissing Center in Pine Plains.

The event also marked the beginning of a promising collaboration between Oblong Books and Stissing Center, bringing together two regional cultural institutions with a shared interest in connecting artists and audiences.

For Seslowsky, the partnership has been a long time coming.

“One of the things that we really were missing was a midsize venue for author events for Oblong,” she said.

The bookstore has long hosted literary events at its Rhinebeck location, which can accommodate about 50 people, and at The White Hart Inn in Salisbury, where audiences of roughly 100 can gather. But a venue that could accommodate larger crowds while retaining an intimate atmosphere had remained elusive.

Seslowsky had been discussing the possibilities at Stissing Center with Executive Director Patrick Trettenero for some time, waiting for the right opportunity to emerge as the venue’s renovations progressed.

“It’s just taken until now for something that really was a good fit to pop up,” she said.

That something turned out to be Murray Hill.

“It came about quite by chance and was a perfect fit,” Seslowsky said. “We couldn’t have wished for better.”

The conversation between Hill and Everett, long-time friends and co-stars in the acclaimed HBO series “Somebody Somewhere,” brought a lively mix of show business stories, friendship and irreverent humor to Banning Hall, The Stissing Center’s upstairs performance space.

The evening also demonstrated how well the theater could accommodate literary programming. Although the event was initially considered for The Grace Note, the center’s intimate downstairs performance space, Banning Hall offered the seating capacity and sightlines needed for a larger audience without sacrificing a sense of closeness.

Seslowsky said the experience opened up possibilities for future events in both rooms.

“Now we know how it works,” she said. “Banning Hall is such a great, very versatile space to have. And then we’ve got the coziness of The Grace Note.”

Geography is another advantage. Pine Plains sits conveniently between Oblong’s two bookstores, making Stissing Center a natural gathering place for readers from both sides of the Hudson Valley and the Northwest Corner.

The collaboration also introduces audiences to cultural offerings they might not otherwise discover.

Seslowsky noticed familiar faces from Oblong and The Moviehouse in Millerton, along with patrons of Stissing Center and people she hadn’t encountered before.

That kind of audience sharing is central to the partnership’s appeal. A reader who arrives for an author conversation might return for a concert or theatrical performance, while regular Stissing Center patrons may discover a new favorite author or bookstore.

The financial arrangement is similarly collaborative. For the Murray Hill event, the ticket price included a copy of the book. Oblong handled the book purchases, author arrangements and promotion, while The Stissing Center supplied the venue, technical staff and volunteers. The partners shared the proceeds.

“We do all our end of it and the promotion, and Stissing Center has their volunteers and Patrick and the tech staff,” Seslowsky explained. “And then we just split whatever we make.”

While no additional jointly produced events have been announced, Seslowsky is already looking ahead to the spring publishing season. She is reviewing publishers’ catalogs, identifying authors with forthcoming books and submitting requests for potential appearances.

“We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire,” she said.

She expects the next round of programming to take shape after the holiday season, with events potentially beginning in February, March and April.

The timing of the first collaboration, she believes, was particularly fortunate. With Stissing Center’s renovations nearing completion and both organizations eager to expand their reach, the right event arrived at the right moment.

“I don’t believe in pushing things or trying to make things happen before they’re organically ready to do so,” Seslowsky said. “I just think things fell into place. The timing was perfect.”

And if the Murray Hill evening offered any indication of what’s possible, the partnership has plenty of room to grow.

“When we pool our collective resources, it always ends up being a better event,” Seslowsky said.

For more information about upcoming literary events, visit oblongbooks.com and thestissingcenter.org.