Patrick Trettenero named Executive Director of The Stissing Center

Patrick Trettenero in front of The Stissing Center in Pine Plains.
Natalia Zukerman
Patrick Trettenero in front of The Stissing Center in Pine Plains.
The Stissing Center in Pine Plains announced the appointment of Patrick Trettenero as its new Executive Director. Trettenero, a seasoned storyteller with a diverse career in theater, film, television, and executive leadership, brings a wealth of experience to the role. His impressive background spans multiple industries, including arts production, creative direction, and fundraising. Having recently stepped down as President of the Board, Trettenero intimately understands the needs of the arts center and will be a valuable asset as it continues to expand its offerings and influence in the region.
A New York-based artist, Trettenero has made his mark in various creative roles. He has worked as an award-winning producer, director, writer, and mentor, and has honed his skills on both sides of the Atlantic, with projects in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and the UK. Early in his career, he served as artistic director of Chicago’s Cloud 42 theater, directing the premiere of “Late Night Catechism” which went on to stages in more than a dozen markets across the U.S. and UK, including its six-year Off Broadway run at St. Luke’s Theater. His Broadway credits include investments in “Next to Normal,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” “1984,” and “Kimberly Akimbo.” Trettenero also spent 20 years at NBCUniversal, leading the creative agency “Brandworks” and producing Emmy-nominated telethons, branded content, and marketing campaigns. Most recently, he produced his first Broadway show, “Here Lies Love,” and only a month ago, closed an off-Broadway show he produced called, “Kafkaesque.”
As President of the Board at the Stissing Center for the last three years, Trettenero was instrumental in the growth and development of the organization. Trettenero shared, “It was an amazing experience. I’m so glad I was able to contribute to the growth of the organization, but I needed to clear my plate to start a job search.”
Trettenero had his last board meeting as President in early December when, just a few days later, he got the call. “So, I get a call from the Board saying, ‘we’re going to make a change, would you do this?’”
After a few days of contemplation, he accepted the role, ready to focus on the future of The Stissing Center. “I really need to focus on the future,” he explained. “The board felt confident that I had the skills to take on this role, and I’m excited about what’s ahead.”
Gwen Greene, the new President of the Board, shared, “Patrick worked side by side with Brett (Bernardini) during the latter’s tenure and is admired, respected, and beloved by our Pine Plains community. Going forward, I have no doubt we’ll do great things together for the community, for the arts, and for the amazing family that the Stissing Center has helped create.”
Though the center will have a period of adjustment, Trettenero is optimistic about the challenges and opportunities his new role presents. “It’s going to take a little while, but things are starting to calm down already,” he said. “Every transition is challenging, but I’m motivated by the love I have for this town and its people.”
Trettenero is committed to continuing the momentum of growth and ensuring that The Stissing Center remains a vibrant cultural hub for Pine Plains and the surrounding area. He emphasized the importance of balancing offerings for local residents, weekend visitors, and tourists alike. “We’re not for everyone, but we’re for anyone. There’s always room at the table at The Stissing Center,” he said.
With the 2025 programming already in place, Trettenero is focusing on increasing visibility and fundraising efforts. The first major event of the new season, “Fire and Ice,” will launch the season and offer a sneak peek at the diverse artistic programming to come. “It’s a chance for us to celebrate the exciting year ahead,” he said.
As he takes on the role of Executive Director, Patrick Trettenero is focused on the long-term vision: stabilizing and expanding the facility, fostering community partnerships, and raising the funds needed to complete critical infrastructure projects.
“I’m excited, relieved, and yes, a little terrified,” Trettenero admitted with a smile. “I’m hoping that what I can do is continue the momentum of growth and development and then, in a few years, hand it off to someone else to come in with a new perspective and a new approach, but always with the same mission, with the same focus on serving this community and this region.” Trettenero added, “I know I don’t have all the answers and I don’t pretend I’m going to be here forever, but at least for the foreseeable future.”
Author and cartoonist Peter Steiner signed books at Sharon Summer Book Signing last summer.
The 27th annual Sharon Summer Book Signing at the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon will be held Friday, Aug. 1, from 4:45 to 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 2, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Aug. 3, at noon.
Friday’s festivities will honor libraries and the power of the written word. In attendance will be 29 locally and nationally recognized authors whose books will be for sale. With a wide array of genres including historical fiction, satire, thrillers, young adult and non-fiction, there will be something for every reader.
The event will include a selection of hors d’oeuvres and drinks, followed by eight festive author dinners where writers will read and discuss their work one-on-one with attendees.
Saturday will feature a new Page to Plate program that merges the literary and culinary worlds. Just as writing is a practice of patience and love, so too is the art of cooking. Cookbooks and food writing make cooking teachable to those excited to learn and celebrate the art of a perfect meal.
Through a combination of demonstrations and conversations, acclaimed cookbook authors and chefs will cover a variety of delicious topics. Highlights include a discussion with Chris Morocco, food director of “Bon Appetit” magazine and “Epicurious.” Sharon resident and chef Jessie Sheehan will demonstrate recipes from her cookbook “Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes: 100 Easy-Peasy, Savory Recipes for 24/7 Deliciousness.”
With the combination of vetted recipes and thorough discussion from food experts, attendees are sure to leave knowing how to cultivate the ultimate act of service: the gift of a full stomach.
Sunday will be brunch at a private Sharon residence hosted by Graham Klemm and Cody O’Kelly to celebrate author Carolyn Klemm and her cookbook “Culinary Collection: Favorite Country Recipes.”
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit hotchkisslibraryofsharon.org
All proceeds support the programs at The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon.
Ukraine Emergency Fundraiser at The Stissing Center in 2022 raised over $120,000 for Sunflower of Peace.
The spirit of Ukraine will be on display at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains on Sunday, July 27. Beginning at 5 p.m., the “Words to America from Ukraine” fundraiser is set to showcase the simultaneous beauty of Ukrainian culture and the war-time turmoil it faces, all the while fundraising in support of Ukrainian freedom.
“Words to America from Ukraine” aims to remind and spread awareness for the suffering that often gets forgotten by those who live in comfortable worlds, explained Leevi Ernits, an organizer for the event. “We are trying to make an attempt to remind people that we are human, and we are connected with human values,” she said. “With very few words, poetry can express very deep values.”
Sponsored by the Town of Stanford, Friends of Ukraine, L.E. Design LLC, Bartelby & Sage, Oblong Books and Borshch of Art, the fundraiser will host the recitation of war-time Ukrainian poetry. Readings will include the works of Vasyl Sagaydak, Oksana Lutsyshyna, Serhiy Zhadan, Victoria Amelina, Marjana Savka, Ostap Slyvynsky, and Mariana Harahonych.
“Poems are fishhooks into our souls,” added Mark Lagus, another event organizer, explaining why poetry was chosen for the main event.
Guests will also enjoy a performance by Ukrainian Village Voices, a New York City- based band dedicated to preserving and promoting traditional Ukraining Folk music. The evening will also feature speakers Jed Sunden and Maria Genkin, along with a live auction. Food and drink will be provided by Bartelby & Sage, a sustainable, local and female-owned company.
All ticket proceeds, bids, and donations will go directly to Razom for Ukraine, a U.S.-based nonprofit. Razom, meaning “together” in Ukrainian, has the mission of “contributing to the establishment of a secure, prosperous and democratic Ukraine,” through “creating, inspiring, and collaborating on initiatives that motivate people to think, partner and do.”
Tickets, donation opportunities, and more information are all available by visiting www.wordsfromukraine.org
Celebrating its 45th year, the Grumbling Gryphons will perform at HVRHS Friday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m.
The Grumbling Gryphons Traveling Children’s Theater is preparing to celebrate its 45th year — not with fanfare, but with feathers, fabric, myth, chant, and a gala finale bursting with young performers and seasoned artists alike.
The Gryphons’ 2025 Summer Theater Arts Camp begins July 28 and culminates in a one-night-only performance gala at Housatonic Valley Regional High School on Friday, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. Founder, playwright, and artistic director, Leslie Elias has been weaving together the worlds of myth, movement and theater for decades.
“We’re a touring company that is participatory,” Elias said with her trademark storytelling cadence. “Even when there’s no pre-performance workshop, it’s still participatory. Always.”
Founded in 1980 “in a little basement apartment on the lower east side with co-founder Vanessa Roe,” said Elias,Grumbling Gryphons (recipients of the 2003 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award) has long occupied a unique niche: part performance troupe, part educational outreach, part community ritual. Whether dramatizing Greek myths, Native American legends, or original tales about bees and bogs, the company’s ethos centers on inclusion, transformation, and hands-on engagement.
This summer’s camp offers children ages six and up five fast-paced days of storytelling, acting, mask-making, and rehearsal. The first three days will take place at Elias’s own home studio — a tucked-away space filled with costumes, puppets, and instruments — before moving into full performance prep mode.
“In the ideal world, we would have more time,” she laughed. “It’s a lot of pressure to be performing for the public after five days. But we’re going to do our best.”
The gala performance, she explained, is a kind of theatrical mosaic — scenes and excerpts from Grumbling Gryphons’ vast repertoire, some showcasing seasoned adult performers and others giving campers center stage. The cast will include returning campers, newcomers, and guest artists drawn from the Gryphons’ decades-spanning circle of collaborators including mask maker and artist Ellen Moon.
“We’re still figuring out exactly what we’ll do,” said Elias, “but it’s kind of like a smorgasbord… a celebration. And it’s open — if anybody wants to get their kids involved, or even volunteer, we welcome you.”
Photo provided
Elias’s own theater background winds through early improvisational schools, Viennese dance traditions, and experimental spaces like Henry Street Settlement. As a child on Long Island, she studied with jazz pianist Ivan Fiedel and dancer Rosalind Fiedel, eccentric mentors who nurtured her taste for the surreal and spontaneous.
“Mr. Fiedel was a character,” she recalled. “He would smoke a cigar… and take the cigar in his ear and the smoke would come out the other end. I don’t know how he did it.”
Elias built Grumbling Gryphons with this sense of magic — not as a traditional company, but as a living, evolving story in itself. Whether working with preschoolers or middle-schoolers, audiences in botanical gardens or historic town halls, the Gryphons invite kids to become creators — to chant, to improvise, to embody archetypes from ancient lore or environmental parables.
And that’s what this summer’s camp and gala are all about. “It’s more than theater,” Elias said. “It’s myth, poetry, movement — it’s about building self-esteem, imagination. It’s about transformation.”
For more information, to register a child for the 2025 Summer Theater Camp, or to inquire about volunteering, visit grumblinggryphons.org
Attendees practive brushstrokes led by calligraphy teacher Debby Reelitz.
Calligrapher Debby Reelitz came to the David M. Hunt Library to give a group of adults and children an introduction to modern calligraphy Thursday, July 17.
Reelitz said she was introduced to calligraphy as a youngster and has been a professional calligrapher and teacher for more than 25 years.
She said there is no age barrier to learning the basics. “Once children can hold a pen or pencil, they can do it.”
Reelitz said her 5th-grade teacher introduced her to the art.
Then her mother pressed her into service doing the lettering for “4-H certificates and gift cards.”
Reelitz handed out a sampler and blank sheets of paper and then turned to the easel for demonstration purposes.
She noted that the letters (I,T,H,L,E and F) on the top row of the sampler were not alphabetically arranged.
Rather, they comprised a “latter family” of similar shapes.
Soon enough the entire group of six adults and three children were concentrating and turning out decent versions of the letters
Reelitz alternately demonstrated and encouraged the novices.
“Remember, this is not an instant gratification skill.”