Return to the About Us page.
Classes and workshops.
Upcoming performances.
Upcoming auditions.
Rehearsal schedules for our current productions.
Read what others have to say about us.
Photo albums of us in action.
Our modern dance program.
Return to the home page.

Help Us Grow - Become a Cocoon Friend!

"What a surprise! To walk down the street and find this place! What was I expecting? Nothing so fine as this!"
--New audience member

A Letter from our Founders

"You touch the deepest longing of my soul."
--Student, age 7

Dear Friends,

The Cocoon Theatre is growing seemingly at a quickened pace. We wanted to take a moment to thank you, sincerely, for your past support, and to invite you now to join Cocoon Friends.

Your annual pledge will help fund our Scholarship and Artist-in-Residence programs and allow us to continue to improve our space and the quality of our productions. It will also aid in maintaining the low cost of tuition and tickets (our goal is to insure that no one is excluded for financial reasons). In addition, annual membership is extremely important to demonstrate community support as we apply for grants.

We are proud to share the following news with you:

  • Cocoon Theatre recently received the 2003 Dutchess County Executive’s Arts Award for Outstanding Arts Organization.
  • Antigone was voted the Number 1 play in 2002 by the Taconic Press
  • A new elevator is due for completion in December and a new ticket booth is about to unveil offering immediate street access to sales.
  • 2004 proves to be our heaviest production year thus far, with a new performance scheduled every month.
  • A Scholarship Program has begun with the second year recipient soon to be honored.
  • Cocoon Theatre Modern Dance Company is becoming stable with three scheduled performances in 2004.
  • A new Young Choreographers Company is at work and our modern dance company is in its second year, with three performances scheduled for 2004.

As always, there is much more to share than space allows! New growth brings new challenges, and to continue our work, fundraising has become more essential than ever.

If you have been touched by Cocoon - if you have seen a performance that moved or intrigued you, or if you know a child who has been encouraged and enriched here - we ask you to listen to your heart and contribute generously.

Your tax-deductible contribution strengthens the Cocoon, where artists, actors, dancers and audiences grow!

Thank you,

Marguerite and Andres San Millan
and the Cocoon Theatre Board of Directors

Join Cocoon Friends!

"Please support the Cocoon Theatre. Attend their remarkable shows and introduce your children to their magic. The art and talent the San Millans possess and wish to share with others is too valuable to be ignored."
--Parent of a Cocoon actor

Please take a moment to consider the request on the following form. We will process the Friendship Forms during December, send you a welcome packet in January, and begin your 2004 donation pledge by offering an invitation to the first Friendship Potluck Party. Please return your form no later than December 1.

Fill out the membership form

Some Definitions

"I am privileged to be part of a true artistic community called Cocoon. Wherever I may go, I will carry with me and remember what conditions are essential to creativity."
--Student, age 17

Cocoon Theatre \ n [F cocon]: A not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to bringing fine visual and performing arts workshops, programs, and performances to people of all ages. Our aim is to present thought-provoking works that bring growth to performers and audiences alike.

Cocoon Friends \ n [ME frend]: You, our wonderful sponsors, who form the branch on which the Cocoon is built. This branch has many leaves and off-shoots where larvae can weave fantastic webs!

together \ adv [ME togedere]: We, the larvae, the creative yet still unformed base, need a safe place to house the Cocoon. You provide the strong branch on which the Cocoon is placed (classes begin, rehearsals progress). There, in our safe home, a magical, miraculous, and dramatic event occurs: the transformation. Now, the lowly worm-one changes into a beautiful winged creature who, once born, flies off (like every production!) to carry its inspirational message out into the world.

Join Cocoon Friends! Fill out the membership form.

A Parent's Point of View

"Even though I'm as devoted to the place as I am able, I always forget how good it all is until I take my seat and the show begins. It doesn't take long until I feel an unearthly joy at being at the parameter of such a venture. I feel like I am part of some Parisian movement of the 1920s. How can it last? How can anyone believe in this romantic notion of truth and ask an audience to learn from the evening's experience, become changed, deeper?

And this family is so astonishingly unpretentious, earthly, and unguarded. What courage to open their lives so, like circus performers, like gypsy travelers, creating a Theater of the Imagination to explore violence, betrayal, courage, loyalty, etc, etc. Aren't you honored to have been in the vicinity of such belief in the value of art, not political lip-service, but total sacrificial commitment. Did this happen in the town of your youth? Yet they always seem to thank me - I'd be a fool not to grab onto their wings.

Will you look at the list of shows that have passed through their hands and received their care? And always the result - unexpected, multi-layered, ambitious and like nothing else.

So to anyone who has ever felt willing to offer their name to the mailing list, perhaps out of curiosity, perhaps at some afternoon puppet show, or had a child prosper in a production or wandered in by whim because a poster in town caught the eye, if a number of you follow through and actually mail a check, it will always be a necessary thing - the protecting and preserving of an honest voice."

Join Cocoon Friends! Fill out the membership form.

The Cocoon Theatre Scholarship Award!

Cocoon Theatre created a scholarship program to provide financial support to outstanding students and their families in the visual & performing arts fields and enable them to continue with studies of interest at Cocoon.

Here are our talented and deserving recipients:

2005 - Miss Aminy Ostfeld (16 years old) 2006 - Miss Stasha Rosen
2004 - Miss Sarah Hale-Rude (14 years old) 2003 - Miss Shianne Dierkes (9 years old)

Join Cocoon Friends! Fill out the membership form.

Cocoon Theatre Proudly Acknowledges Cocoon Friends!

Benefactors: Sam & Louise Scripps

Sustainers: Ellen Honig, Mark H. Van Parys

Contibutors: Warren, Grayce & Shianne Dierkes, The Rosen/Balajwader Family, Julia Van Develder & Rachel Posner

Families: Joachim & Laura Grigull, Mary Ross Thomeas, Cheryl, Bruno & Pierre Henry, Elizabeth W. Hill, Jim & Sophie Andrews, Sandra Shannonhouse, Dr. & Mrs. Carl Everett, Lorna DeZengotita, Mr. & Mrs. Bert Rosen

Individuals: Rita S. Dee, Cait Johnson, Jean Dobson, Jon LeFever, Elaine Colandrea, Whaleback Animal Hospital, Joanne Engle, Gina Mandel, Cheryl Roshak, Sheila Burke, Summer Moon, Cynthia Owen Philip, Robert R. Butts

Students/Seniors: Alexandria Metz, Katie Honig, Rose Mandel, Faith D. Compo, Rosalie C. Rossi PHD, Kathleen Knight, Esther Kiviat, Titiana Firkusny, Richard W. Rizzo, Marsue M-J Haviland, Patricia Loeber

Donators: Sean Preyer-Blakney, Esther Kiviat, Rob Rosen

Scholarship Fund: Patricia Loeber

Join Cocoon Friends! Fill out the membership form.
Cocoon Theatre    6384 Mill Street (Rt. 9), Rhinebeck, NY 12572     (845) 876-6470