Playhouse Stage Company Sets the Scene at Launchbox

For years, Playhouse Stage Company faced a major challenge behind the scenes struggling with props, costumes and sets scattered across locations. Producing Artistic Director, Owen Smith, takes us backstage to learn more about the Playhouse Stage Company’s storied history, remarkable growth, and bright future, which now includes Launchbox!

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your company?
My name is Owen Smith. I’m the Producing Artistic Director of Playhouse Stage Company. We were originally founded as Park Playhouse back in 1989. I’ve been with the organization since 1997 as a student, and I’ve served as Producing Artistic Director since 2010.

What kind of work does Playhouse Stage Company do?
We produce seven full-scale musical productions each year across multiple venues: Park Playhouse in Albany’s Washington Park, Cohoes Music Hall, and Guilderland’s Tawasentha Park. In addition to our own productions, we also program a variety of concerts, comedy shows, and family entertainment at the Cohoes Music Hall — making sure there’s something for everyone nearly every weekend of the year.

What is unique about your production process?
Like most theater companies, we’re grassroots. Everything you see onstage — sets, costumes, lighting — is built from scratch. We hire local and out-of-town artists and craftspeople to bring productions to life, working with raw materials to build every piece by hand.

What challenges did you face before coming to Launchbox?
We’ve always been a bit nomadic. Our materials lived in basements, trailers, and cold storage units — wherever we could find space. That made it difficult to access, reuse, and preserve valuable sets and costumes, which is critical for a regional arts organization like ours where budgets are tight.

How has Launchbox helped your operations?
Launchbox gives us the space to store, maintain, and reuse our materials. It’s also a comfortable, secure environment where artists can work on costumes, paint sets, and prep shows for the stage. Having 24/7 access means if we need something at 10 or 11 at night — which happens often in the theater, we can just head over and grab it.

Have you had any unexpected benefits from being at Launchbox?
Absolutely. On our second day, we met another tenant who runs an antique furniture restoration business — and antique furniture is something we often need for productions. That kind of connection highlights how Launchbox isn’t just a space — it’s a community working alongside each other.

What does the future look like for Playhouse Stage Company at Launchbox?
Launchbox already feels like a permanent part of our future. We’re even exploring a second unit to expand our work. I’ve spoken with other tenants who’ve done the same thing. It’s clear that once you’re here, you recognize the value. For us, it solves a problem we’ve faced for years: Where do we store and build our work? Now we know, it’s here.