Curtain rises on North Fork Arts Center at the Sapan Greenport Theatre

On Nov. 20, on behalf of the North Fork Arts Center, the nonprofit he founded and presides over as executive director, Tony Spiridakis signed the closing documents to accept an early holiday “gift”: the Greenport Theatre, formerly owned by Josh Sapan and valued at $5.5 million. Last Christmas was particularly joyous for Spiridakis.

For well over a year, Spiridakis, a filmmaker and Greenport resident, pursued a plan to launch the new not-for-profit organization to take over and rejuvenate the historic theater, which dates back to 1939, and which Sapan, who recently stepped down as CEO at AMC Networks, purchased in 2004.

As soon as the Greenport Theatre hit the real estate market in January 2023, Spiridakis immediately galvanized friends, neighbors and fellow lovers of the arts, asking them to pledge $1 million to the North Fork Arts Center’s reserve fund. If he could pull that off — and establish nonprofit status for NFAC, which plans to screen films, host live entertainment and offer arts education courses and workshops — Sapan promised to donate the theater to the organization. To commemorate this remarkable act of philanthropy, Spiridakis dubbed his new pride and joy the “North Fork Arts Center at the Sapan Greenport Theatre.”

As a thank you to the many donors who made this dream come true, Spiridakis hosted free screenings of holiday classics at the theater in late December. After two screenings of “Elf” held on back-to-back days, NFAC hosted a Q&A session with the film’s producer, Todd Komarnicki. The theater also screened the all-time classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which Spiridakis described as “kind of like the poster for what we just pulled off,” alluding to George Bailey’s friends and neighbors raising thousands of dollars in his time of need. 

“The kids asked the greatest questions like, ‘Did Buddy lie to Santa Claus?,’ and ‘When he ate the cotton balls, what were they made out of?’” Spiridakis said, recounting audience questions that followed the “Elf” screenings. “It was just absolutely wonderful. The board was there to get to see the fruits of their labor. Nothing crystallizes what we’re doing more than those holiday films … Over the four days that we did that, we had more online donations than we had the entire year because people were just so excited about it. We made over $100,000 in donations in four days which was crazy.”

Among those who attended the theater’s showing of “Love Actually” was Joe McKay, one of the earliest donors to the NFAC cause. After visiting Spiridakis’ home in January 2023 to discuss the then days-old fundraising initiative, McKay said pledging his own hard-earned dollars to the NFAC was “a no-brainer.” Nearly a decade ago, the Peconic Landing resident attended an eight-part film writing course Spiridakis held at Brecknock Hall through his and his wife Lisa Gillooly’s Manhattan Film Institute, a 12-year-old Greenport-based not-for-profit film education program that laid a sturdy foundation for the NFAC.

“The combination of arts, entertainment and education for people of all ages, I think that is very much needed here,” McKay said. “It exists in places in little bits and pieces, but I don’t think it’s going to harm anybody else’s business. Everybody’s going to benefit from it.”

Donors like McKay helped Spiridakis reach his original $1 million goal. Last year, with the help of elected officials including Greenport Village Mayor Kevin Stuessi, the arts center was also awarded roughly $500,000 in various grants to renovate the 85-year-old theater. 

“It was so nice to see the theater full of people enjoying a great film,” said the mayor, who caught the screening of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” with his fellow villagers. “I think it’s hugely important that the community was able to not only save this theater, but protect it in perpetuity, with the generous gift by Josh Sapan to the new not-for-profit group,” the mayor said, noting how the special holiday screenings were indicative of the theater’s potential as an economic driver for the whole community. “When you have something that’s going to be programmed on a year-round basis … there’ll be great things for people to come and do outside of the very busy summer months.”

While it’s true that downtown arts centers are fairly common on Long Island, the NFAC’s origin story is not. Even to the professionals involved in the transaction itself, Sapan’s gift was remarkable.

“The donation of the Greenport Theater is interesting in comparison to other donations of this nature in that [those] may be made with a charitable intent under a will, to be donated only after death [or] made with a charitable intent focused on environmental preservation of land,” said real estate attorney Zachary Dubey of Egan & Golden, LLP, who represented NFAC during the sale. “Here, Josh Sapan donated a very valuable, historic property in the heart of Greenport Village during his lifetime, which he clearly could have sold for several million dollars to a developer. His dedication to the mission of the North Fork Arts Center, and his philanthropic vision for Greenport as a home for arts on the North Fork, made this unique transaction a reality.”

Dubey added that the deal took “approximately five months to go from contract to closing, which is pretty fast for a transaction of this nature.”

At the end of those five months, Sapan signed possession of the theater over to Spiridakis’ newly minted NFAC. Since that time, he and his team, which includes creative director Shannon Goldman and Gillooly, have been preparing a cornucopia of the arts offering for North Forkers to digest. First, but perhaps not foremost, the theater will once again screen movies, an entertainment staple that became all too rare after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered Sapan’s Greenport Theatre, and Mattituck Cinemas axed first-run films last January. Come Memorial Day, Spiridakis said the NFAC will begin screening summer blockbusters and other first-run films as well as revivals and period classics. The NFAC executive director said he also plans to screen Spanish-language films on Sunday afternoons.

“[We’ll show] whatever the community asks for,” he said. “We’re already doing surveys and we’re going to be circulating a new survey that’s going to be in Spanish.”

When the theater officially reopens this spring, Spiridakis promises much more than movies, as the NFAC will host seminars and special events, including ballet classes and performances courtesy of the Brooklyn Ballet during the troupe’s three-week residency in Greenport.

“I’m so excited about that,” Spiridakis said. “Nothing says ‘we’re not just a movie theater’ clearer than that.”

Goldman added that the theater’s forthcoming “second to none” educational programs will be available to North Forkers of all ages.

“Our mission is to change lives through arts education and entertainment,” the NFAC’s creative director said. “There’s going to be an animation class, there’s going to be scene study with Tony [Spiridakis], there’s going to be a writing class, [we’ll teach] things like how to make a film on an iPhone.”

While sealing the deal on the theater was great news for Spiridakis and the other members of NFAC, he believes the prospect of a revitalized cultural hub could spell good tidings for many more business owners in the village. If the NFAC’s holiday film screenings were a litmus test, restaurants, watering holes and other local businesses can look forward to increased foot traffic, particularly in winter months when the flood of tourists runs dry and many destinations go into hibernation. 

“It’ll inject some life in the sleepy time after the holiday season ends,” said Evan Bucholz, co-owner of Greenport speakeasy Brix & Rye. “The first night they did ‘Elf,’ there was so much excitement. Probably 20 or 30 people came in who had come directly from there.”

Bucholz believes that even during the busy summer months, the arts center will surely offer something new for those North Forkers who otherwise may be inclined to head west for a night.

“There’s no way this won’t have an impact on bringing out people from different parts of the island,” he said. “It’s one more box to have checked, where now you can go out to Greenport for the theater, similar to what they have in Patchogue, or even downtown Riverhead. It’s this other pull. It adds energy, and with that energy comes the excitement of wanting to be around more people being excited to go out.”

As he gets ready to welcome the community into the new cultural arts hub this spring, Spiridakis said he feels a sense of electricity in the air.

“If I said ‘I’m going to bring back movies,’ I don’t think the excitement would have been the same,” he said. “I think that excitement comes from the idea that we’re going to be a cultural arts center. I think the second part of the excitement is that we’re going to be open all year round. Instead of just providing more to do in the summer, it’s actually giving us more to do when we really need more to do.”

‘Instead of just providing more to do in the summer, it’s actually giving us more to do when we really need more to do.’