Dana Packard - Executive Director
Jennifer Porter - Artistic Director
Board of Directors
Dana Packard - President
Jolene Whittemore - Secretary
Norman Belanger, Esq. - Clerk
Joseph Arsenault
Richard McGonagle
Andrew Packard
Advisory Board
Kate Cheney Chappell
Tom Chappell
Richard Curran
Mia Dodge
Bruce Donath
Elisabeth Hardcastle
Renee Lewis
David Miley
Steve Mortimer
Bill Nemitz
Patricia Packard
Alice Ruvane
Eileen Whynot
Who We Are
“Saco River Theatre enriches the community as a performing arts center and public forum for accessible and diverse cultural and educational programs. Through our professional Equity theater, music venue, cross-disciplinary arts lab and exhibition space, we celebrate creativity and plant the seeds of shared experience.”
The Saco River Grange Hall was built as a Universalist Chapel in 1897. In 1908 the Maine State Grange bought the building, and it prospered for sixty years as the primary social center for Bar Mills. It was then used as an auction house until purchased by the Packard family in 1990. After four months of renovations, SRGH officially opened as a cultural arts center on April 21st, 1990. The name was retained for its landmark value, reflecting the town’s rural history and its reliance on agriculture and the river’s mills.
After three successful, privately funded years of plays, concerts and dances, the IRS granted Saco River Grange Hall, Inc. 501c-3 status, and a Board of Trustees was formed. The mailing list has since grown to nearly 4,000 patrons who receive flyers three times per year, one of which includes the Annual Fund drive. To date, the hall has hosted more than 400 musical concerts, many silent films with live piano accompaniment, 120 contra-dances, dozens of private social functions and over 80 full-scale theatrical productions by The Originals, the resident professional theatre company at SRGH.
The Originals presents a wide range of material, from cutting edge dramas, to comedies, to full scale musical productions. Audiences have come to expect unusual and exciting material from the group, which routinely presents Maine and Northeast premieres. Although The Originals has maintained a relatively low profile, it is widely regarded as one of the finest theatre companies in New England. Ticket prices are the lowest of any professional company in the state, and each production has at least one “pay-what-you-can” night to ensure that the plays are accessible to anyone wishing to attend. The multitude of artistic events has not changed the quiet and picturesque feeling of the neighborhood. SRGH has been referred to as greater Portland’s “Little Carnegie Hall.”
In 2012, due to a change in the trademark policies of the National Grange Organization, SRGH Inc. became The Saco River Theatre.
Contributions of any size are welcomed. The Saco River Theatre is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All contributions are tax-deductible, as provided by law. Checks may be made payable to Saco River Theatre and mailed to PO Box 1, Bar Mills, Maine 04004. Please e-mail us for more information at packaa@sacoriver.net.
We love what we do – and we’re happy you do, too!
“Wow! Wow! Came to the Grange Wednesday evening to see your production of Man of La Mancha. Saw it elsewhere. Have seen tons of plays all over the country, Broadway productions, etc. Nothing has moved me as your production. The set was remarkable, quality of voices was breathtaking, but perhaps most of all, it seemed the whole cast bought into the premise of the play – the importance of hope and belief. Each scene was perfect. Saw it with my 14 year old grandson – a caring, sensitive young man. Quite possibly, he may have just seen the best play he will ever see. Thank you.”
“I’m drawn to everything you do because your group has the courage to try unconventional things, challenges the popular appetite for safe and familiar materials, and approaches the Arts in an eclectic, egalitarian way. The people you have at Tickets and Concessions are warm, friendly advocates for your enterprise and you don’t presume that your guests need elevating. It is also critically important that you continue to offer performances and performers of every kind without regard to age, sex, color, sexual orientation and the like. At The Saco River Theatre, I can reasonably expect to see a healthy, invigorating oleo of colors, ages, ideas, philosophies and approach to staging. That to me is progressive theater. It must be preserved, here in Maine and everywhere we can find it.”
