Bristol Valley Theater

06/01/2026

Frederick Knott (1916-2002) was an English playwright and screenwriter celebrated for crafting intricate, suspenseful thrillers. Born in China to English missionary parents, he earned a law degree from Cambridge University and served as a major in the British Army during World War II before pursuing writing. Though he produced relatively few scripts and faced numerous rejections, his works became international cinematic and theatrical classics defined by their meticulous criminal plots.

His most famous play, Dial M for Murder (1952), centers on a man orchestrating his wife's murder and became a massive hit in London's West End and on Broadway. Knott personally adapted the script for Alfred Hitchcock's legendary 1954 film adaptation, starring Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. He achieved major success again with Wait Until Dark (1966), a tense thriller about a blind woman terrorized by con men, which earned Broadway acclaim and a 1967 Academy Award-nominated film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn.

Shortly after, he stopped writing plays entirely and chose to live comfortably on the income he made from his earlier works. His wife saying, "I don't think the drive was there anymore. He was perfectly happy the way things were." Decades later, Frederick Knott passed away at the age of 86, leaving behind a legacy as a writer who perfectly engineered the "perfect crime" subgenre.

Dial M for Murder will be running from July 23-Aug 1. Tickets are available now! You can purchase them online at www.bvtnaples.org/box-office or call the Box Office at (585) 374-6318. “Dial M for Murder (Hatcher)” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf on Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

Come back Wednesday for more fun facts about this mystery ☎️

05/29/2026

05/29/2026

Help us give a warm welcome to the cast and creatives that will be joining us this summer for our production of A Year with Frog and Toad! Some familiar faces and some new, we're happy to have them all on board with us 🐸

A Year with Frog and Toad will be running from July 9-18. Tickets are available now for only $25 each. You can purchase them online at www.bvtnaples.org/box-office or call the Box Office at (585) 374-6318.

Shoutout to Canandaigua National Bank and Finger Lakes Dental Care for being our Live Band sponsors, along with Community Bank, N.A. for sponsoring A Year with Frog and Toad.

A Year with Frog and Toad is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com

Stay tuned for future cast announcements and more fun facts!

05/29/2026

This summer will be a hot one for area theatres! Come see a show!
Kalidas-Indo American Community Theater Group
Theatre444
The Company Theatre
Main St. 56 Theater
Bristol Valley Theater
Rochester Community Players
JCC Summer Stage JCC CenterStage
Blackfriars Theatre

05/27/2026

A Year with Frog and Toad is a Tony-nominated Broadway musical written by brothers Willie Reale (Book and Lyrics) and Robert Reale (Music), based on the classic children's books by Arnold Lobel.

Reviewers widely praise it as a charming, whimsical, and "cottagecore" production. It is celebrated for its warm, wholesome exploration of friendship, gentle life lessons, and catchy, sophisticated jazz-influenced score. It uniquely broke ground by bringing professional children's theater to Broadway, earning three 2003 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score.

The idea for the musical was conceived in 2002 by Adrianne Lobel, the daughter of author and illustrator Arnold Lobel. After her father's passing, Adrianne wanted to see his beloved amphibian characters translated into a theatrical production and commissioned a musical based on all four volumes of the Frog and Toad series. Her husband, actor Mark Linn-Baker, adapted the stories into a script and later played Toad in the musical's Broadway debut.

The show was first workshopped in 2000 at New York Stage and Film at Vassar College. It had its official world premiere on August 23, 2002, at the renowned Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Following its success in the Midwest, it moved Off-Broadway to the New Victory Theater before making the leap to Broadway's Cort Theatre in April 2003.

While the Broadway production closed in June 2003 after 73 performances, the show’s accessible, witty, and jazzy score made it an enduring staple of regional and community theater. The musical continues to be produced globally, with professional revivals at venues like the Children's Theatre Company.

Special thank you to Canandaigua National Bank for being one of our Live Band sponsors, along with Community Bank, N.A. for sponsoring A Year with Frog and Toad. Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased at https://www.bvtnaples.org/box-office.

Stay tuned for the cast and crew announcement on Friday!

A Year with Frog and Toad is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com

05/27/2026

We’re wrapping up our May art series with something beautifully seasonal! 🌿☀️

Join us on Sunday, May 31 from 1–3pm for a Summer Wreath Workshop.
Learn the art of floral design as you decorate a grapevine wreath with vibrant summer florals and create a perfectly styled accent bow to finish it off. 🎀

You’ll leave with a gorgeous handmade wreath to brighten your home (or gift to someone special).

💛 A portion of the proceeds from this class will go to support our friends at Bristol Valley Theater.

$30 per person includes everything you’ll need.
$5 Bloody Marys, Mimosas and brunch available from the Taproom!

✨ Important Details:
• Minimum of 6 participants required
• Registration remains open until the day of class
• Venmo: -sheedy-1 (PIN: 1279)
→ Please note which class you’re paying for
• Or mail a check to:
205 North Main St., Naples, NY 14512
• Questions? Call or text Stephanie: 585-478-1279

Registration payments are nonrefundable.

Grab a friend and come create something beautiful together 💛

05/27/2026

Come support local art and theatre at the same time with our friend Stephanie Rober Sheedy at the Naples Hotel! She’s hosting a class where you can create a beautiful wreath to decorate your home just in time for the summer season ☀️ Sunday, May 31 from 1-3PM

Registration is still open for only $30 per person, supplies included, and $5 drinks available from the Taproom.

Huge thank you to Stephanie for hosting this workshop and donating a portion of the proceeds to the theater, along with The Naples Hotel for always supporting the arts and being a season sponsor!

We’re wrapping up our May art series with something beautifully seasonal! 🌿☀️

Join us on Sunday, May 31 from 1–3pm for a Summer Wreath Workshop.
Learn the art of floral design as you decorate a grapevine wreath with vibrant summer florals and create a perfectly styled accent bow to finish it off. 🎀

You’ll leave with a gorgeous handmade wreath to brighten your home (or gift to someone special).

💛 A portion of the proceeds from this class will go to support our friends at Bristol Valley Theater.

$30 per person includes everything you’ll need.
$5 Bloody Marys, Mimosas and brunch available from the Taproom!

✨ Important Details:
• Minimum of 6 participants required
• Registration remains open until the day of class
• Venmo: -sheedy-1 (PIN: 1279)
→ Please note which class you’re paying for
• Or mail a check to:
205 North Main St., Naples, NY 14512
• Questions? Call or text Stephanie: 585-478-1279

Registration payments are nonrefundable.

Grab a friend and come create something beautiful together 💛

05/25/2026

As we get closer to our upcoming season, we thought we would take some time to tell you more about the man who inspired the musical A Year with Frog and Toad!

During his distinguished career, Arnold Lobel wrote and illustrated over 70 children's books. To his illustrating credit, he had a Caldecott Medal book - Fables (1981) and two Caldecott Honor books - his own Frog and Toad are Friends (1971) and Hildilid's Night by Cheli Duran Ryan (1972). To his writing credit, he had a Newbery Honor book - Frog and Toad Together (1973). But to his greatest credit, he had a following of millions of children with whom he shared the warmth and humor of his vision of life.

Though he was a born storyteller, he began making stories spontaneously to entertain his fellow second-graders in Schenectady, New York, where he grew up in the care of his grandparents. He called himself a "lucky amateur" in terms of writing. Viewing himself as a professionally trained illustrator (Having received a BFA from Pratt Institute), he said, "I know how to draw pictures. With writing, I don't really know what I'm doing. It's very intuitive."

In addition to the Frog and Toad books, Owl at Home, Mouse Tales, The Book of Pigericks, and many other popular books he created, Lobel also illustrated other writers' texts that captured his fancy. He viewed this as "something different and challenging." Often his illustrations for those books showed a different aspect of his personality and his artistic expertise, ranging from his meticulous reptiles in Dinosaur Time by Peggy Parish to his chilling pen-and-ink drawings in Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep by Jack Prelutsky, about which Booklist wrote, "Young readers will be amazed that the gentle Lobel of Frog and Toad fame can be so comfortably diabolic."

In 1977, Lobel and his wife, Anita, a distinguished children's book author and artist in her own right, collaborated on their first book, How the Rooster Saved the Day, chosen by School Library Journal as one of the Best Books of the Year, 1977. They then collaborated on three more books, A Treeful of Pigs, a 1979 ALA Notable Book; On Market Street, a 1982 Caldecott Honor Book; and The Rose in My Garden, a 1984 Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book. Sadly, Lobel died a few years later in 1987. Despite his unfortunate passing, his legacy lives on and his stories continue to inspire young children all around the world.

Come back Wednesday for more information about this family-friendly musical, and Friday for our cast and creative team announcement! 🐸

A Year with Frog and Toad is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com

05/17/2026

ONLY A COUPLE HOURS AWAY! The Petty Project: The Music of Tom Petty starts at 4PM. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $30 each 🎶

“The Petty Project , based in Rochester, NY, is dedicated to delivering a faithful recreation of the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The band performs a range of songs, from Tom Petty's most famous hits to the lesser-known 'B' sides found within his impressive 14-album catalog. Through their performances, The Petty Project truly captures the sound and feel of this legendary American group.”

We'll see you soon!

05/16/2026

Join us TOMORROW evening at 4PM for The Petty Project: The Music of Tom Petty!

“The Petty Project , based in Rochester, NY, is dedicated to delivering a faithful recreation of the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The band performs a range of songs, from Tom Petty's most famous hits to the lesser-known 'B' sides found within his impressive 14-album catalog. Through their performances, The Petty Project truly captures the sound and feel of this legendary American group.”

Make sure to get presale tickets while you still can for only $25! But don’t worry, you can also get them at the door for $30. https://etix.com/ticket/p/33457556/the-petty-project-the-music-of-tom-petty-naples-bristol-valley-theater. Seating is general admission, with accessible options available. See you tomorrow 🎸