Blue Heron Theatre Closed It's Doors In December 2006. The Site Remains Present As A Tribute To It's Talented And Visionary Artistic Director, Ardelle Striker.

Ardelle Striker, Artistic Director of the former Blue Heron Theatre, died Thursday, December 3rd. Striker bravely battled the disease MDS for the past two years, at age 80.

Ardelle Striker was Artistic Director of Blue Heron Theatre and the person responsible for the day-to-day running of the Center. Striker opened the Blue Heron Theatre after having retired from her position in the theatre department of the University of Connecticut. Striker oversaw the construction of the Blue Heron Theatre off-Broadway. The theatre opened in 1986.

On December 30, 2005, the Blue Heron Arts Center closed its doors. The seven-year old space, installed in an abandoned health club in 1998, hosted more than two hundred theater companies and innumerable individual artists as it flourished at 123 East 24th Street (between Park and Lexington Avenues). From its opening season, the Center provided a warm and welcoming environment for memorable productions in the larger Mainstage and aptly named Studio Theater. The lobby and entranceway also served as an art gallery curated by Patrick Christiano. Offices and three rehearsal spaces were located on a lower level.

Theater by the Blind made its home at the Blue Heron for many productions while Urban Stages and the Abingdon Theatre used the spaces for several shows before finding or building their own facilities. Well-established off-off Broadway companies worked side by side with newer voices to make the Center a vibrant part of the cultural life of the midtown east area incorporating Murray Hill, Gramercy Park and Flatiron Districts. Among the many other companies that called the Blue Heron a temporary home were the following award-winning and nominated companies: The Rude Mechanicals Theater Company (playwright Will Eno won the 2004 Newsday Oppy Award for The Flu Season presented at the Blue Heron); Ma-Yi Theater Company; Willow Cabin Theatre Company; and Edge Theater Company. David Korins won the 2004 American Theatre Wing Hewes Design Award for The Edge's production of Adam Rapp's Blackbird. The December 2005 issue of American Theatre magazine features photos (page 31) of the Studio Theater empty and with Korin's transformational Canal Street tenement design that won him the Hewes design award.

Striker is survived by her husband John and her children David and Elizabeth Nowells.

Click here for a tribute to Ardelle from the Smokin' Room.

Individual Testimonies

I was terribly sad to hear of Ardelle's death, and am writing to send you and your family all my deepest sympathy.

I admired Ardelle from the moment I met her, both for her great culture and her so accurate sense of the French spirit.  She had in her the vital spark of theatre, and she put it to good use, in the most generous way, to serve the artists and the playwrights.

The two productions of my plays by Blue Heron Theatre gave me some of the purest joys that I've known in my careet, and I'll be ever grateful for that.

With all good regards
Avec toute ma profonde amitie et mon meilleur souvenir.

Yours sincerely,
Anne Legault

I wanted to take a moment to tell you how deeply saddened I was to learn that Ardelle passed away last week. Mary Harpster and I had worked closely with Ardelle over the years, and our new Development Director, Jennie Miller, was her Managing Director at Blue Heron for a time. Mary, Jennie and I had tremendous affection and respect for Ardelle. She was an incredible woman who had a profound impact on many theatres in the city, possibly more than she realized. With the Blue Heron Arts Center, she provided a home for many theatre companies, some of whom grew to have theatres of their own. I used to call Ardelle and the Blue Heron Theatre Company  the little theatre company that could  because she did so much on a small budget. Ardelle certainly knew how to make a dollar go a long way, and as a result, Blue Heron's productions were far more sophisticated than one would have imagined given their budget size.

As you well know, Ardelle was one of the first Artistic Directors in New York City to champion African American playwrights, directors and actors, well before it became politically correct to do so. I recall Woodie King Jr., the Founding Artistic Director of the New Federal Theatre tell me as much at an Opening of their production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone. When I called Woodie to tell him that I had just read of Ardelle’s passing, it soon became clear that he had lost a lifelong friend and a respected colleague.

As I'm sure you’re aware, we worked very closely with Ardelle here at A.R.T./New York by providing grants and loans to the Blue Heron Theatre and Arts Center. Though I am aware that she was not one to seek attention, I feel that the theatre community would appreciate the opportunity to pay their respects to her. Were you planning to have a Memorial Service for Ardelle? If not, is there a charity that you would like donations sent to in her memory?

Mr. Striker, I can only imagine how difficult this time must be for you and your family. I also know that it was your incredible generosity that kept Blue Heron alive. Although the theatre may have closed, I hope you know that Ardelle’s work, and that of Blue Heron, lives on. Ardelle’s influence can be found in the artists she worked with, the audiences she touched, and in people, such as myself, who were blessed to have known her.

My very best to you and your family,
Ginny Louloudes
Executive Director

I was so stunned and filled with a profound sense of loss and sadness when you told me that Ardelle was gone.  I got to know her first in the mid-ninties, when I used to bring my classes (composed of teachers) to see the Blue Heron's many multi-cultural productions around town - whether in Chelsea at the Hudson Guild, or further downtown at Here.

And then, with your help, she carved out her own Arts Center and within a few years, I became a member of the Blue Heron's extended "family." For the ten years that I actually worked with her - first as curator of several reading series we devised together and ultimately as Artistic Associate - my admiration for and love of her personal (as well as her theatrical) vision and her uncompromising integrity, grew year by year.

She was first a mentor - her support of my many BHAC projects helped me grow as an artist - and then a friend.  I have such a wealth of wonderful memories, most of which begin with walking down those stairs to the office, bringing her a cup of coffee and a sweet (she did have a sweet tooth!) and immediately being drawn into the myriad tasks it took to run the Blue Heron Arts Center.  Ardelle was the heart and soul of the BHAC - from the art gallery upstairs to the rehearsal rooms downstairs, she was always the first person in the theater and the last to leave. No task was ever too great or too menial for her to perform.

When the 24th Street BHAC space itself was forced to close, right after Ardelle's much lauded production of "Bartleby," her beloved Blue Heron Theatre continued for two more years uptown at the Arclight Theatre culminating in "The Puppetmaster of Lodz", one of her proudest accomplishments.  By then her health had begun to fail, but we continued our friendship by going to the theater often and sharing all those lovely Sunday afternoons at your home hosted by the two of you and dear little Cogito.

I am so glad you had this past Summer together on the Cape, even though it meant I didn't get to see either of you that much.  I never dreamed that our evening at "Hamlet", which she loved, would be our last theatrical foray together.

I miss her every day and my love and gratitude for the time I did get to spend with her is endless.

All my love,
Leslie

I had not heard about Ardelle's death and am most grateful to you for letting me know.  I have thought often of you both since I last visited with you at your apartment.  I knew at the time that she was gravely ill, but she was so full of life and spirit that morning that I found it hard to grasp that she was so sick.

And I realize that was the essence of Ardelle.  No matter what she was facing (physically, emotionally, financially [with the theater], whatever), she was always completely focussed, creatively, and passionate about what she was doing.  And she was always (for the years that I knew her) involved in projects that would make a difference both artistically and socially.  I realize the Blue Heron was, in many ways, a costly venture,  but, please know that the lives Ardelle touched with her vision and her work represent a rich, and still to be plumbed, legacy. We are all so blessed to have known her.

As I'm certain you know, she was a FORCE -- and she still is.

My very best to you and your family,
Roberta

Some Facebook Tributes

Bruce Larsen - Word on the street was, she never failed a senior. I think she was way more hip to us, than we were bored of Theatre History. A GREAT Lady. I hate knowing she's not with us anymore. But, I have another friend when I cross over.

Ellen O'Brien - Thank you for the post. I am so sad to hear of Dr. Strikers passing. She became my advisor when I was just about to give up my hopes for a degree. I will always be thankful for her wisdom, wit and advice. God Bless her.

Laura Larsen - Thank you for the post. She was so encouraging to me when I decided to leave theater and go to grad school to become a librarian. She gave me a very nice recommendation that I'm not sure I deserved. She was my favorite professor at UConn.

Tom Fatsi - I ran into her on the street a few years ago. She hadn't changed a bit.

Michael Pacocha - Thanks for sharing this Gary. I always appreciated Dr. Striker's passion for her subject and students. She will be missed.

OMG. I had no idea this had happened...this is so sad. She was such a help through all our showcases in nyc and without her the CDS American Showcase would have never happened. I know she was ill and getting on in years but this is such a shock...

Fear No More

The song is FEAR NO MORE, from CYMBELINE, Act IV, sc. ii. Music by Joe Hillyer, lyric by William Shakespeare. The performing artists are: Ellen McQueeney, lead vocal, Louise Rozett, backup vocal, Joe Hillyer, acoustic guitar, Bob Mastro, violin. From the CD BARD AMERICANA, originally performed as SHAKESPEARE'S SONGS to benefit the Blue Heron Theatre, June 10, 2003.