History of the

The Drama Department began in 1967 led by Mr. George Grattan. In it's first year, the group performed three plays, including Arsenic and Old Lace and The Boor and one musical, Oklahoma!. Since then, Mr. Tony Georgin renamed the group The Masquers Guild and directed well into the 1990's. The third director/choreographer Mr. William Kroupa Jr. continued the group into the 21st century. In 2007, Mr. Christopher DeStefano became the 4th director of the guild and is the current director. Also in 2007, the Bethpage Auditorium underwent major renovations and was opened in January 2007 as the new Bethpage Performing Arts Center. This state-of-the-art facility contains a light booth, sound booth, professional acoustics, dressing rooms, and climate controls. The first performance in the new theatre, West Side Story, took place in mid-April and ran for 4 performances. To this day, the Masquers Guild gets students involved in the behind the sences aspects (officers), choreographing musical numbers (dance captains), as part of the pit band, and as part of stage crew (technical directors, sound coordinators, spot light coordinators, & stage managers).