PROVINCETOWN — Last season was producing director Mark Cortale’s last at the Art House, the intimate Commercial Street venue that launched his now-international career.
Since 2011, Cortale had brought summer shows by Broadway stars, drag performers, singers, and comedians to the building’s two 127-seat theaters. But with needed building renovations due to begin during the off-season, he said an emotional goodbye to the space and its fans last October.
At that time, building owner Ben deRuyter and tenants Bobby and Bena Lymbertos told the Independent they envisioned changes to both of the theaters and the restaurant — and they weren’t sure what their timeline would be. The Lymbertoses bought the 1620 Brewhouse business from deRuyter in 2022 and began leasing the theater spaces last April.
Now, according to deRuyter, the renovations won’t get underway until at least next winter. So, the Art House will present a season of drag shows and other live performances this summer. But with Cortale having moved on to other projects, the change in who’s behind those shows has caused some controversy.
According to deRuyter, he was approached last year by Producer Entertainment Group, a New York- and Los Angeles-based company representing drag artists and LGBTQ talent, about the possibility of continuing live shows at the Art House. He turned to them when it became clear that any proposed renovation work would be a ways off, deRuyter said by email last week: “I decided that it would be best for the space to be utilized during the 2024 season.”
Producer Entertainment Group will keep one theater open, deRuyter said. A “Live at the Art House” website promises an announcement of the programming soon, and lists RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars finalist Ginger Minj, a past Art House performer, as coproducer.
Opening one theater, deRuyter said, will allow the Provincetown International Film Festival to use the space in June.
Renovation plans for the building are not finalized but will proceed in phases, said deRuyter. The initial focus will be on the Brewhouse kitchen, with the possibility of a live-entertainment space as well as much-needed workforce housing in the final plans.
Cortale told the Independent that he understood his lease was ending because the Art House space would be turned into a dance club. That led Cortale to believe what he has for months told patrons, sponsors, and performers, as he wrote in a social media post on April 8: “The venue that I poured my heart and soul into would no longer be a theater.”
Cortale said in an interview that he was shocked to learn in late March about “Live at the Art House” from one of the new producers — someone he had worked with for years to book national drag talent here. Shortly after that, Cortale said, he was told by the agent of a Tony Award-winning Broadway star whom he’d brought to the Art House that they had been approached about the new company’s season.
“I understand that legally a lease is a lease,” he said. “But after 13 years, I just would have hoped that someone there would have had the decency to tell me the truth. The way that I found out was pretty devastating.”
Brasswood Inn co-owner Brian Calhoun said he was surprised to get a request on March 30 from a production company he didn’t recognize about donating rooms for performers at an Art House he thought was closed. The inn will continue to offer space for Cortale’s performers, said Calhoun, but he declined the other request.
Cortale said he’s excited to produce a 2024 season of musical, Broadway, and drag performers at Provincetown Town Hall, starting May 26 with Audra McDonald and Seth Rudetsky, and at the Provincetown Theater. Cortale has also been producing theater on Broadway and through his New Works Provincetown, plus musical shows around the country.
Nonetheless, he said, he would have liked to continue programming the Art House venue, where he said he was grateful to have had the chance to learn the business. “The Art House has been kind of my baby since 2011,” Cortale said.
DeRuyter has said he admires what Cortale accomplished in his years at the Art House, but he told the Independent in an email that he has a different perspective on how Cortale’s relationship with the property ended. “Mark did not have a lease in 2023, nor has he had a lease for several years,” he wrote, and “I disagree with Mark’s characterization of past agreements that have been circulated on social media.” He declined to comment further on specifics.
Cortale’s April 8 social media statements about the 2024 Art House situation drew hundreds of supportive and some angry responses. Cortale said he took that public step to clear up confusion with patrons and sponsors about which Provincetown shows this summer are his and to reiterate that it was not his choice to end his Art House affiliation.
No one from Producers Entertainment Group or Ginger Minj’s Fruit Wine Productions responded to emails and phone calls from the Independent seeking additional comment and details about upcoming Art House entertainment, nor did the Lymbertoses.