Mike Intaglietta grew up attending shows at the Landmark Theatre. In December 2017, he was appointed as its newest executive director. Intaglietta has been involved with the Landmark since 2015. With this position, he hopes to ensure the timeless nature of the theater and diversify its offerings.

The Daily Orange spoke to Intaglietta about his background in theater, future plans for the Landmark and some memories at the theater he fondly thinks back on.

The Daily Orange: What was the beginning of your involvement with the Landmark Theatre?

Mike Intaglietta: I was brought in October of 2015 to serve as the general manager, and the executive director position was left vacant. I was the person at the top of the organizational chart on staff and I was reporting to a board president who was filling the executive director role. And then, following a two-year period where we were overcoming some difficult financial situations, the board opted to promote me to executive director.

The D.O.: When did you become involved with theater in general?

M.I.: In college — mostly in community theater and in our college’s improv group. And that’s where I developed a love for theater, even though I didn’t realize it was going to become my career until a little bit later.

The D.O.: Would you ever consider going back into acting?

M.I.: I still perform comedy improvisation with the Syracuse Improv Collective on the side. My involvement has reduced since taking on the position here, but I still keep up.

The D.O.: What’s your favorite play or musical performed here?

M.I.: The experience of having “The Lion King” here was hard to match. It was such an amazing production and such a timeless story, and the folks at Disney were so professional to work with. That was quite an experience.

The D.O.: What is your favorite part about working at the theater?

M.I.: Being able to, at the end of the night, to say we have 2,700 people here, that we’re confident that they had a good time, is a very rewarding thing. And of course being entrusted with this theater here, which is coming up on about 90 years this February, and being able to make sure it lives well past this — keeping this theater going is an honor.

The D.O.: Does the Landmark Theatre collaborate with other performance organizations?

M.I.: We collaborate with Symphoria. They’ve hosted “Music of Queen” here, they’ve hosted “Video Games Live” here. Coming up, they’ll be doing the Harry Potter film concert, which is a screening of the film “The Sorcerer’s Stone” with Symphoria playing the score alongside it. We’ve also done collaborations with the Redhouse Arts Center. We’re happy to do that. We love working with arts organizations if they have a need of a space this size.

The D.O.: Are there any plays in particular you want to bring to the theater?

M.I.: Of course — everyone can’t wait for “Hamilton” to come here, and that’s us included. So we’re hopeful for that.

The D.O.: Where do you see the theater in the next five to 10 years?

M.I.: We have some great momentum. “The Lion King” had 15 sold out shows. We had sold out shows for Neil deGrasse Tyson and Trevor Noah, two sold out shows for the Impractical Jokers. There’s evidence that there’s audience here. And our hope and what we’ll be acting on is that if there’s audience here, people will bring more shows here. Success creates success.

The D.O.: How has the central New York arts scene changed over the years?

M.I.: When I was working for Redhouse, it was 2009. We were just emerging from a recession and so that obviously impacted the arts scene in a number of ways. Folks didn’t have the disposable income to spend on arts attendance. Government dollars, foundation dollars were stretched a little thin. There were some struggles all around. I think we found some great momentum and people have started to build their attendance again, build donor bases again. And there’s a collaboration that has started as a result, at least in part, of those tough years that has persisted. There’s a lot of communication between arts agencies now, a lot of finding ways to work together.

The D.O.: What is your first memory of the Landmark Theatre?

M.I.: My first memory of the Landmark is when my older sister was dating her now-husband, and they took me to a Rocky and Bullwinkle little film festival here in the Landmark, when I probably 11 or 12 years old. My first concert, where I went on my own without an older member of my family, was here: I saw Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and I was in the second row of seats. It’s an incredibly impactful venue and it’s got a lot of fond memories in the hearts of people all over.

Published on January 29, 2018 at 9:45 pm

Contact Sandhya: ssiyer@syr.edu