Some of the nation’s best-known actors will be going to a New York City church next Monday, performing and not simply praying to save a landmarked church from demolition and a theater group from permanent eviction.
Taking on roles in a real-life drama to save the West Park Presbyterian Church from demolition and to help the Center at West Park return to its former home there, Matt Damon and Alec Baldwin will lead a star-studded cast in a one-night staged reading and fundraiser.
The Center at West Park, on Oct. 27, is presenting a high-power staged reading of ‘Hold On To Me, Darling,’ by Kenneth Lonergan, starring Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, J. Smith Cameron, Gretchen Mol, Lucas Hedges, Peter Friedman, and Charles Everett.
The show, directed by Neil Pepe, is scheduled to be in The Sanctuary at St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church, at 263 W. 86th St., where the Center at West Park has found a temporary home.
Doors open for the performance, reservations required in a space seating up to 900, at 6:30 p.m. with the staged reading starting at 7 p.m.
Pay-what-you-can tickets are available online from $5 and up for students and community members who want to support, but can’t afford the $300 minimum fundraiser ticket.
Tickets, sponsorships and further information for this and upcoming benefits are available at https://www.centeratwestpark.org/fall-benefits-2025.
The Center is also organizing a Nov. 17 staged reading of “All About Eve” starring Scarlet Johannson.
The Monday staged reading is kind of a reunion for Damon and Baldwin, who appeared together in ‘The Departed’ and ‘The Good Shepherd,’ while Gretchen Mol starred with Damon in the poker drama ‘Rounders.’
In addition to appearing in movies, Damon produced the reality series “Project Greenlight” and “Manchester by the Sea,” written by Lonergan.
The Center at West Park, which was evicted from the West Park Presbyterian Church, at 165 West 86th Street and Amsterdam Ave., is seeking to stop its demolition by offering to pick up the tab for renovations and increased rent.
The structure was built in 1890 and landmarked in 2010, despite the congregation’s opposition.
The Center, which says it raised millions toward repair and rent, has hosted more than 800 productions, including more than 2,600 artists, presented to more than 54,000 audience members.
The church, which includes seven community and performance spaces under one roof, has also been used to present some high-profile benefits.
In order to demolish the more-than-a-century-old building, the congregation’s leaders must obtain a “hardship” declaration from the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
“We believe that if you examine our application, and there are hundreds of pages, that it’s abundantly clear that the church has met these standards,” Valerie Campbell, a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, representing the church, said recently.
Others, including a long line of public officials, opposed the demolition as the destruction of a landmark that they say other reports indicate could be repaired and renovated.
“The bottom line is that this application doesn’t meet the city’s statutory test for hardship,” Andrea Goldwyn, director of public policy for the New York Landmarks Conservancy, said recently. “The building can still be used for the purpose for which it was built. Another congregation worships there now.”
City Council Member Gale Brewer, who helped obtain landmark status, also believes the building should be repaired rather than demolished.
“When you landmark a building, it’s done for a reason,” she said recently. “It should continue to be standing and be a landmark.”
The leaders of the now small congregation say the church is too costly to renovate and repair. including a badly deteriorated roof, weakened walls and other deficiencies.
They reached a deal to sell the structure that they say would yield $30 million that could be used for numerous good causes city-wide.
They say a new structure would include 10,000 square feet of community space, allowing for arts, worship, and other uses.
West Park, and its supporters, argue this is a case of “demolition by neglect,” in which the owner of a landmarked building doesn’t do maintenance, so it deteriorates to the point where it argues it can’t be saved.
The sale is contingent on the New York City Landmarks Commission’s approval of the demolition of the landmarked building, something that historically has rarely been approved.
Community Board 7’s Preservation Committee recently held a hearing, flooded by West Park Center supporters wearing “Save this Landmark” buttons, on whether to recommend demolition.
The play being presented follows country music star Clarence “Strings” McCrane, who returns home to Beaumont, Tennessee, after his mother’s death.
“Hold Onto Me Darling” debuted as an Atlantic Theater Co. production starring Timothy Olyphant and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play.
Lonergan’s plays include This is Our Youth, Lobby Hero, and The Waverly Gallery, among others.
He wrote and directed the movie ‘Manchester by the Sea,’ for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for Best Director.
