CM Performing Arts Center

CM Performing Arts Center is a nonprofit theater and performing arts organization located on Montauk Highway in Oakdale, New York. Commonly known as CMPAC or simply CM, the organization presents musicals, plays, family productions and special performances while also providing acting, music, dance and technical theater education for children and adults.

The Center’s primary performance space is the Noel S. Ruiz Theatre, a 300-seat-plus venue created from the former Oakdale Theatre. CM also operates The Onyx, a smaller flexible-use black box theater that can accommodate different seating and staging arrangements. Together, the two spaces allow the organization to present large-scale musicals alongside more intimate productions, classes, workshops and special programs.

History of CM Performing Arts Center

The organization traces its history to February 15, 1987, when Noel S. Ruiz, Joseph Campanello, Brian Schnurman and Lynn Cahalan founded Creative Ministries. Ruiz had worked as a youth minister and recognized the potential of music, drama and dance as tools for expression, education and community building.

Creative Ministries initially operated as a traveling performance organization. Its early productions were presented at churches, schools and organizations across Long Island and the neighboring New York City boroughs. The organization became a legally incorporated nonprofit in 1988 and gradually expanded its theatrical programming.

By the mid-1990s, Creative Ministries was mounting major musicals throughout the year, sometimes involving casts and production teams numbering well over 100 people. Performances were staged in rented schools, churches and other auditoriums, but the growing scale of the organization eventually created the need for a permanent theater.

Creating a Permanent Theater in Oakdale

In 1996, Creative Ministries began searching for a permanent home and identified the former Oakdale Theatre, an old movie theater that had been vacant for approximately nine years. The organization negotiated a lease and began an extensive renovation intended to transform the former cinema into a facility capable of supporting live theatrical productions.

More than $150,000 was raised for the project, and much of the renovation was completed with volunteer labor. More than 100 volunteers helped paint, sand, recover theater seats, install electrical wiring, lay carpeting and perform other work necessary to prepare the building for live performances.

The Creative Ministries Performing Arts Center officially opened at its Oakdale home on May 23, 1997, with a production of Man of La Mancha. The musical’s signature song, “The Impossible Dream,” provided an appropriate connection to the organization’s long effort to establish a theater of its own.

The Noel S. Ruiz Theatre

The Center’s main performance space was later named the Noel S. Ruiz Theatre in honor of CM’s founder following his death. The proscenium theater serves as the principal home for the organization’s musicals, plays, family productions and other large-scale performances.

In its standard configuration, the Noel S. Ruiz Theatre accommodates approximately 300 patrons. Current technical specifications list 281 fixed theater seats, removable padded seating that can also provide accessible and companion seating, and additional seating at VIP tables. Seating arrangements can vary depending on the production or event.

The theater includes a 32-foot-wide main stage, an orchestra pit, theatrical lighting and sound systems, dressing facilities and other equipment needed to support full theatrical productions. Its relatively intimate size allows CM to stage large musicals while maintaining a close relationship between the performers and audience.

The Onyx

CM Performing Arts Center also includes The Onyx, a flexible-use performance and rehearsal space. Unlike the fixed seating arrangement of the Noel S. Ruiz Theatre, The Onyx can be configured with proscenium-style seating, thrust or arena-style seating, tables or an open floor depending on the needs of a production or event.

The addition of The Onyx expanded the types of performances and programs CM can accommodate. The smaller space is suited to intimate theatrical productions, rehearsals, educational activities, workshops and other events that do not require the Center’s Main Stage.

Productions and Performing Arts Education

Musical theater has remained an important part of CM’s identity since its early years. The organization presents a changing schedule of Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, plays, family productions and special events, with performers and creative teams drawn from the Long Island theatrical community.

Education is also an important part of the Center’s mission. CM offers classes and workshops in acting, dance, music and technical theater for different ages and experience levels. School programs, student matinees and other arts education opportunities extend the organization’s activities beyond its regular public performance schedule.

The Center also offers sensory-sensitive performances designed to create a more welcoming theater experience for individuals with sensory sensitivities and their families, friends and caregivers.

Visiting CM Performing Arts Center

CM Performing Arts Center is located at 931 Montauk Highway in Oakdale, within the Lighthouse Commons Shopping Center. The theater is situated toward the corner of the shopping center and is accessible from Montauk Highway.

Parking is available throughout the Lighthouse Commons Shopping Center in marked parking spaces. The theater lobby generally opens one hour before performances, while the box office opens two hours before showtime on performance days. Visitors should check individual production information for current performance times, ticket prices and admission policies.

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CM Performing Arts Center

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Key Facts & Details

Venue	CM Performing Arts Center
Location	Oakdale, Suffolk County, New York
Address	931 Montauk Highway, Oakdale, NY 11769
Organization Founded	February 15, 1987
Oakdale Theater Opened	May 23, 1997
Original Organization Name	Creative Ministries
Founders	Noel S. Ruiz, Joseph Campanello, Brian Schnurman and Lynn Cahalan
Main Performance Space	Noel S. Ruiz Theatre
Standard Main Theater Capacity	Approximately 300 seats; current standard configuration is 307
Second Performance Space	The Onyx
Venue Type	Nonprofit performing arts center and community theater organization
Programming	Musicals, plays, family theater, special performances, classes and arts education programs
Parking	Free parking available in marked spaces throughout Lighthouse Commons Shopping Center
Box Office	631-218-2810
Website	CM Performing Arts Center

From its beginnings as a traveling performance troupe to the restoration of a long-vacant Oakdale movie theater, CM Performing Arts Center has developed into a permanent home for live theater and performing arts education on Long Island. Its Noel S. Ruiz Theatre, flexible Onyx performance space and continuing schedule of productions and educational programs carry forward the community-focused vision that led to the organization’s creation in 1987.