From the last Sunday of October to the week before Thanksgiving, Tilles Center has five performances in the Krasnoff Theater, its 500-seat room. One more December evening takes place in the lobby atrium. From November into December, the 2,200-seat Concert Hall's clearest dates are ballet, with Shanghai Ballet's Giselle on November 1 and Eglevsky Ballet's The Nutcracker on December 19 and 20. If you live a few minutes from 720 Northern Boulevard, these weeks are the ones where the smaller rooms on the LIU Post campus give you the best evenings out.
Colin Quinn is on the calendar tonight, October 22. After that, the season moves into the smaller room.
A Building Made of Additions
The rooms carrying this season are the newest parts of a building that has been rebuilt several times. In 1970, what was then C. W. Post College opened a 3,500-seat theater on the Brookville campus, built by the Butler Manufacturing Company and known locally as The Dome. On the snowy night of January 21, 1978, the roof gave way under the snow that had piled on top of it. Tilles Center's own history says the collapse was slow, no one was hurt, and not a single chair below was damaged.
The concert hall that replaced it went up on the same footprint and was finished in 1981. It held 2,250 seats, and no one sat more than 125 feet from the stage. It was named Bush-Brown Concert Hall in 1985, and in 1987 a gift from the Rose and Gilbert Tilles family renamed it Tilles Center for the Performing Arts.
After that came a series of additions:
| Year | What changed |
|---|---|
| 2005 | A $10 million, 10,000-square-foot expansion added the Atrium, offices, restrooms and support spaces |
| 2018 | The Krasnoff Theater was renovated and expanded with new sound, projection and seating |
| 2020 | Cosmetic upgrades to the Concert Hall |
The atrium and the renovated Krasnoff are the two spaces the late-fall calendar uses most, and both were built or rebuilt in 2005 or later.
Four Weeks in the Krasnoff
The Krasnoff's run starts on a Sunday afternoon and ends on a Wednesday night:
| Date | Performance | Time | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Broadway Fright Night | 3:00 PM | Created and hosted by Stephen DeAngelis |
| Sun., Nov. 8 | An American in Paris for Two Pianos | 3:00 PM | With Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center |
| Thu., Nov. 12 | Cowboy Junkies | 7:30 PM | |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Love Stories: Neat or On the Rocks | 7:00 PM | |
| Wed., Nov. 18 | David Brooks | 7:30 PM | With Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center |
Two of the five are Sunday matinees at 3:00, so you can go to the theater and still be home for an early supper. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center program on November 8 brings a Manhattan presenter to Brookville. In a 500-seat room, a program for two pianos is heard about as close as the format allows.
On the Tilles calendar, the Cowboy Junkies show is billed "Celebrating 40 Years and Beyond." The band is playing the Krasnoff, not the main hall, which is the more intimate of the two settings for a group with a following that long.
Love Stories: Neat or On the Rocks is the one date with a backstory. It was first scheduled for September, and the event page says it was moved to November 14 because of an approaching weather event. The show is a musical built from singer-songwriter Robert Arleo's original love songs. It's set in a fictional bar called Hadleys and runs as twelve separate scenes, each told to one of two bartenders and each ending with a song.
The run closes with David Brooks on November 18, presented with the Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center in partnership with Tilles Center.
The Atrium Gets a Night of Its Own
On Thursday, December 3, Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O! plays in neither theater. It's set at 7:30 PM in the Herbert and Dolores Goldsmith Atrium and presented with Jazz at Lincoln Center. On most nights, the atrium is where the concession stands and bars open an hour before curtain. That night, the 2005 addition is the venue itself.
Ballet at Both Ends of the Big Hall
The Concert Hall's two clearest dates of the late fall are both ballet, about seven weeks apart.
Shanghai Ballet performs Giselle on Sunday, November 1, at 7:00 PM. Before the curtain there's an Arts Insider talk from 5:30 to 6:15 PM, held across the building in the Krasnoff. If you arrive early, you'll get the talk in the small room and the ballet in the large one.
Derek Hough's Dance for the Holidays, co-presented with Live Nation, fills the Concert Hall on Sunday, December 13, at 8:00 PM.
The following weekend closes the calendar year with The Nutcracker. André Eglevsky, a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, founded Eglevsky Ballet in 1961. Tilles Center bills this year's staging as the company's 65th anniversary production. It features Beckanne Sisk and Chase O'Connell of the National Ballet of Canada alongside Eglevsky company dancers and students, with choreography by Peter LeBreton Merz and live music from the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, conducted by David Bernard.
There are three performances:
- Saturday, December 19, at 1:00 PM
- Saturday, December 19, at 6:00 PM
- Sunday, December 20, at 2:00 PM
In 2021, the Long Island Press reported on the company's Nutcracker returning to Tilles Center. The production's run on Long Island goes back almost as far as the concert hall's original site.
The Week That Set It Up
The Knights opened this stretch on October 18 with pianist Emanuel Ax. The next night, the orchestra was back on the program for the Long Island Arts Alliance's musical celebration of Roger B. Tilles, with special guest Melissa Errico and young Long Island performers. The Alliance's page says Tilles is concluding 21 years representing Nassau and Suffolk Counties on the New York State Board of Regents, after four decades of service to arts, education and civic life.
Over the summer, Newsday's season announcement listed Cowboy Junkies, Shanghai Ballet, An American in Paris for Two Pianos and David Brooks among the 2026–27 lineup. Those four are the backbone of the late fall described above.
Getting In and Out
A few practical notes from the venue that suit a weeknight in the Krasnoff:
- Parking is on site and free, and Tilles Center suggests arriving early. Directions and parking
- Doors usually open two hours before a performance.
- The atrium bars open an hour before showtime, with full bar service at most shows. Patron-level members and above can use the VIP lounge before the show and at intermission. Eat and drink
- The Tantleff Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 1 to 6 PM, plus two hours before most ticketed events. Box office hours
The full 2026–27 calendar notes that events are added throughout the year and that the Broadway series is still to be announced. More dates may appear before the Nutcracker weekend.
A good evening close to home is part of what makes the Brookvilles feel like home, and I like hearing which nights at Tilles Center neighbors are planning around. If you'd like to talk through life in the villages around Northern Boulevard, whether you're settling in or thinking about what comes next, Cottie Maxwell would be glad to hear from you. Schedule a private consultation with Cottie.
