Ovations for champions of the Bedford Playhouse

The Weedens will be the dual honorees of the Bedford Playhouse’s 2025 Spring Benefit on May 9. GARY CORRIGAN PHOTO

By JOYCE CORRIGAN

Arguably Bedford’s most glamorous and global altruists, Don Weeden and Vanessa Smith had their second date in Nepal. In the mid ‘80s, Weeden was working in Kathmandu for Columbia University on sorely-needed public health initiatives, and Smith was a commercial scenic artist in New York, when he sent a ticket for her to trek the Himalayas with him. 

“Mostly I remember being deathly ill with altitude sickness,” Smith laughed.  “But I fell deeply for Don, seeing the incredible work he was doing.” 

In Weeden’s recollection, “My friends immediately pronounced Vanessa ‘a keeper.’” 

Married over 30 years and having raised their 26-year-old son, Jack, in Bedford, they’re just now back from their far-flung winter travels, including environmental activism in Chile and kayaking in Patagonia for Weeden, and poetry events and filming in Los Angeles for Smith. 

Two winters ago Smith ran the New York City Marathon with Team Daniel to raise funds for the Playhouse, which she’ll do again this year. A homecoming well timed: On Friday, May 9, the Playhouse will honor the Weedens for their invaluable contributions of time, experience and talent, and proceeds from the 2025 Spring Benefit will help support the Let's Talk and Environmental series. The evening’s program will be star-lit by comedian Lynn Koplitz and rock legend Rob Thomas. For donationse, visit bedfordplayhouse.org.

Co-chair of the Bedford Playhouse’s Advisory committee, Smith also regularly produces imaginative video shorts for them (as she does for Bedford 2030 and the Katonah Museum of Art). She’s an exhibited painter, has just published a book of her poetry, and is working on a memoir. 

For over 20 years, Weeden was executive director of the Weeden Foundation, which supports a wide range of programs that aim to preserve biodiversity worldwide.

Not only did the Weedens step up with fundraising and creative support in 2015 when film curator John Farr first assumed the task of reimagining the 75-year-old Playhouse — a $6 million renovation that resulted in state-of-the-art technology and plush furnishings — they were also on the front lines a few years later when COVID-19 hit. 

“We were exceptionally fortunate to have smart people like Don and Vanessa strategizing and helping us remain functional, especially when the venue was closed,” recalled Bedford Playhouse Artistic Director Dan Friedman. “Vanessa has been one of the driving forces behind the ‘Let’s Talk’ series which focuses on mental health, and Don has brought fantastic documentaries and speakers on the critical issues of climate change, conservation and other environmental policies.” 

Many of these programs were recorded and are live on the Playhouse YouTube channel, Friedman added. “And are still among our most frequently viewed content.”

“Let’s Talk,” which Smith co-founded in 2019 with Christine Biddle and Audrey Zinman, has to date organized more than 45 presentations with speakers, films, panels and conversations. It’s been especially topical with so many in the community struggling to cope — before and after the pandemic. “Parents were telling us they couldn’t get their kids out of the basement,” recalled Smith. “We knew we had to address issues that were magnified due to isolation. We contacted experts in addiction, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and suicide and were fortunate so many of them were available to participate.”

Smith is known as a compassionate but fearless moderator whose natural persistence, curiosity and concern inspire her to ask the tough, uncomfortable questions. “If just one person is rescued by good information,” she explained, “then it’s worth it.” 

Last week, “Let’s Talk,” hosted B. Janet Hibbs and Anthony Rostain, who discussed their books “The Stressed Years of Their Lives” and “You’re Not Done Yet,” both which address the grueling challenges faced by today’s college-bound youth. 

That Weeden has assumed such an important role at an iconic movie house seems like fate: his grandfather was Wild Bill Elliott, who, from the late ‘30s through the ‘50s was considered one of Hollywood’s top 10 Western movie stars. 

“When John (Farr) was envisioning the Playhouse, I called him and Olivia (Farr’s wife) who had co-founded Bedford 2030, to propose an environmental film series,” recalled Weeden. “Bedford is a sophisticated, curious community that’s proud and protective of their natural surroundings,” he said. “I knew we had an opportunity.” 

Bedford 2030 and Weeden’s family-founded Weeden Foundation teamed up, and in six years have sponsored over 20 programs.

Weeden has used his international network to create programming on conservation efforts from Nepal to Patagonia and focus on global issues such as biodiversity loss and unsustainable consumption of natural resources. He made possible the East Coast premiere of the 2019 documentary “Planet of the Humans,” with both the director and producer present.

“The film was controversial,” Weeden acknowledged. “It had been criticized by a few environmental groups for its critical view of certain green energy sources and the concept of sustainability itself.” But, he added, “why I love doing programs at the Playhouse is that often the Q&A portion is as exciting as the film itself.”

Weeden was also able to secure a screening of the documentary “Wild Life” from Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. The film chronicles Doug and Kris Tompkins’s game-changing conservation efforts to create over 10 million acres of new national parklands in Chile and Argentina. Weeden moderated the Q&A with several former colleagues who had worked alongside the Tompkins. Not only did their efforts put rewilding — the restoration of an area’s natural ecosystems — on the national agenda in Chile, but is also acknowledged to have inspired rewilding efforts in the U.S.

While an avid first-run film fan, Smith says she’s thrilled to see the Playhouse and Clive Davis Arts Center evolve to include author and expert talks, gallery shows, stand-up comedy and live music.

“I look at the Playhouse programming as a curated flea market,” she said. “You’ll always find something unexpected, something of real value. And that will always keep you coming back.”