Aaron Holbritter (Creative License Theater Collective) – An Xperience Interview

By Rob Smittix.

RRX: You’ve got some stuff going on, and I think it all starts with Creative License Theater Collective. Tell us a little bit about that. 

AH: Creative License was formed by my partner, Casey Polomaine, and me in 2014. We started performing at the Albany Barn, and then in 2021, after the pandemic, we were invited to be the resident non-musical theater company at the Cohoes Music Hall.

RRX: That’s awesome. First of all, starting off at The Barn – I love The Barn. I wish that existed when I was single. I have spent some time there. I’ve chilled out there, and I was like, man … I almost want to tell my wife I want to live here.

AH: Yeah, so Casey, my partner for Creative License, was until last year the Executive Director at The Barn, so you’ve probably run into her.

RRX: Oh yeah, I’m sure. That’s a really cool place, but Cohoes Music Hall, I mean … that’s the big time! That’s Eva Tanguay, that’s the fifth oldest music hall in the country.

AH:  Yeah, I’ve lived in Cohoes for … God, 35 years now, 30 years at least, and I had done some shows with another company years ago at the music hall. It’s such a great venue. It just evokes so much theatre history, right? 

RRX: Sure does.

AH: You just feel all of it when you’re performing there, and it’s a very unique feeling.

RRX: You know how you can go up and give a little token of appreciation to Eva and ask for her blessing?

AH: Yep, we always do it before every opening night. The whole cast and crew make a sojourn up to the altar and leave an offering for Eva.

RRX: I’ve gone ghost hunting, and I’ve been in cemeteries at night, and I don’t usually feel much, but being in Eva’s area, you really feel something. It’s a claustrophobic area, and I’m like … alright, here you go, Eva, thank you, I’m out. 

AH: Yeah, for sure.

RRX: So, “Breathing Time,” I see that you’re the director on that. What goes into being a director, and what’s “Breathing Time” all about?

AH: Casey and I kind of … we are the sole people behind Creative License. We’re a small company; we don’t have a board of directors, we don’t have any of that. It’s just me and Casey diving in and making stuff happen. We’re constantly balancing the jobs of being the producers as well as the directors and the costume designers and finding people to be the set designers and the lighting designers. There’s a lot of crossover between being a producer and then taking on the role of director, which is more just working with the actors, putting the show together, and building the show itself as an entertaining piece of theater. It’s a lot of work, but the end result is always worth it because we always know that the show that we’re putting on stage is 100% the vision that we’re putting forward. It’s very artistically fulfilling in that way. As opposed to working for another company, which is not to disparage that, but you know? Working for another company and going in and putting on the show that they want (which is also fine), but it’s nice to have that sort of independence and that artistic freedom.

RRX: Oh, absolutely. “Breathing Time” is from the creator of “House of Cards” or something?

AH: Yeah, it was a play written by him (Beau Willimon) not long after “House of Cards” came out. He also wrote a play called “Farragut North,” which was turned into a  George Clooney movie called “The Ides of March.” It was a fairly popular movie. So, he’s pretty well known. It’s a very interesting play. I’ll be honest, it’s a little tricky to talk about, only because of a thing that happens in the play that sort of needs to stay … (Laughs)

RRX: Yeah, you don’t wanna do a spoiler alert.

AH: But primarily, it is about four characters who have shared relationships and the way we’re describing it … the New York Times, when they reviewed it back when it was off Broadway, called it “a simple study in how ordinary relationships can be shaped or put in perspective by much larger events.”

RRX: Hmmm, alright.

AH: So without getting too much into the details of the plot, you’ve got two guys who work together, and their typical morning routine – talking things through and their relationship. Then we jump ahead, in the second act, about three weeks, and we meet two people directly related to the first act. 

RRX: Okay, I love good theater, even the small stuff that you see at the Steamer or whatever it’s called.

AH: Yeah, yeah, Steamer 10 for sure.

RRX: Every time I’m watching a theatrical performance, I’m thinking about how talented these actors are up there, keeping everybody engaged that long. I don’t know if I could do that.

AH: We pride ourselves on working with really the best people that we can find for the roles. We go to great lengths and don’t often rely so much on just straight auditioning. Our goal really is to just reach out to people who we’ve worked with or who we know or who we’ve seen in other stuff. Finding the right people for the role and setting that aside before we even commit to doing the show, which isn’t always the case. You know? Since we are not a not-for-profit, we’re also one of the few theater companies locally that pays everybody involved in the show a stipend; that’s very important to us. That’s another reason why we didn’t go the not-for-profit route.

RRX: I respect the hustle as a small business ourselves.

AH:  I’m just a believer that if my work is good, people are gonna come and see it!

Breathing Time

Cast: Nick Martiniano, Chad Reid, Rhiannon Artico, Laura Graver, Emily Bryan, and Jacob Bell.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Friday, September 18, 2026 — 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 19, 2026 — 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, September 20, 2026 — 2:00 p.m. (Matinee)

Friday, September 25, 2026 — 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 26, 2026 — 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, September 27, 2026 — 2:00 p.m. (Matinee)

TICKETS & INFORMATION

Tickets are available through the Cohoes Music Hall box office. For tickets and additional information, visit CreativeLicenseOnline.com or contact the Cohoes Music Hall box office.