Matt Damon and Mark Ruffalo want to save the church

Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo and a handful of famous actors gathered this Thursday night at a century-old church in New York City to try to “save” it from an almost inexorable fate: demolition to build yet another apartment building in the city; tall, glassy and characterless.

Damon joined Ruffalo to altruistically participate in the humanitarian reading of the play “This is our youth”with which the latter began his career, and inspired by life in the Upper West Side neighborhood, exactly where that Protestant church, West Park Presbyterian, is located.

Neo-Romanesque style, with a facade of red brick and semicircular arched windows, the temple has stood for 133 years at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 86th Street, but for two decades its image was overshadowed by decay and the constant scaffolding around it.

However, she became in from oblivion everyone’s mouth whereas his dwindling community has been shown to have financial problems over which the real estate gluttony that dominates New York hovers like a vulture; the cause that transformed the “Hulk” actor into a conservationist.

The interest culminated in a performance in the temple, where two actors, dressed informally and with no tools but their script on an easel, gave a lesson in acting and friendship that lasted more than two hours: there was some mistake solved with laughter, a hug and a start over.

And what is even more important: to sit in the pews, some 400 present who donated from $500 to $25,000; something that is not so crazy in a town that has Hollywood stars like Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Christian Slater, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jeffrey Wright present as neighbors.

Ruffalo has been dedicated to activism for months to prevent the temple from being demolished, and today after the performance he was satisfied with the reception and told several journalists that it is a historical “treasure” and that it “cannot be demolished” due to its potential. ; other colleagues agreed with him, exclaiming: “Save the church!”

The funds were earmarked for the Center at West Park, a cultural center housed within it, which offers programs and spaces for artists, and which is responsible for the maintenance and restoration of the building, a draconian task compared to the 50 million needed to survive. , according to local media.

Who is David and who is Goliath?

West Park Presbyterian’s history is far from that David vs. Goliathbecause not everything is as it seems: it is the parishioners who support the sale of the building to a real estate company in order to build a luxury apartment that will house the new temple and enable them to achieve their goals.

As West Park Center executive director Debby Hirshman explained, the congregation of about a dozen people made the decision to sell because their problems worsened after the pandemic, but “adversities” are being overcome thanks to philanthropy and events like today, which they plan to repeat.

Official name monument building, although this does not prevent its sale, but makes it more difficult; Other historic site managers have contracted with contractors throughout New York.

The playwright of the play that was performed today, Kenneth Lonergan, assures that some see the situation as parishioners cannot afford to stay in their church and want a solution and that “many famous people are making noise” to prevent it, but “it is the other way around.” “he said, since the artists intend to be their source of income.

An impassioned Ruffalo, next to him, explained, “We have actors, directors and writers coming here, it’s a new day for this church. I promise you: we’re going to make this place a vibrant and thriving community of artists, and a house of prayer on the Upper West Side, there is nothing like it here.

“No one is talking about what we can do this space as a place of art and acting, they only talk about what could be done if they offered it as an office. Broadway is looking everywhere for rehearsal spaces and paying a premium for it. I’ll leave it there,” he added.

Saving neighborhood institutions seems to be it becomes an occasional hobby famous, albeit effective, as shown in 2021 with the century-old bookstore specializing in theater The Drama Book Shop, which was saved by actor and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda.

In this sense, saving the church and its cultural center is already a collective hobby, since in addition to other readings of theatrical works, there will soon be a concert by the rapper Common, a comedy session with Amy Schumer and an art auction, said its Executive Director.