Schenectady theater and Stockade stalwart Fava remembered as community pillar

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SCHENECTADY — Joe Fava dedicated his life to his twin passions of community theater and the preservation of the Stockade, his friends and colleagues recalled following Fava’s passing on Wednesday.

The longtime Schenectady Civic Players stalwart and Stockade neighborhood resident died at Ellis Hospital due to complications relating to a heart condition, leaving behind a legacy of work with his beloved theater group that spanned eight decades.

Cristine Loffredo, the former president of Schenectady Civic Players, said that Fava, who served as president of the organization for three separate stints, had an outsized influence on the group since he joined it in the late 1950s.

“He had every role with the Civic Players,” Loffredo said with a laugh. “He was instrumental with building the playhouse to what it is today. He was president of the board multiple times and he was the head of our centennial campaign, which was a huge fundraising undertaking. He was a great mentor for me. He directed me and things and he was an actor of course, but he was also a very good director.”

In the weeks before his death, Fava, 82, directed one final production for the playhouse, with performances of the show “A Condo to Kill For” on April 21 and 22.

“For a man of his age and even through illnesses, he was like the Energizer Bunny, he never stopped,” Loffredo said. “He would say, ‘Oh yeah, I need to go see my cardiologist but I have to do this first.’ He had just finished with our murder mystery that he had directed as a fundraiser for the playhouse. He was not feeling well and he finished that. He waited until that was over and then the next day he went to the hospital.”

An antiques lover, Fava worked at Stone Soup Antiques Gallery until his passing.

He made his living as a longtime real estate broker and was committed to preserving the history of the Stockade district. A former president of the Stockade Association, he owned one of the neighborhood’s oldest homes at 27 N. Ferry St. for over four decades.

“He was a lot of fun and he was a great storyteller,” Schenectady resident Sylvie Briber said of Fava. “He could have you in stitches in a few words. He loved antiques. He was very creative and a great leader in the Stockade.”

Briber said that during the Stockade Association’s walkabout house tour, Fava would open his home’s gardens for participants to explore.

Fava, whose North Ferry Street home was built in 1795, also served on the Schenectady Historic District Commission.

Bill Hickman of Schenectady Civic Players knew Fava for over six decades, with the close friends working to preserve the theater group that was founded in 1928.

“He was very important to the Schenectady Civic Players and vice versa,” Hickman said of Fava. “He was very active as a director, producer and about everything you can imagine over the years. He was very central to the Schenectady Civic Playhouse, which is going into its 95th season as one of the oldest community theaters in the country.”

Fava cast Marty O’Connor in his first show with the Schenectady Civic Players in 1997.

“He was very intense, but he also had a lot of fun,” O’Connor said. “The thing I most remember about Joe is him always laughing. In the plays that he was directing, he had a good idea of what he wanted and that was his call. So we worked hard.”

O’Connor visited Fava at Ellis Hospital the day before his passing; Fava was unable to speak as he came out of a medically induced coma.

“He was a brilliant guy,” O’Connor said. “He forgot more about theater than I’ll ever know, that’s for sure. He was just a pleasure to be around.”

Contact Ted Remsnyder at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @TedRemsnyder.

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Categories: Email Newsletter, Life and Arts, Life and Arts, News, News, Schenectady, Schenectady County