People of Troy

Interview with David Girard, Managing Partner of 518 Craft and Artistic Director of Troy Foundry Theatre

How would you explain Troy to someone who's never been here?

I would say that it’s one of the most historical— sneaky historical— places in the United States. I think it’s one of, I don’t think, I mean, it is one of the oldest cities. A lot of people like to talk about how it was the third richest city in the United States. It was probably actually the richest city at certain points, given markets and things like that, between 1840 and 1880, which gives it this incredibly rich history— the suffragette movement, the labor movement, the amount of money that moved through the town, the amount of incredible industry, just the amount of things that were made here. This was a place where things were made, where things were created, where there was not just a massive amount of industry, but a massive amount of that early American spirit of, “We can make anything here. We can create anything.” It’s a great place for makers. And you see that now, in a sort of 2026 kind of world. We have the youngest demographic in the state. Rensselaer County has the youngest demographic of all counties in New York State, but really that has more to do with Troy. The rest of Rensselaer County is really kind of rural.

So Troy really occupies that space of being a place where young professionals come here to make things as artists. This is a bar that is employed with and owned by all artists, and so all of us sort of returned to Troy — some of us being from the Capital Region and then went and lived in New York. I went to grad school in Philly, lived in New York, but came back here to make, to create, to build community. It’s a great place to build community, to build art, certainly a great place to run a business. And yeah, I would say it’s gritty city. It’s kind of hardcore. When people say, “Oh, it’s upstate Brooklyn,” I’m like, “We’re older than Brooklyn in many respects.” I think we were Brooklyn before Brooklyn was Brooklyn. And I think it’s just a great place, particularly if you’re somebody that’s moving from a busier life. It’s a great place because you have the city. I wake up and I can go to a coffee shop, I can go to a bar, I’ve got a neighborhood bar and a coffee shop, but I can also go 20 to 30 minutes in any direction and I’m in the mountains. It’s very pastoral. I can go on a great hike. I can go up to Shafer Pond. I can go hiking in Grafton Lakes. I can go to the Adirondacks, the Catskills, the Berkshires, the Green Mountains. So it’s really kind of perfect. It’s sort of an urban paradise, I guess.

When have you felt most supported by this community?

"I think when we were having a little bit of an issue a couple of years ago— well, I’ll tell you what I’m most supported by the Troy community as a citizen of Troy— is when I make art, because I am the artistic director of Troy Foundry Theatre. We tend to think of theater as an old person’s recreation, and I look in my audience and I see a lot of young people and a lot of diversity. As far as support with the bar, when we had a little issue with live music a few years ago, a lot of people came out and really supported us. Particularly in the downtown area, people want this to be a really vibrant place. It’s a fun place to go, either during the week or particularly on the weekends. People have this expectation of outdoor live music, of everybody’s doors open and welcoming the community. Every bar has its identity. Bootleggers has its identity. Lucas Confectionery has their identity. No Fun has their identity. And for us, we’re sort of the nerdy, artsy bar. We’re the community bar. We have an event on Tuesdays called “Coloring and Crosswords” that we did not plan. It organically came out of a group of people coming in after we had an ugly sweater coloring party, and over the last few years it’s turned into a regular Tuesday event. We don’t even really program Tuesday nights. We have a run club earlier on, but the rest of our nights are usually pretty programmed between trivia, karaoke, and live music on the weekends. But that one kind of came out of the regulars and the community that comes into this bar.

That’s the kind of stuff that makes me feel like we’re really supported. Artists and makers and creators really support this bar. I think artists in general are very supportive of this bar. And people who are really interested in making community — not just saying it because it sounds good, not virtue signaling— but actually building a community for their families, their friends, their colleagues, both professional and personal. This is the kind of space where we encourage that kind of behavior. Even our karaoke night— it’s not competitive in any way. Everybody’s supportive. It’s one of the nicer karaoke nights, and it’s not a super drunk karaoke night either. I think that’s why it’s been really popular. People actually feel supported there. Deb Zep hosts it, and Deb also does our open mic. Now Deb is also going to be doing our outdoor kiosk for the Saturday farmers market, so Deb’s officially an employee now instead of a subcontractor for Five Points.

That’s a great example of somebody we’ve supported over the last few years. Deb came back to the area with a family, really trying to make it work both as an artist and a mom, and we’ve continued to support Deb as best we can, and Deb’s kind of given it back to us. Now we’re like, “Well, now we should just hire Deb.” Deb should just work for us. That’s a really great example of a relationship that’s blossomed over the last couple of years."

Has there been a moment where you felt connected to the city's history?

"I found out, while doing research for a play called Prohibition Project in 2019, that my great-grandfather was a bootlegger. My dad had suspected this— we thought it was kind of an apocryphal story in my family’s history— and I found out it was true. I was doing a lot of research for the show, not necessarily about my family, but as a side thing I started researching them, and I found out that my great-grandfather had been arrested as a bootlegger and was definitely involved in that world because he had been a bar owner in the early aughts. Then all of a sudden, around 1919 or 1920, he stops showing up in the business records. I interviewed this brewery historian for the show, and he ended up sending me all this information he found. That was really interesting because I was working on a play about Prohibition, where Troy was basically a character in the show, and then to find out I had this deep personal connection to it… Because I am born in Troy. I wasn’t raised in Troy— we moved out when I was four or five and I grew up in Stillwater. Then I lived here in 2008, 2009, moved to Philly for grad school, and came back in 2016. But I’ve always felt a real connection to this city. And especially running the bar, then finding out like, “Oh, I’m really good at this bartending thing.” I had only bartended once in my life when I was like 21 or 22 at a local bar where I grew up, and I was a fucking terrible bartender. Terrible. Then to discover I had this skill set I never knew I had… now I would put Shannon and me up as probably two of the best bartenders in Troy. And I don’t mean that arrogantly— I mean that confidently. We’re really, really good bartenders. I think the folks at 353 are great. I think there are a couple bartenders over at Whiskey Pickle who are really awesome. There are talented people sprinkled throughout the city, but I would absolutely put Shannon and me up against any of them skill-wise. A lot of the theater I make also connects to Troy’s history. We’ve done immersive pieces that tie directly into the city’s past, so I always feel a deep connection that way. When people come in from out of town and ask, “What makes this place cool?” I always have a story. I always have something in my backpack because I know so much history. I’m friends with Kathy Sheehan, who’s the Rensselaer County historian, and I know a lot of historians and people who know this city deeply. I’m endlessly curious about Troy. Always. Because there’s also a darker history to it. What was the underbelly of Troy in 1925? Or 1935? Or 1865? I’m fascinated by that history too. But also the incredible things this city has done that people have forgotten. From a national standpoint, this was a massively important city. Between 1840 and 1880, this was one of the richest cities in the world. And also the fact that it’s named after a city that wanted to burn itself down, while Troy itself had several major fires in the late 19th century — I’m fascinated by all of that. Personally, I feel like every year there’s something that reconnects me to this city. I remember being in Europe, and then a few years ago, after we finally got the outdoor seating really going here, I finished a shift late at night and was sitting outside with some friends after closing. We were finishing drinks outside and suddenly I had this memory of being in a palazzo in Marsala during a trip to Italy with the New York State Theater Institute. And I remember thinking, “Oh my God. This is what Monument Square is.” It’s an Italian palazzo. The outdoor seating, the atmosphere— it felt exactly like that. Those are the moments where I feel wildly connected to this town. I did an interview with the Proctors Collaborative several years ago when my theater company was in the Trojan Hotel, and I started that interview by saying, “I was born in Troy and I will likely die in Troy. And I’m really okay with that.” I think this is where I want to die. I don’t think I want to die anywhere else. Coming back to Troy and deciding not to open a theater company in Brooklyn— because that was the original plan with my business partner— but instead opening one here, and eventually getting to the point where I own a bar in the same way my great-grandfather did in Troy, and in the same way my grandfather and father were connected to Capital Region history… Finding my place here kind of accidentally— that wasn’t the plan. If you had asked me five years ago if I was going to own a fucking bar in downtown Troy, I would have told you that you were absolutely crazy. No fucking way. So even this, I sort of fell into. And I’m really happy about it. I kind of like the idea that it wasn’t planned. Maybe it’s fate. Maybe I’m supposed to be in Troy for whatever reason. There are many times where I think, “Yeah, I’m definitely supposed to be here.” I’m definitely a Trojan. There are people who claim they’re Trojans, and it’s like, yeah, but I’m really a fucking Trojan. I have the grit. But I also have the art. I can be prickly. I can be the grouchy curmudgeon bartender. But I’m also a ton of fucking fun. I kind of feel like I embody what’s really fun and interesting and cool about Troy. So anytime people come in from out of town, I’m always celebrating the city. I’m rarely saying “Fuck Troy.” There are things that piss me off, all the bullshit you sometimes have to deal with— because you do have to deal with that stuff. But I would take that any day of the week because I love this city so much."