Strongbox Theater may have just opened, but for owner Tony Leone, the venue lived in his mind for decades.

"It's been an obsession," Leone said. The theater owner says he was an actor "back in a past life" and says it was a conversation with a fellow actor many years ago that sparked the idea of owning a theater.

Leone and his wife, Marla D'Urso, set their sites on an old bank on Main Street in East Rockaway and purchased it in 2020. The bank's vault is center stage in what's now the bar area of the theater. The theater features nearly 100 seats, high ceilings, balconies, modular seating and state-of-the-art lighting.

The bar area incudes paintings by Shawn Sullivan, a local artist. It also boasts a penny wall, in homage to the building's roots.

Upcoming shows include two days of performances by Long Island's own Joe Iconis, the play "Buried Child" by Sam Shepard and "A Christmas Carol."

The theater is about a six-minute walk from the East Rockaway Long Island Rail Road station and is ADA accessible.