The executive director of The Avenue Blackbox Theatre says a Rochester police search of the building that left it damaged and forced its temporary closure was an unnecessary “show of force” that she believes was executed in part because she has been an outspoken critic of law enforcement.
“This is a small city,” the executive director, Reenah Golden, said Thursday. “Everyone who knows me knows my feelings about the police, about defunding the police, about misusing their power and brutalizing and oppressing this community. So, when they got the opportunity to show force in this direction, that’s exactly what they’ve done.”
The incident began around noon on Wednesday, when Golden, who was working from home, noticed she had a voicemail.
The missed call was from Paul Dondorfer, a Rochester Police Department investigator and Monroe County legislator, who informed her that officers had a warrant to search the theater as part of an investigation into a homicide that had taken place nearby a few days earlier.
The theater, a fast-growing hub of cultural and community activities in the Joseph Avenue corridor, was not implicated in the homicide. But officers believed its security cameras could have captured evidence in the killing.
RELATED: Police search The Avenue Blackbox Theatre as part of homicide investigation
In an interview, Golden said she returned Dondorfer’s call and that an argument between them ensued over the timing of the search. Golden said she explained that she could not get to the theater immediately and wanted to schedule a time that she could meet officers. Dondorfer, she said, told her she was expressing “anti-police” sentiments and that officers would enter the building one way or another.
“I said, ‘Are you talking about breaking into the building?’” Golden said. “I’m not there, I can’t be there right now, so why can’t we do this when I can actually get down there?”
Reached Thursday by phone, Dondorfer denied that there was an argument between himself and Golden but declined to comment further and referred inquiries to a police spokesperson.
THE MAYOR GETS INVOLVED
Golden said she called Mayor Malik Evans, who set up a conversation between her and Chief David Smith and Capt. Frank Umbrino. She said Umbrino and Smith advised her that she had 20 minutes to get to the scene before the search began. Her phone log shows that the call occurred at 12:52 p.m.
“So, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, how am I going to manage this, how am I going to manage what I need to do as well as getting down there before they do that?’” Golden said. “But before I even could, my alarm started going. So, they were already here, and already breached the building.”
The officers at the scene pried open the back door of the theater at 1:11 p.m. and began the search. The item they wanted was a hard drive linked to three building-facing security cameras at Blackbox.
Golden later received a copy of the search warrant, which she provided. The warrant, issued by County Court Judge Michael Dollinger, called for officers to seek a “digital video surveillance system, including a digital video recorder, hard drive, or any other electronic storage devices connected to the surveillance system and their recorded contents.”
Upon leaving, officers bolted the back door shut with two hex-head screws, rendering it unusable.
Golden, judging the building to be unsecure, canceled an after-school class scheduled at the theater for today.
A LEGISLATOR REACHES OUT
The homicide in question was that of Jose Arroyo, 41, who was shot and killed Saturday night on Wilkins Street, about 400 feet from The Avenue Blackbox Theatre. The theater was closed at the time.
Golden said she was not contacted by police in the following days, but that she heard from another county legislator, Mercedes Vazquez-Simmons, that police were interested in speaking with her.
On Tuesday, the day before the search, Golden said Vazquez-Simmons called her to tell her that Dondorfer had asked how to get in touch with Golden, after seeing a photo of Blackbox that Vazquez-Simmons had posted on social media.
Vazquez-Simmons, in a phone interview Thursday, said she reached out to Golden as a friend to let her know that police were looking to talk with her, but that she was otherwise not involved.
Golden said the police used force to enter the building not out of necessity, but because of the argument, and her politics. Golden, who started The Avenue Blackbox Theatre in 2018, has been an outspoken critic of police violence.
“I feel like, for me, I should not be violated because of my politics towards the police,” Golden said. “Because they have the power to violate me, and cause problems for me, and do all of this unnecessary stuff and use this as an excuse to surveil my space . . . that is the problem here, that’s the problem for me. That misuse of power.”
THE THEATER CLOSES — FOR NOW
For now, The Avenue Blackbox Theatre is closed to the public as she waits to repair the rear door and secure the building. It’s a tough moment for Golden, who views the space as “sacred.”
Lt. Greg Bello, in a written statement, said officers pried open the Blackbox door for the reason that no one was around to unlock it.
“We pried the door in order to enter the location and serve the search warrant,” Bello said. “The doors were locked and despite multiple attempts, we were unable to make arrangements with someone to open the door.”
Golden disagreed with that version of events. She said she was willing to meet officers and let them in but was not allowed the opportunity to set a time. Instead, she said, she was given a non-negotiable deadline of 20 minutes.
“When I spoke to the police chief, I repeatedly asked them if we could do this at a time that they didn’t have to break in,” Golden said. “If anyone is insinuating that I wasn’t cooperating, or I wasn’t answering, or I wasn’t allowing them, I never said any of that.” 
“This is a small city,” the executive director, Reenah Golden, said Thursday. “Everyone who knows me knows my feelings about the police, about defunding the police, about misusing their power and brutalizing and oppressing this community. So, when they got the opportunity to show force in this direction, that’s exactly what they’ve done.”
The incident began around noon on Wednesday, when Golden, who was working from home, noticed she had a voicemail.
The missed call was from Paul Dondorfer, a Rochester Police Department investigator and Monroe County legislator, who informed her that officers had a warrant to search the theater as part of an investigation into a homicide that had taken place nearby a few days earlier.
The theater, a fast-growing hub of cultural and community activities in the Joseph Avenue corridor, was not implicated in the homicide. But officers believed its security cameras could have captured evidence in the killing.
RELATED: Police search The Avenue Blackbox Theatre as part of homicide investigation
In an interview, Golden said she returned Dondorfer’s call and that an argument between them ensued over the timing of the search. Golden said she explained that she could not get to the theater immediately and wanted to schedule a time that she could meet officers. Dondorfer, she said, told her she was expressing “anti-police” sentiments and that officers would enter the building one way or another.
“I said, ‘Are you talking about breaking into the building?’” Golden said. “I’m not there, I can’t be there right now, so why can’t we do this when I can actually get down there?”
Reached Thursday by phone, Dondorfer denied that there was an argument between himself and Golden but declined to comment further and referred inquiries to a police spokesperson.
THE MAYOR GETS INVOLVED
Golden said she called Mayor Malik Evans, who set up a conversation between her and Chief David Smith and Capt. Frank Umbrino. She said Umbrino and Smith advised her that she had 20 minutes to get to the scene before the search began. Her phone log shows that the call occurred at 12:52 p.m.
“So, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, how am I going to manage this, how am I going to manage what I need to do as well as getting down there before they do that?’” Golden said. “But before I even could, my alarm started going. So, they were already here, and already breached the building.”
The officers at the scene pried open the back door of the theater at 1:11 p.m. and began the search. The item they wanted was a hard drive linked to three building-facing security cameras at Blackbox.
- FILE PHOTO
- The Avenue Blackbox Theatre has become a Black cultural institution in the Joseph Avenue neighborhood since its inception four years ago.
Upon leaving, officers bolted the back door shut with two hex-head screws, rendering it unusable.
Golden, judging the building to be unsecure, canceled an after-school class scheduled at the theater for today.
A LEGISLATOR REACHES OUT
The homicide in question was that of Jose Arroyo, 41, who was shot and killed Saturday night on Wilkins Street, about 400 feet from The Avenue Blackbox Theatre. The theater was closed at the time.
Golden said she was not contacted by police in the following days, but that she heard from another county legislator, Mercedes Vazquez-Simmons, that police were interested in speaking with her.
On Tuesday, the day before the search, Golden said Vazquez-Simmons called her to tell her that Dondorfer had asked how to get in touch with Golden, after seeing a photo of Blackbox that Vazquez-Simmons had posted on social media.
Vazquez-Simmons, in a phone interview Thursday, said she reached out to Golden as a friend to let her know that police were looking to talk with her, but that she was otherwise not involved.
Golden said the police used force to enter the building not out of necessity, but because of the argument, and her politics. Golden, who started The Avenue Blackbox Theatre in 2018, has been an outspoken critic of police violence.
“I feel like, for me, I should not be violated because of my politics towards the police,” Golden said. “Because they have the power to violate me, and cause problems for me, and do all of this unnecessary stuff and use this as an excuse to surveil my space . . . that is the problem here, that’s the problem for me. That misuse of power.”
THE THEATER CLOSES — FOR NOW
For now, The Avenue Blackbox Theatre is closed to the public as she waits to repair the rear door and secure the building. It’s a tough moment for Golden, who views the space as “sacred.”
Lt. Greg Bello, in a written statement, said officers pried open the Blackbox door for the reason that no one was around to unlock it.
“We pried the door in order to enter the location and serve the search warrant,” Bello said. “The doors were locked and despite multiple attempts, we were unable to make arrangements with someone to open the door.”
- PHOTO BY GINO FANELLI
- The rear door of The Avenue Blackbox Theatre was bolted shut following the execution of a search warrant April 19, 2023.
Golden disagreed with that version of events. She said she was willing to meet officers and let them in but was not allowed the opportunity to set a time. Instead, she said, she was given a non-negotiable deadline of 20 minutes.
“When I spoke to the police chief, I repeatedly asked them if we could do this at a time that they didn’t have to break in,” Golden said. “If anyone is insinuating that I wasn’t cooperating, or I wasn’t answering, or I wasn’t allowing them, I never said any of that.”
