I attended last night’s sold-out 30th-anniversary bash for Symphony Space — the community project that started with a Bach concert and turned into a world-class arts center — and saw a Who’s Who of Lower Hudson Valley showbiz folk.

Each did his or her part to mark the big night, either reading stories or delivering poems or “newsflashes” chronicling Symphony Space’s unlikely rise from a decrepit old movie theater to the citadel of culture it is today:

Steven Lang, of Bedford, whose Off-Broadway play “Beyond Glory” told the story of Medal of Honor recipients, read baseball haikus;

Liz Callaway, of Croton, sang a cute little Sondheim song — “What More Do I Need?” about loving living in the city because that’s where her love is;

Frances Sternhagen, of New Rochelle, read a newsflash;

(Jane Alexander of Dobbs Ferry, was listed in the program, but was a no-show.)

I spoke with Jack Batman, the man behind the revitalized White Plains Performing Arts Center at the gala and he said rehearsals are under way for the WPPAC’s next undertaking, a staged concert version of “Ragtime” Feb. 1-3. I noted that that is Super Bowl Sunday, but he said there are plenty of women who would rather hear great music than watch a football game. Sounds like a good marketing angle to me….

Also chatted with Dan Foster, whose excellent Hudson Stage Company continues to present first-rate work. He said they’ve just decided what their spring show will be: John Cariani’s “Almost, Maine.” I saw scenes from this a while back at Mamaroneck High School and found it charming and sincere — and very clever. Should be a fun show to see.

But back to the gala: The performers sat in the auditorium before going on stage, so you had the surreal opportunity to see the priceless Marian Seldes looking over her notes one row behind Joanna Gleason, who was two rows behind David Straithairn.

Highlights:

John Shea’s “Selected Shorts” presentation of Heinrich Boll’s “The Laugher,” about a man who laughs for a living but can’t do it in his home life;

Ivy Austin, reprising her Thalia Follies performance from Pleasantville last month, singing “It’s My Turn, Bill,” a la Hillary Clinton;

Two charming poems memorized and presented by the equally charming Jacques d’Amboise, who ended the poems with the invitation, “Come Dance With Me,” repeated over and over as he backed off stage;

Donna Murphy showing remarkable control and restraint and then power singing Sondheim’s “Losing My Mind”;

Theodore Bickel singing “If I Were a Rich Man” in Yiddish. Didn’t understand a word, but I knew what he was saying;

Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara reading “The Owl and the Pussycat,” and Stiller then leading Meara by the hand into the darkened wing;

Gleason’s wonderful reading of a few Dorothy Parker poems; and

Peter Schickele playing his songs set to the words from Shakespeare. Too funny.

A great night, 30 years in the making.