Center Stage converts Crabtree into theater

Written by Fred Musante, Staff
Friday, 06 November 2009 10:29

Center Stage, the Shelton nonprofit theater company, is hard at work readying the former Crabtree Subaru auto dealership for its second act role as a community theater.

“We couldn’t have found a building that fits our needs better than this,” said Francesca Scarpa, who runs Center Stage with her husband, Gary.

About a hundred volunteers moved most of the theater organization’s possessions from 100 Center Street in Shelton, where it opened five years ago, a mile up Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton to the former car dealership showroom.

Scarpa said Center Stage would open on Friday, Nov. 6 for its first show, a teen theater workshop cabaret production featuring high school students from Shelton, Ansonia, Derby, Stratford and Trumbull.

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) has approved a zoning variance to allow the former car showroom to be used as a theater, and the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) is scheduled to review the site plan and parking requirements.

Francesca Scarpa, who runs Center Stage with her husband, Gary, told the ZBA they must leave their old location because their lease ends at the end of October.

But if they could move into the Crabtree building, she said in addition to the teen cabaret show, Center Stage plans a Christmas show for the holidays, followed in early-2010 by “Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

The theater’s new home will only be temporary. The owners of the Crabtree properties at 405-409 Bridgeport Avenue still plan to tear down the auto dealership buildings and construct a 128,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by a supermarket.

Scarpa said the theater might be located at Crabtree until next fall, but the nonprofit theater is still looking for a permanent new home, hopefully somewhere in Shelton.

A theater is not a permitted use in the Crabtree property’s special commercial zoning, which was why it required a zoning variance to allow Center Stage to use the building.

The site is currently zoned for office buildings. The developers, Monty Blakeman and John Scianna of 714 LLC, have applied for a Planning Development District to allow the shopping center instead.

The ZBA members were wary, however, that granting a variance to allow a theater might someday be used to allow a multiplex cinema on the property. Center Stage’s use of the property might be temporary, but zoning variances are permanent.

Blakeman’s lawyer, Dominick Thomas, suggested the ZBA restrict the theater use to only nonprofit theaters.

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all night,” said ZBA Chairman Gerry Glover.

The ZBA approved the use variance unanimously, restricted only to nonprofit theaters. The approval only allows a theater, no coffee shop or bookstore, and calls for a review after 12 months.

When Center Stage originally opened five years ago, Francesca Scarpa said she thought it would be a bookstore and coffee shop that occasionally put on plays. But while nobody bought books, the theater developed a loyal following.

She told the ZBA that Center Stage has 570 subscribing patrons, and draws about 1,000 people to each production.

The Scarpas also direct the annual Youth CONNection musical productions in the summer, with local high school and college students providing the singing and dancing talent. Between 3,000 and 4,000 people attend those shows.

Moving to the Crabtree building will allow Center Stage to increase its seating for each performance from 100 to 180.

The new space also gives them a lobby, dressing rooms, an office, storage for sets and costumes, and even a green room.

Center Stage theater workers built the stage with donated lumber, and got the building ready for public use with the help of donated electrician, plumbing and painting services and supplies.

Several Shelton residents attended the ZBA public hearing to support Center Stage’s application.

Center Stage board chairman Carol Colandro of Balsam Circle, a former Youth CONNection and Shelton High Drama Club student performer who is now the mother of a student performer, said the theater gives teenagers something to do.

“This is a wholesome activity that allows them to give back to the community,” Colandro said.

“What they have given to the community, not just to my children, but to all children, is priceless,” said Susan Coyle.