The up-and-down saga of the Bedford Playhouse is starting to take the form of a success story with the signing of a long-term lease with a property owner confident in a new vision for the theater.
“For the first time we can really say this is going to happen,” said John Farr, founder of the playhouse.
It didn”™t look that rosy in February when Friends of the Bedford Playhouse issued a desperate plea to the community to help save the playhouse, which since 1947 had entertained the community in various forms up until January 2015 when Bowtie Cinemas gave up on the location.
- With the signing of a long-term lease, Friends of Bedford Playhouse President John Farr and Executive Director Wendy Ross have solidified the gains of their flash fundraising effort that quickly raised $2.5 million to preserve and renovate the playhouse.
With less than a month before a March 1 deadline, Farr and his team needed to raise $2 million or Alchemy Properties would act on plans to convert the location to suit retail tenants ”” as the two parties had agreed in advance of the fundraising effort.
The community support was overwhelming as more than 850 donors rallied to pledge $2 million ”” coming down to the wire as the final $35,000 was received only hours before the deadline.
“Basically we are banking on a venture that raised money from hundreds of people; yes, it is risky,” said Kenneth Horn, president of Alchemy Properties. “But we believe the team John put together is a strong team. The community is very much behind the endeavor and we think it is going to succeed.”
From providing seed capital at the start of the project to an option for the playhouse to buy the property in the future as part of the long-term lease, Alchemy has shown an earnest desire to see the project through.
“We took a little bit less rent than we could have gotten from other potential residents by keeping the theater going, which again we think is important to the community,” Horn said. “We believed in the long run this would truly benefit the community.”
While the dream of a state-of-the-art movie theater featuring curated films is rapidly becoming a reality, Farr remains cautious as a contract with an architect still needs to be signed and the not-so-small matter of breaking ground on what is expected to be a year long renovation has yet to begin.
“What I am learning about a renovation process is stuff happens that you can”™t foresee,” he said. “When I say a year it means we could be lucky and it could be a month or two sooner or we could be less lucky and it could be three or four months later.”
The renovation process will involve building a large theater of approximately 280 seats that will retain the charm and grandeur of movie houses from the golden age of film, but will also incorporate cutting-edge technology, screens and sound, according to Farr.
A second, 90-seat theater will focus on creating an “intimate and modern feel and will be designed for maximum comfort and an unsurpassed viewing and listening experience.”
The theater will include a small café with prepared foods, wine and beer available to the public as well as for movie goers.
“The idea is to create a hub ”” a place where people can come even if they are not going to see a movie.”
Farr envisions the space as a gathering place for poetry readings, small musical performances, theatrical presentations and even celebrity interviews, which he succeed in incorporating into Stamford”™s Avon Theatre when he led its relaunch in 2003.
Yet more hurdles remain for the Bedford Playhouse; Farr stated that the funds raised to-date are insufficient to cover all costs over the next year. The goal of $2.5 million was an “informed but still preliminary projection,” he said, and the organization currently lacks reserve funds for unforeseen renovation costs as well as staffing and is again looking to the community to help.
“A lot of people understandably didn”™t think it was going to happen,” Farr said. “The reason it did happen is because the citizenry and surrounding residents rose up and expressed their support.”
