Four years after it was destroyed by an arson fire, the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford is poised to make a long-overdue comeback.
“The Town of Stratford has been granted $3 million by the State of Connecticut for the redevelopment of the grounds of the former Shakespeare Theater property,” wrote Mayor Laura Hoydick in a June 23 letter to the Town Council, adding that her administration teamed with the design company DTC on a proposal to bring new life to property.
On July 14, the Stratford Town Council voted unanimously to approve Hoydick”™s proposed Capital Improvement Program for Fiscal Years 2023-2024. This vote included an amendment for an additional $3 million to be appropriated for the Shakespeare Park redevelopment.
Hoydick”™s full proposal for the site is budgeted at $11.5 million and would be encompass $2.5 million in infrastructure upgrades including utilities, paving, new public restroom facilities and other improvements at the 12-acre property. Roughly $489,000 would be budgeted for the creation of a food truck area on the grounds and $3.1 million would be used for a new amphitheater and pavilion to present outdoor entertainment.
As for the celebrated theater, $5.3 million would be budgeted for the construction of a black box theater seating 550 audience members. The original venue was a 1,500-seat venue.
The concept for the theater was developed by playwright Lawrence Langer in 1950, to be located in Westport. The Stratford location was chosen after Langer”™s initial choice of Westport rejected his proposal.
Modeled after the 16th century Globe Theatre in London, the American Shakespeare Theatre opened in 1955 with a production of “Julius Caesar” starring Raymond Massey, Jack Palance, Christopher Plummer and Jerry Stiller. While the venue had no problem attracting iconic stars for its stage ”“ Katharine Hepburn, Helen Hayes, James Earl Jones, Jessica Tandy, Ruby Dee, Jill Clayburgh, Ed Asner, Anne Baxter and Christopher Walken were among those who appeared in its productions ”“ it had difficulty maintaining its financial viability.
The theater”™s final full season was in 1982, when the state took ownership of the property. Occasional productions were mounted over the next seven years before the 1989 production of Fred Curchack”™s one-person rendition of “The Tempest” was the theater”™s last offering. The state dropped the site from its budget in 1990, leaving it in limbo. The theater was in disrepair when the Town of Stratford acquired the property”™s deed in 2005.
While special events were occasionally held on the property”™s grounds, multiple plans over the years to reanimate the shuttered theater were floated but came to naught. The town began accepting bids from contractors in 2017 to mothball the building, but this strategy was never fully pursued. The theater was destroyed in the early hours of Jan. 13, 2019, in an arson fire set by three local teenagers.
