A landmark,
under new
ownership.

What happened

It did not close for want of an audience

The theatre opened in 1975 in the converted assembly room of the old YWCA, after the company moved down from Sacred Heart University. A balcony and air conditioning went in with the conversion. In 1995 a $1.3 million renovation added the fly house and rebuilt the lighting, the sound and the backstage.

For thirty-five years the City of Bridgeport owned the building and was, in the theatre's own words, a benevolent landlord. The city sold it in 2015, and the theatre said plainly at the end what followed: the financial stress of operating after the City of Bridgeport sold the building in 2015 ultimately became unsustainable. The last performance was A Chorus Line, on the 28th of June.

If the theatre could run on goodwill alone, we would be the richest theatre on earth because of loyal patrons like you. Downtown Cabaret Theatre, closing message

That is worth saying plainly, because it shapes what happens next. The room worked. The shows worked. What stopped working was one organisation carrying a building on its own.

So the model is different now. We own the building. That removes the cost that closed the last company, and it means the stage can earn on the nights other people want it, on the mornings schools want it, and on the days a crew needs a rigged room with nobody in it. Producing continues, but it is no longer the only thing holding the doors open.