🔒With $6M renovation, TheaterWorks upgrades lobby, theater, reputation

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When the nearly $6 million makeover of Hartford’s TheaterWorks is completed and revealed in October, it will mark the largest capital project in the theater’s 34-year history.

But in addition to a new audience-enhanced environment, modern mechanical systems and more spacious and adaptable stage, the dramatic renovation is expected to give the theater a higher profile, unequivocally joining the ranks among the major production houses in Connecticut.

Even before construction began last year, TheaterWorks already had many attributes that other Tony Award-winning theaters in the state wished they had — a string of annual surpluses, debt-free status and an enviable subscription base as large as any theater in Connecticut.

“Our two objectives were to improve the artistic and the patron experience,” says Rob Ruggiero, 55, who has been with the theater for 26 years, first as director, then associate artistic director and for the past seven years as producing artistic director, succeeding founder Steve Campo.

When Ruggiero took over there was accumulated debt of more than $600,000, which was paid off in four years. In 2015, when the theater celebrated its 30th anniversary, it was financially stable, debt-free and running surpluses. It was also patron-strong with around 5,000 subscribers and attracting more than 40,000 audience members a year (the theater seats slightly less than 200 patrons). TheaterWorks earns about 60 to 70 percent of its revenue from ticket sales, which is especially high for nonprofit theaters. It currently has a staff of 19.

The board felt back then that the environment was right to take the theater to the next stage — literally.

“It’s one thing to be safe and stable and another to stand taller in the market,” says Hartford HealthCare Senior Vice President Gerry Lupacchino, who is TheaterWorks’ board president and co-chair of the renovation committee. “But we had to ask ourselves, ‘Do we have the courage to move forward to the next level?’ Do we have the support that we think we have?’ All along we kept asking our patrons, ‘Would you stick with us?’ They said, ‘Go for it.’ ”

The stats

The theater’s $5.9 million upgrade has been funded by a variety of sources: $185,000 came from corporations; $560,270 from foundations; and $1.5 million from individuals. The state supported the project with $2.7 million. About $700,000 still must be raised for the project, but TD Bank is providing a bridge loan for construction.

Included in the project’s budget is the expense of having the theater’s 2018-19 season at the Wadsworth Atheneum, while construction was under way, as well as money for programming, developing new plays and establishing a budget reserve.

The theater’s annual budget is around $2.5 million, up nearly 50 percent since 2012. It has owned the 233 Pearl St. art-deco building — formerly the Hartford Gas Co. building — where it is located in downtown Hartford since 1995. The three-story building is also home to its administrative offices, rehearsal hall and scenic shop. The U.S. military also leases space for a recruitment office.

“We explored the wisdom of setting up an endowment but the advice we received was that it was smarter to establish various reserves that will be cash in hand and readily available,” says Freddie McInerney, TheaterWorks’ director of marketing and communications.

Board member Robert Pulito says donors liked that idea as well.

“It’s just a little bit harder to make that commitment to an endowment,” said Pulito, who is president of Glastonbury design firm The SLAM Collaborative. “People who give money want to see it in action.”

The look

The renovation reconciles the new theater lobby with the historic beaux arts building lobby “that speaks to the ornate show palaces,” says Pulito. The street-level theater lobby has a more expansive feel and is slightly larger with an extended glassed-in entrance and newly vaulted ceilings.

Design consultants for the project included Fisher Dachs, SLAM Collaborative, Miceli Productions and STV DPM.

“We want the theater’s street-level lobby space more open and communal,” says Ruggiero. “Upstairs and downstairs are going to be very cool and unexpected.”

There will also be two entryways to the staircase that takes patrons down to the theater’s basement level. There is also a new elevator in the theater’s lobby area, which will now bring patrons down to the back of the basement theater, freeing the old elevator area to be converted for actors’ use.

The actors will have new dressing rooms with their own bathrooms for the first time. There will also be new bathrooms for patrons, as well as a new cafe space.

“Downstairs we’re preserving everything people loved about the theater,” says Ruggiero, “but it’s going to be better.”

The basement level was completely gutted and the theater’s new seats will be wider with lumbar support.

Artistically, there’s a lot of changes, too. The stage manager/sound/lighting booth is now at the back of the house, just above the audience. The ceiling is also slightly higher and the columns slightly thinned.

There are also entirely new electric and HVAC systems as well as more backstage space.

The stage itself will be more of a flexible and wider “black-box” space, allowing for a greater range of show configurations.

“Because of the upgrade we will be able to function better,” says Ruggiero, “which means we can even be more adventurous in what we’re producing. I hope it will elevate our already evolving national reputation.”

New branding and slight changes in the logo and signage are also in the works. The production house will now call itself “TheaterWorks Hartford,” to differentiate itself from others that have a “Theaterworks” name — “as well as to celebrate Hartford,” says Ruggiero.

The new renovation will be formally revealed in October with the 2019-20 season opener of the recent Broadway drama, “American Son.”