3 Options For Shakespeare Site To Be Considered By Subcommittee

STRATFORD, CT — A Stratford subcommittee will look at three possible uses for the former site of the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre: a four-season multi-use facility, an outdoor venue and an open space.

Those options were most popular among the more than 1,000 residents who provided input on the future of the property after the theater was burned to the ground about a year ago.

"We want to ask questions broadly and gather as much information as we can," said Greg Reilly, who led the first meeting of the Shakespeare Property Subcommittee on Thursday at Town Hall.

The subcommittee is tasked with fact finding, according to Mayor Laura Hoydick.

"This is not the feasibility piece, this is before the feasibility piece," she said.

Town Planner Susmitha Attota suggested the subcommittee consider the planning, programming and implementation of each of the potential uses, which subcommittee members noted are not mutually exclusive.

Stratford intends to conduct a technical survey prepared by an engineer that will look at the easements, wetlands and setback of the site at 320 Shore Road, according to Attota.

The subcommittee discussed how the property has the potential to attract people who are considering a move to Stratford and could be a draw across the region, which Reilly said after the meeting could stretch from Stamford to New Haven.

"The potential users are more than just Stratford residents," he said.

Attota noted the Stratford greenway project was initially intended to connect with the Shakespeare property and Hoydick expressed support for including the greenway in the plans for the site. Hoydick also suggested the subcommittee look at a variety of different venues, such as municipal and private theaters, when considering what to do with the property. She said she has received calls from developers in other communities and outside the state who are interested in the site.

After the subcommittee is finished fact finding, the information will go to the Stratford Redevelopment Agency and then the Town Council, so elected officials can decide the next steps. Once the council chooses which direction to take the project, it will likely hire a firm to look at financing, feasibility and design, Hoydick said.

The Shakespeare theater opened in 1955 and was host to famous actors and actresses for years, but largely stopped showing plays in the 1980s. There had been talk for decades about how to revitalize the historic site before it was destroyed in January 2019. Three teenagers have been charged in connection with the fire. The theater property is deeded to the town by the state, and all the uses being evaluated by the subcommittee are in compliance with the deed.

Stratford received about $1.7 million in insurance money as a result of the fire, but those dollars are currently in the town's general fund and the theater property redevelopment project does not yet have a budget, Hoydick said.

The subcommittee concluded Thursday's meeting by establishing three groups to look at each of the potential uses, and tentatively agreed to reconvene in three weeks.

Members of the public interested in providing input to the subcommittee can email shakespeare@townofstratford.com.