A heavy-hitter from West Haven was just added to the list of people who want to see the Sterling Opera House renovated and re-opened.
Dr. Dino F. Ciaburri, a West Haven resident and symphony conductor, attended a meeting last week organized by Mayor Anthony Staffieri.
Ciaburri said he’s known Staffieri for decades and was involved in an effort to renovate the opera house in the 1980s.
“Unfortunately, I felt things were not moving in the right direction at the time,” Ciaburri said. “Recently, the mayor mentioned to me that he thought I could be helpful in moving this project along. I said I’d love to help. I do feel it is the finest little theater in Connecticut and one of the best, I’m sure, in all of New England.”
The hope is that Ciaburri can help get private donations flowing for Sterling’s renovation.
The opera house was built in 1889 and was in use until 1945. People who performed there include Red Skelton and John Philip Sousa.
Ciaburri was on the board of directors of the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven for 16 years. Two of those years were spent organizing fund-raising efforts for the theater. He has also served on art councils in New Haven and West Haven. He currently serves on the board of the Ward-Heitmann House Museum in West Haven.
“I’ve been in many places where fund-raising is necessary. I’ve spent a lot of years helping these groups,” he said.
Staffieri brought together several people together last Monday who are interested in seeing the long-planned Sterling Opera House renovation become a reality. Article continues after the poll.
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Those in attendance in addition to Ciaburri included Rich DiCarlo, of the Valley Arts Council; Sheila O’Malley, director of Economic and Community Development; and Beth Colette of “Save Our Sterling.”
Colette said the “Save Our Sterling” group has been relatively quiet for the last few years as Staffieri’s administration has been collecting grant money to make repairs to the opera house.
Colette said bringing Ciaburri into the fold is “great.”
“He has a lot of connections and a lot of great ideas. I’m very excited and I think we are going to be doing some things,” Colette said. “We’re giving him information about our (group’s) by-laws and we’ve given him a (Sterling Opera House) feasibility study. We’ll see how much he wants to do.”
O’Malley said the city has been receiving federal money for renovations. Most recently, the city received a grant so that it could hire an architect to come up with a plan for an interior overhaul.
“The mayor wanted to see if we can get re-engaged and do some private fund-raising. We’re getting federal and state money, but we need another piece to the puzzle to help with renovations.”
Derby has received the following grants:
- $150,000 from U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLaura
- $25,000 CT Trust for Historic Preservation
- $4,500 Valley Community Foundation
- $7,500 Katharine Matthies/ Bank of America
Ciaburri said he’s happy to explore Sterling’s options.
“Sterling has a perfect view no matter where you sit. Acoustically, it’s excellent. It’s just a beautiful theater. The potential there is incredible.”
We need some serious grant money for the Sterling renovation, and if anyone can get it, it is Sheila O’Malley, Derby’s outstanding Director of Economic and Community Development, can! Dr. Dino F. Ciaburri appears to be a great asset in this endeavor.
Mayor Tony Staffieri “is apparently leaving no stone unturned” by getting Dr. Ciaburri on the Sterling team.
In theory, if this place was ever reopened, where exactly would people be parking their vehicles – the city parking garage? This isn’t the early 1900s where we had streetcars, large numbers of people living downtown or within walking distance, etc… This thing called TV was created in the 1940s, and now most people have cable TV and widescreen TV in their homes.
You’ll never book a significant act in a venue this small. Spending money on this is as bone-headed as thinking someone should build a drive-in theater because they enjoyed them in the 1960s. Let’s look for some uses of the land to create employment and shore up the economy of the city instead of trying to recreate the past.
I think patrons of the Sterling OH could be bussed from Derby High School parking lots if need be. Primarily they would use the city parking garage and both sides of the street like they do in New Haven for the Shubert. If more parking is needed there could be a shuttle run from DHS. Another parking place is where the Derby Lumberyards were, perhaps a shuttle also because it would be more safe.
Parking for the Sterling appears to be a very distant problem, although there are meaningful suggestions, on the table . The significant problem, is to get some serious grant money, with millions of dollars, needed to restore the building, to theater status. However,with the tough economy, big bucks, are hard to come by. I’m sure, Sheila O’Malley, Community Development Officer, is working hard, to find a well financed, investor.
As I understand it, the Center Stage in Shelton is looking for a new, permanent home (right now, it’s using the shuttered Subaru dealership on Bridgeport Avenue, but that is a temporary location. I realize that the Scarpa’s who run this community theater group are ideally seeking a Shelton location, the reality is that the “community” is probably better defined as the lower Naugatuck Valley as a whole, and if a terrific venue in Derby (right across the river) became available, that would be an ideal location for theater productions. As for music, which is what the Opera House was really designed for, Derby should consider asking the folks that run the Thomaston Opera House about joint efforts to attract concerts that would appear at both locations. Also, touring shows are commonly used by other venues nationwide and shouldn’t be too difficult to add Sterling to a circuit.