After its dramatic, sudden closing more than a year ago, the shuttered Subaru car dealership on Bridgeport Avenue will be revived by the Center Stage Theater.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voted to allow the theater to use the site at 405 Bridgeport Ave. Tuesday night.
The Zoning Board of Appeals had also allowed the theater to temporarily use the site, which is being eyed for re-use as a shopping center.
While the developer, Monty Blakeman of Blakeman Construction, goes through the approval process, the empty building has been offered to the local theater company for free.
The theater’s lease at 100 Center St. expires Nov. 1 and the facility is getting too small for the theater, said Fran Scarpa, who opened the theater with her husband, Gary Scarpa. The group will remain on Bridgeport Avenue until it finds a permanent home, the couple added.
Blakeman’s lawyer, Dominick Thomas, said dozens of volunteers have already begun outfitting the dealership.
“The popularity speaks for itself. ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ had to be extended for another weekend,” he told the zoning board at its special meeting in City Hall on Tuesday.
The former dealership can fit 70 – 80 more people, roughly double the audience of the original theater, according to Scarpa. “We’re almost doubling in size,” she said.
According to its Web site, the theater’s first production was “Steel Magnolias” in 2005. It has staged major productions including “Lost in Yonkers,” “Nunsense,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Gypsy” and “Little Shop of Horrors.”
The next production will be Christmas shows, said Gary Scarpa.
“The city’s getting an early Christmas present,” board member Chris Jones said after the decision.
