A Changing of the Garde

Kathleen Edgecomb, The Day-Published on March 5, 2006. Garde plans 150 seat caberet-style theater in light of changed economic conditions.

Mar 05, 2007 3:08 PM - Ten years ago, The Garde Arts Center announced an ambitious $20 million project to expand the downtown New London theater. Today, those plans have been scaled back, and the 1,500-seat theater is having to work harder to fill its seats and attract patrons.

“A better economic model exploded 20 minutes away,'' said Steve Sigel, executive director of the nonprofit Garde. The art center's wish list, he said, has been revised because of economic changes in the region, a stagnant population, and the development of entertainment at the casinos. “We're no longer the only one playing in the sandbox,'' said Sigel.

The Garde's original master plan included refurbishing the theater, expanding the stage area out onto Gov. Winthrop Boulevard at the back, and building a second stage — a 400-seat “black box” theater. With $4.5 million from the state and funds raised through private and corporate donations, the Garde managed to achieve about half of that plan.

A refurbishing of the interior of the former movie house entailed a complete renovation of the main theater, replacement of the seats and creation of a new lobby. Also, sound and lighting systems were improved and a new movie projection system installed. A catering kitchen, a hall for functions, office space and classrooms were added. Bathrooms were improved.

Plans for the “black box” theater, a new back stage, dressing rooms and loading docks have been replaced with a more modest proposal for a smaller theater. As envisioned, that theater will have cabaret seating for about 150 and a lounge and room for performers to change and warm up. Several storefronts on Meridian Street will be reconfigured, and a new alleyway and loading dock for the stage will be built. Businesses there, said Sigel, will be accommodated in the changes.

Sigel said he is not ready to announce how much the project will cost, and no time line for completion has been set. The Garde wants to get more state funding and is looking at potential contributors, both corporate and private, to fund the bulk of the new project. Sigel said individuals in the region will soon be asked to contribute in a new fundraising project called “Campaign for the Next Stage: Generation to Generation.'' The Bodenwein Public Benevolent Foundation has committed $50,000 for the smaller stage, and Ken Kitchings, whose family operates the philanthropic Kitchings Foundation, is involved in the new theater. It will be named after Kitchings' father, Chester. “Construction cannot begin until we've lined up all the money,'' said Sigel.
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The Garde, created in 1985 by a group of community leaders who wanted to reinvigorate downtown New London, counted about 100,000 patrons last year, including about 11,000 school children from Connecticut and Rhode Island. Despite that number, filling the 1,500-seat theater has always been a daunting task.

The theater wasn't filled 15 years ago when Marcel Marceau, an internationally known mime, appeared. Willie Nelson, the country legend, didn't sell out in 1989. Today, the theater regularly fills about half the house for its shows.

Technology is making it easier for people to stay home for their entertainment. Live theater and music compete with iPods, the Internet, DVDs and satellite television. The opening of two Indian casinos, Foxwoods in 1992 and Mohegan Sun in
1996, has had an impact on entertainment throughout the region. Along with gambling, the casinos have top-rate theaters, drawing away comedians and musical acts that once starred on the Garde stage.

In 2000, the Garde hit its highest audience average post-refurbishment, with 54,000 people attending 56 performances. That translated into an average of nearly 1,000 people a show. Total revenue from ticket sales and theater rentals was just over $2 million. The operating budget for 2000 was $2,913,745. In 2005, 38,000 people attended 49 events, for an average of 770 people at each performance. Ticket sales and theater rentals were $1.5 million. The 2005 audit shows an operating budget of $2,308,354.

The Garde, with Sigel at the helm since 1988, has experimented with programming, searching for the right mix that will keep audiences coming back. The most popular and profitable events are the Broadway series, the opera series, children's programs and film festivals. These kind of shows are usually not booked at the casinos.

The Garde is also trying experimental entertainment. Former Waterford resident Georgia Lee recently showed her movie “The Red Door.'' It wasn't a money maker for the Garde, Sigel said, but it drew hundreds to the theater and provided the local filmmaker with an opportunity.

A full house is not always an indicator of success, Sigel said. The Broadway shows make money even though not all seats are filled. On the other hand, the standing-room-only performance by Bob Dylan in 1998 did not translate into big earning, he said.

“The trick is to find what people who live and work here and within a 45-minute drive want that will nourish them. What will get them to come to a city like New London?'' said Sigel, who likened program planning to throwing a dart and not having it land for a year.

Over the years, entertainment has varied widely — from Wrestlemania in 1988 to concerts by violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman in 1989 and country singer Willie Nelson in 1998. Other celebrity performers have included Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Arlo Guthrie, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dennis Miller, Gregg Allman, John Mayall, Bobby McFerrin and Harry Belafonte.

Many of the acts that once played at the Garde now play at the casinos. Comedians and singers can make more money there. Diana Krall, for instance,
makes about eight times as much money now as when she played at the Garde in 2000, Sigel said.

In addition to the shows that the Garde presents, 11 organizations – among them the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and Luis Pabon Center for Dance – use the Garde as their home stage, putting on performances several times a
year. It is rented out for private fundraisers, weddings and even birthday parties. The Garde is in use 210 days out of the year.

The non-profit owns all the buildings in its block on upper State Street and, from 1998 to 2003, owned the Dewart office building across State Street.
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The Garde, built by Hartford businessman Walter Garde, who also had a summer house on Mott Avenue in the city, was a premier movie theater when it opened in 1926.

The Moroccan motif, including scenes painted on the walls of the theater, was the trend for movie houses. Going out was an event, and movies houses
were designed to be places of escape. When it opened, the Garde was also home to 10 shops, a beauty salon, a barbershop, a bookstore, a restaurant, podiatrist, dentist, detective and law
offices. In 1929, Warner Brothers bought the theater for $1 million.

As the decades passed and as more and more businesses moved out of the downtown, the Garde lost its draw. It closed as a movie theater in 1977.
Eventually, the building was bought by a group of private citizens for $300,000 and turned into a non-profit in 1985.

Sigel said he was attracted to New London because of the challenge of rebuilding not just an arts center but a community as well. “I wouldn't have chosen to live in New London,'' he said. “But what intrigued me
was this theater with no value and a community willing to try something new. ... Money doesn't create an arts center. It's the community that creates an arts center.''

Over the decades, he said, the Garde has been like a living room of New London. “People smooched upstairs in the balcony. They hung out in the lobby,” he said.

And many New Londoners have stories. Carl Stoner, an 84-year-old retired dentist, had an office over the Garde marquee for 20 years. When he was young, he used to sneak into the theater to see movies using the side door. He even worked for a year as an usher before going away to college. “It was a premier movie theater,'' he said. “Ushers wore uniforms, tuxedo jackets. It was marvelous. It was a wonderful part of my life.''

Stoner was among those who bought the dilapidated theater in 1985. “It's done much better than I thought,” said Stoner, a past president of the board
of directors. “Who would dream it would be as successful as it is today. Steve Sigel had the dream, and he made it happen. Without Steve, there wouldn't be a Garde. He envisioned things. He made it happen. And he inspired others to make it happen.”

The Garde has improved since those days in the late 1980s, and so has activity downtown. Those involved with the city of New London say the resurgence in the downtown, from the opening of new restaurants and galleries to the clubs that offer live music, is due, in part, to the Garde.

“I think that everything that happened in New London during the past 15 years started with the Garde,'' said Sandra Chalk, who was marketing director there from 1990 to 1994 and is now the executive director of New London Landmarks.

Alva Greenberg agreed that the Garde started the downtown renaissance. “I think the city should be hugely indebted to the Garde,'' said Greenberg, who sat on the non-profit's board for six years. “We would not have the awareness of New London in the outer villages, in Chester and Deep River and going in the other direction, without the Garde.'' Greenberg, who lives in Chester, said people routinely come up to her and tell her they were in New London at a performance at the Garde.

“An arts center is a city. It can drive a city forever,'' she said. “It's like a good book store. There are cities that are known for their arts or their book stores.” Greenberg, owner the Alva Gallery on lower State Street and co-owner of several commercial and residential buildings downtown, said there will be a lot of uses for the Garde's smaller theater – foreign film showings, experimental dance and cutting edge music.

Jane Glover, deputy mayor of New London and a member of the Garde board, said the future for the Garde is offering programming for young adults and finding a way to get those same people interested in investing in the arts. “I think we're going in the right direction,'' she said. “We need to push to bring in different kinds of entertainment.”

But, Sigel said, the Garde doesn't have to be the place where “everything” happens to be successful. “I think I've succeeded in what I imagined for New London,'' he said. “There's activity here. There are restaurants. There are galleries and shops. ... Seeing all that has been a great joy.”