Fire destroys ex-theater
Stratford’s American Shakespeare building declared a total loss
STRATFORD – An early morning fire Sunday destroyed the former American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford.
Firefighters were called to the theater property at 1850 Elm St. shortly before 1 a.m. and found heavy fire when they arrived. Firefighters called for assistance from Milford and Bridgeport, but were not able to save the building and it was a total loss, Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick said.
Hoydick said she was struck by how large the fire had grown when she arrived at the site at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. “It was unbelievable combustion,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.”
Even when she was still quite a distance away, Hoydick said, she could feel the heat being generated by the fire.
The theater was important to many in Stratford, and the town
was studying ways the property could be revitalized and used.
The mayor called the structure an “iconic and historic theater that holds a special place in the hearts of Stratford residents.” The fire was just devastating, she said.
The blaze is under investigation and state fire marshal officials responded with a dog trained to detect accelerants, she said.
A committee in Stratford was looking at options for the theater, Hoydick said. The town had recently invested money to mothball and secure the building in order to keep vandals and wildlife out of it. The theater itself had not been used in years, although its lobby was used in recent years for a fundraiser.
The 1,534-seat theater sat on a 14.4-acre parcel along the Housatonic River. The theater once showcased the work of Katharine Hepburn, John Houseman and James Earl Jones, and in its heyday was the secondmost popular tourist attraction in the state, behind the Mystic Seaport. For a quarter century, the complex operated from May to September and attracted more than 3 million tourists, theatergoers and students from throughout New England.
The summer-only venue was created in 1955 by a prestigious group of theater professionals, built entirely with private funds. After years of rocky finances, it declared bankruptcy in 1982. The state took over the property, paying off the theater’s $1 million debt and leasing it to a nonprofit group that fared no better. The theater closed in 1989. The property has continued to he used in the intervening years.
The state owned the property and then conveyed it to the town.
“We’re really sad,” Hoydick said. Some of the people who have come to view the wreckage have been very emotional, she said.
So many people have invested their souls in the building, she said. They remember its grand history and wanted to see it revitalized, she said.
Hoydick said she thinks the town will come together and develop plans to rebuild something on the property.
Kevin Daly, a theater professor at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, said the theater has a prominent role in Connecticut’s arts history.
“It’s been a landmark for theatergoers in Connecticut for a long time,” he said. “It’s one of those places, when people think about theater in Connecticut, it’s one of the first that comes to mind.”