The newest performance space in New Haven is likely also one of the oldest.
When John Cavaliere set up his Lyric Hall antiques restoration and conservation business in the 1912-era old West Rock Theater on Whalley near Fountain, there hadn’t been a play in the old vaudeville and silent film house since 1925.
At that time, new high-toned downtown theaters forced the bawdy West Rock’s closing and conversion to an auto repair shop.
A play by Genere Freeman (at left) inaugurated the Lyric Hall theater refurbished by John Cavaliere (at right).
That changed during this past back-to-the-future weekend as Gerene Freeman’s play Incantation inaugurated the first formal theatrical use of the space in 85 years.
“It was in my gut to restore the theater,” Cavaliere said during a pre-performance tour of the space.
After he purchased the building in 2007 all that remained was a part of the proscenium in the long rambling building that was all theater and must have held over 200 people, many from the nearby Diamond Match Company and other factories along the West River.
A ceiling was dropped down in the 1930s and held up by more than 30 lally columns, the ceiling tiles were half off and there were four rotting floors underfoot when Cavaliere arrived.
No longer.
Two Dumpsters later the back of the store reached by a long dedicated entrance now opens unto an intimate 40 theater space with shining floor, soaring ceilings, with a central gilded chandelier.
Even a section of the balcony is restored with balustrade that Cavaliere rescued from the Hyperion Theater which, before it was demolished, sat behind Union League restaurant.
Before it was the Hyperion, it was Carlls Opera House, and now a piece of that resides in Lyric Hall too.
But the piece de resistance are a set of Doric columns that frame the stage. Each also sits on a plinth decorated with an Egyptian revival-era wreath.
The columns were salvaged from the Root house on Alden Street when local architectural historian Colin Caplan called Cavaliere and said, in effect, these columns are being thrown out, they have your name on them, John. Come and get them.
And do what with them? Cavaliere recalled.
You can take them if you use them for your theater, came the answer.
And so an accelerated restoration of the theater had begun.
The wreaths (pictured with actress Aaliyah Miller) too have a story, Cavaliere said.
They are casts of originals in the Egyptian revival style from the famous, now demolished Phoenix Building on Chapel Street built by Henry Austin, designer of the Grove Street cemetery.
In short, it’s pure John Cavaliere, whose respect for the restorer’s craft is matched by his homage to the New Haven that was.
“All of this history of New Haven is converging in this spot. And we hope it will emanate back,” he said.
So how did Incantation, a play about how women tolerate messed up relationships longer than they should, come to inaugurate the Showroom at Lyric Hall? Why not, say, Arsenic and Old Lace or The Crucible?
“Gerene called me and said ‘I want my play in your place. It looks like New Orleans. I love it.”
Cavaliere said he was moved by Freeman’s story too. She had been for many years a creative writing teacher in the New Haven public schools, then moved to Atlanta, and returned to New Haven in the 1990s.
Her recent work with homeless kids prompted the re-staging of the play, which premiered in Atlanta, because so many of the kids she has worked with “don’t have a clue.”
The play is an unabashedly message work told through poetry and dance. The favorite line for its author is: “We linger over the decomposing corpses of our relationships long after they’re dead and gone.”
Freeman left her job and has spent her savings to develop the piece.
There was still one hitch. Freeman’s director Edi Jackson wasn’t sure the space, especially with its modest-sized stage, would work with the choreography.
Calviere remembered that Jackson went into the theater while he and Freeman remained outside in the back of Lyric Hall’s workspace.
Jackson returned and declared, “There’s love here.”
And indeed it would not be inappropriate for a play about love’s misfirings.
“You could feel the love he [John] put into restoring it,” said Freeman.
When he heard that, the deal was done. “I felt a laurel wreath placed on my head,” said Cavaliere.
Incantation is being presented next weekend, Oct 15 and 16, at 8 p.m., with a matinee on the 16th at 3. For ticket info call 203 – 507-5940.
The next show in the new/old Showroom will be A Broken Umbrella Theater Company’s Halloween offering of VaudeVillain. Based on the life of an infamous turn-of-the-century Westville criminal, that show will utilize not only the new theater, but the workroom and other parts of Lyric Hall.
Oh, an extra added attraction: Cavaliere will be making his first appearance on stage as an actor – and on the very stage he has so lovingly built.
As to the Showroom, Cavaliere says he’s applying for non-profit status for the space. “My dream is that it’ll become a lyceum, a civilizing place where people learn and come away changed for the better.”
Great work John!! I remember when you were in the planning phase. It is a great space and you are the right guy to make it happen. Best of Luck!