Broken Umbrella Developing New Space For Arts

A Broken Umbrella Theatre has big plans for the property at 280 Blake St. in Beaver Hills. If they come to fruition, in a couple years the property will house a roughly 90-seat black box theater as well as a cabaret complete with restaurant and bar. According to Ian Alderman, Broken Umbrella’s executive director, the project will likely cost somewhere between $1.5 million and $2 million. Thanks to a $500,000 grant from the state’s Good to Great Program, they’re on their way. To realize their vision in its entirety, they have faith in the strength of the New Haven arts community and its desire to have a space where the arts can be.

The working name for this new venture is The Umbrella, because ​“everyone is welcome underneath,” Alderman said. Part of the idea is to provide ​“an artistic home” for the Broken Umbrella Theatre, but as Alderman described it, the vision is much broader than that. 

“Broken Umbrella doesn’t program enough to fill the space,” he said, and the theater company is also still interested in creating site-specific pieces as it has in the past. So the Umbrella’s two performance spaces are intended to be places where other theater groups and musicians can perform, and where community events can be held, so that the building’s schedule is, ideally, full, year-round. 

“The space is intended to be changeable,” said Aric Isaacs, Broken Umbrella’s managing director. ​“Whatever the needs of any individual artists who want to come in and use the space, we’re here to do that.” They have already reached out other arts organizations in town — Long Wharf Theater, Collective Consciousness Theater, the International Festival of Arts and Ideas — as well as the city’s Department of Arts, Culture, and Tourism, all of whom have expressed interest.

“We are building this place to be occupied by everybody,” Alderman said.

As Alderman sees it, Broken Umbrella’s development of 280 Blake is an extension of the way the theater company has operated from its inception in 2008. In the past, it has approached landlords asking to use vacant spaces for its theater productions, then helped develop those spaces and present them to others, who then rent them. Their production of Gilbert the Great led to a three-year residency in Erector Square. Its production of Freewheelers happened in the space that eventually became The State House. Broken Umbrella also helped Lyric Hall turn into a performance space.

But a constant through Broken Umbrella’s history has been the space at 446A Blake St., where the company has had its scene shop and where the Regicides often perform (as they will this Saturday, Aug. 12, an event that doubles as a fundraiser for The Umbrella). That building, however, ​“is scheduled for apartments,” Alderman said. Their landlord gave the company the news about two years ago. 

“Because we knew that was coming, we needed to start finding another venue,” Alderman said. ​“And venues are becoming very scarce in the city. Building is become scarce.” When 280 Blake St. came on the market, it ​“met a lot of our criteria.” It’s adjacent to the company’s home base of Westville, but being in Beaver Hills and close to West Rock and Southern Connecticut State University, also gives A Broken Umbrella a chance to reach out, as a place to see art and theater as well as get a meal or a drink and hear live music. ​“We think that with that will come more art for the city,” Alderman said.

The building at 280 Blake used to be a dry cleaner’s and a mechanic shop. It’s now an abated, raw space. After the theater company bought the building (under Peachy and Lala Productions LLC) in October 2022, Alderman, Broken Umbrella ensemble member Ryan Gardner, and Colin Caplan — fellow Broken Umbrella member as well as an author, historian, and architect — developed plans for how to renovate the space to make it suitable for the multiple uses Alderman envisioned. 

At its most ambitious, The Umbrella will have a cabaret space in the front half of the building, called The Patent House — a nod to New Haven’s history of industrial innovation — complete with a full kitchen and a bar. The black-box theater will be in the back. In between those performance spaces will be a lobby, box office, and art gallery, with the tech room for the theater behind it. Above the lobby, they intend to build a second floor for dressing rooms, green rooms, and offices — ​“functional things for a theater,” Alderman said, so that other theater companies interested in renting it out will find it a ​“professional rental space.” Outside, they intend to build a patio for outdoor seating for the restaurant.

For parking, Alderman said, ​“we’re in talks with every city official that you can possibly think of” to allow the after-hours use of the L.W. Beecher Museum Magnet School parking lot at 100 Jewell St., ​“which is only 290 feet away by a sidewalk,” with accessible spaces next to the building.

The $500,000 grant from the Good to Great Program, run by the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, Alderman said, was secured in June. It goes specifically toward creating the black box theater. Under the conditions of the grant, A Broken Umbrella must first raise $100,000 (hence the fundraiser this Saturday, among other efforts) and spend that. After that, the company can rely on the state to reimburse it for the next $500,000 it spends on the project. Alderman said the company is ​“well on its way” to raising its initial $100,000.

Half of the grant will go toward building the theater’s ​“lighting system, the lighting board, the wires,” he said. They will also be ​“jackhammering up the cement floor and installing a sprung floor. Then we have the ability to have real performance.” Alderman noted that, at the moment, ​“a 40-by-40 sprung floor doesn’t really exist for rental in town.” They will also be taking out one wall in the space, installing risers for seating, and creating a sound system.

Once the black box theater is complete, ​“our hope is that, once people with real money and real interest see that this little theater company that could is a third of the way toward the goal of $1.5 million to make a new theater for everyone in town, knowing what’s happening in the arts — maybe they’ll say, ​‘let’s do it,’ ” Alderman said. ​“That’s what I’m hoping for, and that’s what I trust will happen, and I’m going to ask everyone I know and everyone I don’t know” to pitch in. 

Also, as A Broken Umbrella is already a nonprofit, ​“grants from bigger foundations are on the radar,” Isaac said. Building off the organization’s record of getting grants for tens of thousands from the state for previous productions, A Broken Umbrella is looking at other means of government support as well, from the city, state, or federal level. In an ideal world, Alderman said, the project will be finished in two to three years, from putting out and accepting bids for the work to completing construction.

Alderman and Isaac know the fundraising will take effort. Isaac noted that corporate sponsorship for the arts has dropped off since 2008. But ​“nobody is happy about the fact that the arts are in a dire state,” Alderman said. ​“We’re getting a lot of broad community support,” Isaacs said, ​“a lot of smaller donations, which have been our lifeblood for our entire existence. We’re not blind to the fact that we need much larger donations in order to get this project completed. However, I think that we demonstrate over and over again just how broad our community support is.” 

“I do believe we’re going to get there,” Alderman said. ​“Yeah, it’s a calculated risk. But if it’s not a risk, then what’s it worth?”

Even as developing The Umbrella is an extension of Broken Umbrella’s previous work, it also represents a major step up for the organization in scale and ambition. The company currently is an all-volunteer organization. Creating the space will create full-time jobs for people to run the space, from the restaurant to the theater. ​“This is an economic development project,” Isaacs said.

“A Broken Umbrella over the years likes to take on huge projects that are bigger than our means,” Alderman said, and a space like The Umbrella ​“is something that we have noticed the city needs.” Long Wharf Theater, Artspace, and the State House have all closed their doors, and Broken Umbrella wants to help support the arts scene and work with other theaters, artists, and arts organizations to make The Umbrella a reality. The company has also developed a strong network of professionals over the years, both from among its ensemble members and outside the organization, who are interested in advising and helping get The Umbrella off the ground — from theater lighting guru Jamie Burnett to restaurant entrepreneur Jason Sobocinski to artist Mistina Hanscomb. 

“We’ve always been about collaboration,” Isaacs said. ​“That’s been a hallmark of our work,” from the Eli Whitney Museum to the public library to Arts and Ideas. ​“We’re happy to lead the charge” to create a place where New Haven’s artists and arts organizations can grow, Alderman said. A Broken Umbrella can’t do it alone. But ​“we can all afford it together.”

The Regicides perform Saturday, Aug. 12 as part of a fundraiser for The Umbrella at 446A Blake St., 8 to 10 p.m. Interested participants can attend the fundraiser or donate to A Broken Umbrella directly.