The Playhouse: Feb. 9 Public Hearing Scheduled for New Operator’s Lease

New Canaan’s highest elected official said this week that municipal officials have interviewed all parties interested in operating The Playhouse movie theater and the town “will be ready very soon” to take next steps. 

“We were encouraged by The Playhouse RFP responses,” First Selectman Dionna Carlson told members of the Board of Finance during the appointed body’s regular meeting, held Tuesday night at Town Hall and via videoconference.

“We’ve had so many people interested in the RFP, [Department of Public Works Superintendent of Buildings] Bill [Oestmann] has been taking potential applicants through the building regularly,” Carlson said.

The comments came during Carlson’s general update to the finance board.

The following notice of a public hearing before the Town Council—scheduled for 7:30 p.m on Feb. 9 at Town Hall—appeared this week on the Elm Street movie theater: “To consider, hear public comment upon and take action on a proposal to lease the building known as The Playhouse, located at 93 Elm Street, New Canaan for a theater operator. The public hearing is intended to meet the public hearing requirement of Connecticut General Statutes Section 7-163e.”

Under state law, the Town Council must hold a public hearing before approving a lease for town-owned property.

Bids closed Jan. 7 on the town-issued RFP for a new Playhouse operator. Under a management agreement approved by the town funding bodies, the current operator, CinemaLab, will remain in place until a new company takes over, ensuring that The Playhouse stays open during the transition. 

“We just have to tie down the lease and probably, I would guess, we’re hoping maybe mid-February we’ll have everything out and then we have to give 30 days notice” to CinemaLab, Carlson told the finance board.

Closed at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and available to a new tenant since later that year, when Bow Tie Cinemas terminated its lease, the Playhouse originally was scheduled to reopen for the cupola-topped theater’s centennial (2023) but that date was pushed back amid construction delays. Its nearly $8 million renovation came in at more than twice the original budget, rankling town funding bodies. The Playhouse reopened under CinemaLab in June 2024, with a new concession area, pub and second-floor lounge that is available to the public as well as for private events.