Mark Zimmerman, the president of Actors’ Equity, the actors’ union, confirmed that lack of a private bath can be a deal-breaker, particularly for performers in demanding roles. The move will free up space to revitalize the downtown. RECONFIGURED The Goodspeed Opera House, below, a tourist attraction in the East Haddam area, will be building permanent housing - some shown in the rendering above - for actors and staff members. The new homes will meet one of actors’ foremost demands: each of the 65 new bedrooms will have a private bath. Goodspeed is eager to shed the old houses, which are high on maintenance and low on bathrooms. Presumably, such businesses could take up residence in the former Goodspeed housing. “What’s missing is the coffee shop, the bakery, the cabaret,” Mr.

In return, the theater company will relinquish five of the houses it owns, so that they can be incorporated into village revitalization plans.įreeing up buildings in the heart of the village is “a key starting point” for a redevelopment effort that envisions more shops, restaurants and residences near the theater, said Mark Walter, the town’s first selectman.Ĭurrently, only a handful of shops and restaurants including the Goodspeed-owned Gelston House operate in the village, along with town offices.

Goodspeed has been cleared to build 17 homes for its artists on land that it owns throughout the village. It thus has considerably more leverage with the town which for its part has a newfound interest in riding on the theater’s coattails. Nowadays, the town of East Haddam has revitalization plans for the village, and the Goodspeed, the employer of 75 year-round workers, is the largest owner of housing there.

Restaurants near goodspeed opera house