[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 108 (Wednesday, September 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9037-S9038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         RESTORATION OF THE COLONIAL THEATER IN PITTSFIELD, MA

 Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, last week, an excellent article in 
the New York Times of August 29 detailed the renaissance of Pittsfield, 
MA, which has adopted a bold economic revitalization strategy centered 
on the arts and historic preservation involving the restoration of the 
popular Colonial Theater of a century ago. Pittsfield mayor James 
Ruberto and the entire Pittsfield community came together behind this 
bold vision, which received major encouragement a decade ago when the 
theater was included as part of First Lady and now Senator Hillary 
Rodham Clinton's highly effective Save America's Treasures tour.
  The Colonial Theater certainly qualified as an American Treasure. The 
restored theater reopened on August 29 to wide acclaim, and I am proud 
of all that the mayor and the community have accomplished. This 
recognition of their efforts is eminently well-deserved, and I believe 
all of our colleagues in Congress will be interested in Pittsfield's 
extraordinary achievement. I commend Mayor Ruberto and the people of 
Pittsfield for a job well done, and I ask that the article be printed 
in the Record.
  The article follows.

                [From The New York Times, Aug. 29, 2006]

           A City Plots Its Future By Reaching Into the Past

                         (By Hubert B. Herring)

       Arts-minded visitors to the Berkshire Hills in western 
     Massachusetts may think of Pittsfield as little more than an 
     urban speed

[[Page S9038]]

     bump on the way to Stockbridge, Williamstown and the glories 
     of Tanglewood and Jacob's Pillow.
       But the city is betting that, with the help of a long-
     neglected jewel of a theater, it too can make a place for 
     itself on the region's arts map. After a two-year, $22 
     million restoration, the century-old Colonial Theater will 
     reopen tonight for a year-round season that kicks off with a 
     week's visit by a touring company of ``Rent.'' After that, 
     there are more than 40 other events scheduled for the rest of 
     the year.
       For years, few outsiders were aware of what lay behind the 
     neo-Classical yellow-brick facade on the Route 7 commercial 
     strip. But inside was a grand Broadway-style theater, a 
     Gilded Age monument designed by J.B. McElfatrick, who 
     designed dozens of New York theaters, including the Theater 
     Republic (now the New Victory) on 42nd Street.
       From its opening in 1903 to the early 30s, the house, which 
     seated about 1,400, was a regular stop for the likes of Sarah 
     Bernhardt, the Barrymores, Rachmaninoff, Will Rogers and John 
     Philip Sousa. Anna Pavlova danced by, as did the Ziegfeld 
     Follies (100 strong).
       In 1937, the Colonial was converted into a movie palace, 
     but by 1952 it had gone dark. It was saved from demolition 
     only because a local businessman, George Miller, bought it 
     and housed his paint business inside.
       The idea of transforming the city into a cultural center 
     received a boost in 1998, when Hillary Rodham Clinton, then 
     the first lady, visited the Colonial as part of a ``Save 
     America's Treasures'' tour.
       ``Her visit said, `You have a national treasure--it's worth 
     fighting for,' '' said John Bissell, a senior vice president 
     at the Greylock Federal Credit Union and a prominent figure 
     in the move to revitalize Pittsfield.
       In 2002, the city commissioned a study on the potential 
     economic benefits of restoring the theater. The study, led by 
     Stephen Sheppard, an economics professor at Williams College, 
     forecast $2 million a year in direct economic benefits to 
     Pittsfield and an increase in local property values of at 
     least $23 million.
       That study ``quantified what we felt instinctively, that 
     the theater would indeed make economic sense,'' said James M. 
     Ruberto, Pittsfield's mayor and a major force behind the 
     renovation.
       After Mrs. Clinton's visit and the study, of course, came 
     the fund-raising. Ultimately, some $7 million came from 
     donations, the rest from city, state and federal grants and 
     tax credits.
       ``I have been amazed at the amount of money given to the 
     Colonial,'' said Gary Scarafoni, a retired banker who is now 
     the theater's president.
       The theater itself was a shambles, said Tom Johnson of 
     Martinez & Johnson, the Washington architects responsible for 
     the restoration. In the half-darkness of the balcony, ``you 
     could see the plaster detailing,'' big pieces of which were 
     starting to fall.
       Now, the curves and curlicues of the interior 
     ornamentation--which Mr. Johnson describes as eclectic neo-
     Classical--have been restored to their original glory.
       But the renovation remains a gamble. David W. Fleming, 
     recently hired as the theater's executive director, said that 
     the Colonial would have an annual overhead of at least 
     $750,000 and expected artists' fees, marketing and stagehand 
     costs collectively to fall in the same range.
       That means, said Mr. Fleming, who previously ran the Grand 
     Opera House in Wilmington, Del., and the New Brunswick 
     Cultural Center in New Jersey, that the theater will need to 
     fill about 60 percent of its seats if it is to pay half its 
     annual expenses from ticket sales.
       ``Ideally,'' he said, ``I'd like to see us cover more like 
     65 percent''--with the rest coming from annual donations.
       He said he hoped that within a few years, the theater, now 
     reconfigured to seat 810, would be active 200 nights a year, 
     with events that appeal to all tastes and budgets. This 
     season's offerings include low-priced fare like Cirkus 
     Inferno and the Inflatable Theater Company.
       The theater will have to rely in part on out-of-town 
     audiences. The city's population, roughly 57,000 in 1960, 
     fell steadily after General Electric, which once employed 
     more than 10,000 workers here, gradually shut down most of 
     its operations, paring the workforce to less than 1,000. The 
     population is now 43,000 and is projected to fall 
     considerably further in the next two decades.
       The city is betting that, if it can transform itself into 
     an arts center, it can reverse that slide. It took a first 
     step in that direction when the highly regarded Barrington 
     Stage Company moved into a renovated 1912 music hall in 
     downtown Pittsfield this month after working for years out of 
     a high school auditorium in Sheffield, in the southwest 
     corner of the state. The company plans spring, summer and 
     fall productions.
       Mr. Bissell of the credit union argues that people will 
     come, not only to visit but also to live. He cites the rise 
     of the local real estate market since the Colonial 
     restoration project was announced.
       ``When new businesses come to town,'' he added, ``every 
     single one cites the rebirth of the Colonial as a primary 
     reason why they chose this location.''
       Such optimism is not universal. Jonathan Levine, publisher 
     of The Pittsfield Gazette, said that while he was ``thrilled 
     to have a renovated theater,'' he questioned the business 
     projections behind it.
       ``They've made all these economic development promises,'' 
     Mr. Levine said, ``and there is no way, with their current 
     programming, they can achieve those goals.''
       But the Colonial can boast of something that half of every 
     Broadway audience can only dream about. The theater bought an 
     abutting property that will house, in addition to the main 
     entrance, a gigantic ladies' room.

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