Former Niantic Cinema to become home to East Lyme Regional Theater

Feb. 23—EAST LYME — The site of the former Niantic Cinema is becoming a theater.

The East Lyme Regional Theater will lease all but one of the five auditoriums in the Niantic Cinema building on Main Street and will use it as an arts space.

The venue will be called the Niantic Bay Playhouse and will be the home of ELRT, which has been operating for a dozen years and has primarily used East Lyme High School as its performance venue.

Erin Sousa-Stanley, who is founder and artistic director of ELRT, said that the group plans to stage five shows this year. The first one will be a youth production called "Annie Jr.," scheduled to premiere on April 28.

Beyond that, she said, "Our goal is to provide other community members and artists a venue to perform, so maybe there are comedians that come in or musicians. We still would like to show an old film once a month."

She said the idea is "to make it an art space for everyone."

Niantic Cinema closed at the end of 2022, citing the new movie-going habits and financial realities in this era.

On Wednesday, ELRT signed a lease for the site — a two-year lease, with an option after that — with the Mitchell family, which owns the property and ran Niantic Cinema.

"We're so excited," Sousa-Stanley said.

She noted that, when news broke in December that Niantic Cinema was closing permanently and the building would be in need of a tenant, ELRT alums reached out to her. "They said, 'The second we heard, we thought about you.' ... It was meant to be," she said.

Sousa-Stanley added, "I'm just grateful for the blessing. And I'm honored and humbled by the many people that have helped along the way — we have a huge team of supporters that have really helped this come to fruition."

George Mitchell, whose family owns the building and ran Niantic Cinemas for decades, said of ELRT leasing the property, "It's a good thing for the town, it's a good thing for everybody ... We're excited about it."

One of the cinema auditoriums, which seats about 130 people, already has a little stage, but ELRT is planning renovations and a big capital campaign to finance those changes. Sousa-Stanley said they had enough funds to get started but need grants, sponsorships and donations to keep moving ahead.

The plan is to transform the space so it doesn't look like a cinema anymore but evokes more of a playhouse feel.

What are the shows?

Sousa-Stanley has always done a youth production at this time of year, so ELRT is continuing that tradition with "Annie Jr."

On their list of possible shows for the next two slots in the 2023 season are the comedy/murder mystery "Clue" and "The Addams Family" musical.

After that will come a drama or comedy yet to be determined that will be directed by David Conaway, whose family has long been involved with ELRT and who has significant directing experience. He will direct two shows this season, and Sousa-Stanley will direct the other three.

For the last play of the season, Sousa-Stanley said she wants to bring "A Christmas Carol" "to the town of East Lyme and Niantic and have people have a family tradition of bringing their children and families to that."

As for that movie auditorium that ELRT is not using, Mitchell said it's actually a separate building. The rest of the space is connected with the same electric system and plumbing system, so it couldn't really be subdivided.

Local background

Sousa-Stanley is a 1993 graduate of Waterford High School and majored in musical theater at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

She is director of the Stonington High School drama program; she has worked with that group for the past two decades.

She and her family — husband Chris Stanley is music director with ELRT — have lived in East Lyme for 18 years.

During 2022, Sousa-Stanley was also artistic director at Granite Theatre in Westerly. After that one-year stint there, she said, "I chose not to renew my contact (with Granite). ... It was just not the right fit for me."

In her Facebook post about the Niantic Bay Playhouse, she wrote, "When God gives you a new beginning it starts with an ending. Boy was it a rough ending, but I had HOPE and FAITH and stayed true to what I believed in. I am so thankful for closed doors ... for they led me to the right one!

"12 years ago I shared my dream of having a theater in my hometown and now it is a reality."