![]() ![]() From 1923 to 1925 Bessie Smith appeared regularly at the Bijou Theatre. Stage acts were booked through TOBA (Theatre Owners Booking Association). The Bijou Theatre became the Nashville flagship of the Bijou Amusement Company, one of the first African American theatre chains in the south. Milton and later Alfred Starr built up a chain of some 45-50 theatres throughout the South, under the name Bijou Amusement Company. In 1916 Michael & Milton Starr first leased the vacant theatre, and purchased it the following year, where under Milton’s management it was converted into a movie theatre for exclusively African-American patronage. It never did well in its 4th Avenue neighborhood which was then becoming increasingly African-American, and Wells closed the theatre in 1913, putting it up ‘For Sale’. Seating was provided for 1,642 in orchestra, two balconies and boxes. The Bijou Theatre was opened on Septemas a stock company playhouse for white family patronage. So adding the youth-friendly programs will just add more vibrancy to the business and the corridor and bring people around more regularly.Located on the West side of 4th Avenue North, midway between Gay Street and Charlotte Avenue.īuilt in 1904 by Jake Wells on the site of the former Adelphi/Grand Opera House. "He's (Zayas) 100 percent right that you need a more rounded audience. to downtown Bridgeport, more reasons to come and stay downtown," she said. ![]() "The key is having as many days that there's something happening as possible."Īnd Lauren Coakley Vincent, who runs the Downtown Special Services District that markets the neighborhood, believes not just the theater but neighboring establishments will benefit. "So many businesses wish there were more ways to use their space, right?" Kuchma said. Kuchma is pleased with the new direction at the Bijou. So he's (Peterson) been staying on board with me temporarily just to help me understand this whole process of how everything works, from booking a concert to booking a play or show.” "Jumping in over here, there’s so many moving parts. The next one comes in a half hour later, then we do another. You book a party room two hours, they leave. If you just said, 'The Bijou is now doing kid's birthday parties' nobody would come."Īnd he admitted he also has had plenty to learn about running a theater and has been getting help from his immediate predecessor running the Bijou, Gary Peterson. "We are saying, 'Star Factory at the Bijou,'" he said. But there will be a re-branding of the latter. Zayas emphasized he is not relocating the Star Factory out of Stratford and will run that site along with the Bijou. and seeing on our sign we're doing children's birthday parties and once in the venue they see how beautiful it is, it's like, 'Our son would love this.'" How fun is that going to be for a bunch of moms to go to something like that? And vice-versa. "That's an automatic ticket sale for them. "So a mom coming to a birthday party sees that a 'boy band' tribute (band) is coming," Zayas said. So between my birthday parties, my theater program, financially that will just put the theater over the top."Īnd Zayas also believes the expanded offerings will help create new fans of the Bijou's regular programming. "That was a deciding factor - what I could bring there to enhance what's already there. "If you do just the concerts and the movies and things like that, it's very difficult to maintain a theater of that size," Zayas said. "Why keep a theater totally dark all week and only open on a Saturday night or a Friday?"īesides the parties, Zayas intends to offer a children's acting/performance program at the Bijou as well. ![]() "You really do need the infusion of something else during the week," Zayas said, referring to the Bijou's often sporadic schedule of films and live entertainment. Zayas is the third operator over the past decade.Īnd he believes the formula for the venue's success is merging it with his 13-year-old, Stratford-based Star Factory, which hosts children's birthday parties and also teaches vocal lessons. The historic Fairfield Avenue building is still privately owned by developer Phil Kuchma.īuilt in the early 1900s, the modern-day Bijou remains an important part of the city's cultural life, but has proven to be a challenge to keep profitable. "This was the last thing I thought I'd ever do in my life," Zayas, who purchased the operation earlier this winter, said this week. ![]()
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