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24 n e w h a v e n B I Z | A p r i l 2 0 2 1 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m A r t s & B u s i n e s s I t took more than 10 years of wooing res- idents, town officials and donors, raising $5.4 million and weathering a pandemic, but the new Legacy eatre — located in the Stony Creek section of Branford — is finally opening, even as indoor restrictions for gatherings remain. e 127-seat, not-for-profit theater officially joins the region's collection of professional theaters when it opens for a live, inaugural concert April 23 at 7 p.m. Broadway's Telly Leung (who starred in Disney's "Aladdin," Allegiance," and "Pacific Overtures") will be on stage for a socially-dis- tant, one-quarter capacity concert. So how did a few dedicated theater enthu- siasts manage to raise millions of dollars to start — in the middle of a pandemic — an entertainment venue that declares a triumph if it simply breaks even? "We have so many wonderful theaters in Connecticut but I just wanted to have a venue in this quaint neighborhood that was multi-generational, that wasn't elitist, that was fully supported by the community," says co-founder and Artistic Director Keely Baisden Knudsen, an actress, director, chore- ographer and professor. "eater can be as expensive as you want it to be," she says, "and I feel we can create great work without a tremendous amount of waste. I'm coming to it from an artistic point of view but also a very business point of view, too." Aer a 2011 feasibility study by Webb Management indicated potential for the mid-shoreline theater market, Knudsen and co-founder Stephanie Stiefel Williams, an actress and former attorney, zeroed in on the boarded-up and vacant building at 128 imble Islands Road in this seaside enclave. e building, built in 1903, had previously been a silent movie house; community and professional summer theater that included a legendary production by Orson Welles; girdle factory; and lastly, a home for Sicilian puppets before being dormant for years. Aer raising $400,000 in mostly private donations, led by the Stiefel Williams family, it purchased the building and its adjacent "artist cottage" in 2013. Knudsen and her supporters then began the four-year-long process of fundraising and getting local approvals. Permits were granted in 2017 aer neigh- borhood concerns had been satisfied. For in- stance, there will be shuttles to a commuter parking lot off nearby I-95 and the number of performances will be limited. Also, the theater's agreement with the town excludes rap, hard rock and heavy metal concerts, as well as raves, open mike events, weddings Despite pandemic, startup Legacy eatre preps for its Branford debut By Frank Rizzo Legacy Theatre will have 127 seats. PHOTO/CONTRIBUTED Keely Baisden Knudsen is the artistic director and co- founder of Branford's Legacy Theatre, which plans to make its debut later this month.

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