BRUNSWICK

As actors dance across the stage in dazzling costumes, illuminated, their voices reverberating through Pickard Theater, audience members are transported to another place.

And they’re certainly not thinking about the hundreds of people Maine State Music Theatre has hired to pull off every show — those who create the costumes, build the sets, oversee lighting and make sure the microphones and sound systems are functioning properly.

Every summer, it means there are a number of people for whom the theater must find housing. While Maine State Music Theatre owns a couple of apartment buildings, it primarily rents spaces.

It’s a challenge, because as the theater’s Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark points out, many staff they hire are members of a union that requires housing to be close to the theater and rehearsal space. It’s difficult for the theater to find prime locations without paying top dollar.

A year ago, however, MSMT was able to purchase a vacant home at 5 Noble St. from Bowdoin College. The location, which the theater has been renting from the college for 12 weeks every summer, is located nearly across Maine Street from Pickard Theater.

The home has been empty for about six years, Clark said, and the main portion, built in 1850, had fallen into disrepair. With a fundraising campaign in place, the theater is investing $750,000 in the house, which it purchased for $225,000 and bartered a sponsorship with the college.

The house has been gutted, a new floor poured, and new electrical and plumbing has been installed. An addition to the house was torn down and rebuilt.

“It’s a humongous project,” Clark said, and one that probably couldn’t have made sense for a for profit organization.

The 11-bedroom home will house department heads that that manage the different aspects of each show, from the costume shop to props. Clark is hoping for a May 20 move-in date.

When a show is closed down Saturday night and a new one set to open with a Wednesday matinee, Clark said, the staff is basically on call for 72 hours straight. That means, he said, if they get a six-hour window to get some rest, they will now be able to walk across the street and fall into bed — instead of driving 20 minutes to Bath to a house MSMT has there.

Clark said there is relief knowing that living nearby will be uplifting for those in charge of the technical side of the theater.

“A well-rested technician is worth its weight in gold,” he said.

There are 95-120 technicians working during a regular show; with the full company, that number approaches 200.

Back on tax rolls

The purchase also means the house will be back on the town tax rolls as well. Maine State Music Theatre pays taxes on most of its buildings, as it must rent them out the other nine months of the year. They’ve made their five buildings centerpieces, Clark said.

“We want people to see those buildings the way we want them to think of Maine State Music Theatre,” he said

The theater is open to purchasing other buildings close to the theater, as housing is the single largest budget item every year.

“That is, quite frankly why we’re desperately trying to control as many beds as we can to reduce reliance on renting,” Clark said.

Linda Smith, Brunswick’s economic and community development director, said the town benefits from the theater, which partners with the Brunswick Downtown Association and contributes to the vitality of the downtown.

From an economic development perspective, she said, “you couldn’t ask for a better draw than Maine State Music Theatre.”

And of course, as theater people, she said, “they’re about making a moment and if you happen to brush up against that moment, it’s a pretty exciting thing to have happen in the community.”

Clark noted that Maine State Music Theatre is still looking for a sponsor to endow the house, so it can be named after them. Whoever ends up doing so, he said, “will have a private parking space for all the Maine State Music Theatre shows right here on the property.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com