The Goodspeed Production Department operates year-round at our shops in East Haddam, Connecticut, located in the East Haddam Industrial Park at 5 Commerce Drive. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Phone: (860) 873-8664 ext. 710
Fax: (860) 873-2480
Scene Shop
The Scene Shop is one of the largest and best equipped shops in regional theatre. Our expansive 13,000 square foot facility houses all the tools necessary to complete projects of all types, large and small. Our Technical Direction team has been solving problems for more than 35 years collectively.
Design: Let us help you create a solution to your mechanical design problem using the very latest in CAD technology. Not sure if the unit will fit? Let us create a digital 3D model for you.
Graphics: The Stillman Center Scene Shop has an HP 5000 60’’ wide-format printer, perfect for producing banners, sign boards, show posters, and digital scenic renderings on a wide variety of media, including PSA and scrim vinyl, acetate, and muslin.
Construction: Can’t find that special scenic unit? Let us build it for you. Our capabilities include construction involving wood, metal, foam, plastics, fabric, fiberglass, and many other media. From machined parts to entire sets, we can execute your designs accurately and expediently.
Roll Tubes: The Scene Shop manufactures roll tubes of all diameters and lengths up to 40 feet for use in limited space. We will custom manufacture a roll tube or rent it to you, complete with rigging assembly and instructions.
The Goodspeed Scene Shop proper is roughly 73’ wide by 100’ long with a maximum ceiling height of 25’. There are three 10’ x 10’ loading doors on the west wall of the shop, two at standard 48" dock height, the third at ground level. An additional 2200-square foot auxiliary scenic prep and storage area is connected to the main shop by a 10’ x 10’ loading door on fusible link. The shop is a well-equipped woodworking facility with a full range of power tools, hand tools, pneumatics, and a dust collection system.
Paint Shop
The Paint Shop is 140’ long x 80’ wide, divided by a central row of columns, 25’ apart. The shop is equipped with a sprung celotex covered deck about 40’ wide x 105’ long for drop painting and a 38’ x 100’ area for hard scenery and prop painting. The Scenic Art Department services all Goodspeed productions, including the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester. The paint shop has also taken on non-union commissioned work for many designers and theatres nationally and internationally, as well as commercial venues, display projects, and much more. We are best known for our drop painting abilities, but our capabilities include sculpting, sign work, carving, groundcloths and all manner of hard scenery, along with decorative finishes.
Our charge artist, Diane Fargo, brings many years of experience to the shop. The department has many professional scenic artists who travel from coast to coast to work in our shop. We are dedicated to fine workmanship and close collaboration with our clients to create the best product possible. Please contact us for your custom drop needs.
Prop Shop
The Goodspeed Prop Shop is fully equipped to handle the construction and restoration of most furniture, including upholstered and metal items. The shop is equipped with power and hand tools, pneumatics, and a spray booth. Hand prop and furniture inventories are extensive and include a wide selection of period furniture, much of which has been custom built for our small stage space. The props inventory is catalogued in an inventory of digital images as well as conventional photographs.
Costume Shop
Our costume staff includes technicians and artisans with backgrounds in theatrical design, ballet, and fashion. We have built garments ranging from trousers to tutus, paniers to pillbox hats, and kilts to kimonos.
Let us build individual pieces for you or coordinate your entire show. Our capabilities include flat patterning, draping, and the construction and alteration of garments, including corsets and dancewear. The shop is also versed the construction and refurbishing of millinery and leather garments, as well as needlework, and jewelry design and construction. Wig design, maintenance, and ventilation are also available.
The costume shop is outfitted to accommodate both large and small projects. It is equipped with industrial sewing and merrow machines, as well as an industrial leather walking foot machine and a blind hemmer. Our staff has collaborated with New York and regional theatre designers, including Jess Goldstein, Suzy Benzinger, Pamela Scofield, and Catherine Zuber. Whether you are a production company without a costume staff, or a costume shop in need of a specialty item, we can build for you.
Costume Rental
Whether you are outfitting a 1920’s policeman or a cluster of chorus girls, the Goodspeed costume stock is full of clothing possiblities. The combined costume, accessory, hat, and shoe stocks occupy more than11,000 square feet of storage space. It contains garments and hats from musicals of various time periods. We also have a selection of complete shows available for rental, including Show Boat, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Martin Guerre, Candide, Jane Eyre, and Sunset Boulevard. Visit our Costume Rental website.
Prop Rentals
Our prop shop is equipped to construct and restore furniture, including upholstered and metal items. Our scenic inventory includes a host of one- of-a-kind and hard- to-find items ranging from period props and furniture to backdrops, realistic scale antique cars, and a myriad of other items. Need a barber chair for Sweeney Todd? Call us!