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Call it one-stop shopping for an evening out in Hartford: food, art and performance all in one location on Pearl Street.
The building that houses TheaterWorks—re-christened City Arts on Pearl—has been renovated. Its first floor now features a satellite gallery of the New Britain Museum of American Art, called the Gallery of American Art, and a bistro inside the gallery operated by bin228 Café and Wine Bar, appropriately named bistro233.
Visitors arriving at City Arts on Pearl will notice crimson red fabric draped majestically out front, plus new signage and carpeting, and updated lighting that gives the space a softer feel. Other changes? A major security upgrade and a reconfigured box office.
Currently on view in the gallery is “Pulp Art: The Robert Lesser Collection,” which includes front covers of popular fiction magazines. Exhibits will rotate five times a year with each TheaterWorks production and may or may not be thematically related.
“The idea being that every time our audience comes in the door they see something different, something new,” said Steve Campo, TheaterWorks' artistic and executive director.
The theater’s current production is “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” a gripping comedy by contemporary playwright Sarah Ruhl, full of intrigue and adventure, running through March 15. Find out what happens when Jean answers the ringing cell phone of the dead man sitting beside her in a café and is swept into his complicated personal life.
In addition to the gallery show, installations of larger works will hang in the main lobby for an extended period of time and, farther back inside the building, a back room gallery will include works by staff artists from the museum.
Inside the Gallery of American Art—with its walls painted in six different colors, such as warm cognac—you’ll find bistro233. A couch and a few tables and chairs offer seating, while in the corner sits a 1920s vintage Steinway, courtesy of Campo’s parents.
Bistro233 offers fresh fare. For now, the menu includes two types of salads served cold with or without chicken; two wraps: a chicken Caesar and a tuna salad; and two baguette sandwiches: an Italian cold cut or sliced ham, brie and honey mustard.
“I love feedback,” said Alicia Roncari, co-owner of bin228 with husband Peter Johnson. “We’ll see what sells, what the people are enjoying. If we can add stuff, we definitely will.”
Guests can quench their thirst with Californian wine, beer, sparkling water and flavored Pellegrino. Wines offered are a Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet and Pinot Noir.
Food and drink at bistro233 is very affordable, with items ranging up to $8.
The gallery and bistro will open 90 minutes prior to curtain. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights it will open at 6 p.m. for a 7:30 p.m. curtain; Fridays and Saturdays it will open at 6:30 p.m. for the 8 p.m. curtain; and Saturday and Sunday matinees it will open at 1 p.m. for the 2:30 curtain. You can also visit during intermission and after a performance.
And no, you don’t have to have a ticket to a TheaterWorks show to stop by and enjoy what this Hartford treasure has to offer.
“You can get information about the production or information about the New Britain Museum of American Art,” said Jacques Lamarre, director of marketing and public relations for TheaterWorks. “And hopefully [you'll] come back and explore what we do here or explore what goes on at the museum.”
City Arts on Pearl
233 Pearl St., Hartford
Read a review, flip through photos and watch a video of "Dead Man's Cell Phone"
