The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center is a theatre in Old Saybrook, Connecticut that opened in 2009. It is the only theatre in the world that is named for Katharine Hepburn, the 4-time Academy Award winning actress.
The building in which the venue is housed dates from circa 1910 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 as Old Saybrook Town Hall and Theater. The property is also known as The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and Theatre.
The 250 seat theatre has the full backing of the Hepburn Estate and the actress's family. Cynthia McFadden of ABC News, an executor of the Hepburn Estate, is an honorary capital campaign committee member. Hepburn's brother-in-law, Ellsworth Grant, is currently instrumental in helping the Board of Trustees honor the actress with his knowledge of Hepburn and her family. Grant is an author and former Mayor of West Hartford, Connecticut.
The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center is a non-profit performing arts organization located in a historic theatre/town hall on Main Street in Old Saybrook. Originally opened in 1911 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Center has been renovated with public funds from the Town of Old Saybrook and donations raised by the Trustees of the Center. It includes a 250-seat theatre and a small museum (still under construction) honoring Katharine Hepburn, Old Saybrookâs most celebrated resident. As befits an organization born of such a public/private partnership, programming is eclectic, offering something for all ages and income levels on the Connecticut shore and in the lower river valley.
Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell has said the following about the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center: "It is my pleasure to recognize that one of Connecticut's own is being honored in the naming of an historic building that will perpetuate her legacy. Katharine Hepburn contributed much in her long career in film and theatre, not only to Connecticut, but throughout the world. To remember her in this manner is most fitting and I salute the efforts of all those involved."
Connecticut U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd has also recognized the theatre in saying: "I commend everyone participating in this grand effort to restore the old Town Hall building in Old Saybrook to create in its place the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, I'm honored that I can lend my name in support of what will be a meaningful and inspiring tribute to our Connecticut treasure, Katharine Hepburn."
The building was designed by New London architect James Sweeney, and "is a fine example of the Colonial Revival Style." The general contractor was William L. Roe, Jr., of New London.
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“The average Hollywood film star’s ambition is to be admired by an American, courted by an Italian, married to an Englishman and have a French boyfriend.”
—Katharine Hepburn (b. 1909)
“Quite apart from any conscious program, the great cultural historians have always been historical morphologists: seekers after the forms of life, thought, custom, knowledge, art.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“As the unity of the modern world becomes increasingly a technological rather than a social affair, the techniques of the arts provide the most valuable means of insight into the real direction of our own collective purposes.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
“Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment. The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools be made by the people the center of the day’s demonstration. Let the national flag float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)