By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — The Remarkable Theater and Levitt Pavilion once again are vying for use of the Imperial Avenue parking lot this summer.

Lawyers for both nonprofits appeared Wednesday before the Board of Selectwomen to argue their case over the Remarkable Theater’s request to screen drive-in movies — after going dark all of last year — at the municipal lot this season.

The selectwomen approved the Remarkable Theater’s proposal to show movies Mondays and Wednesdays from July 1 through Sept. 4, but not without the Levitt’s lawyer warning — as she has done in the past — that there may be days when the pavilion will be hosting performances on the same nights — with noise and parking overlaps between the two venues.

The same conflict occurred last year when the selectwomen were considering the Remarkable’s request to use the parking lot for outdoor movie screenings. Although the theater group secured the selectwomen’s approval, twice, for screenings from spring through fall 2023, it did not show a single movie.

This time, the selectwomen made it clear, while again approving the Remarkable’s use of the lot, they would have nothing to do with the long-running conflict between the two groups.

“We can give this permission, but we cannot intervene … if there’s a conflict,” Selectwoman Candice Savin said. “We are not in a position to tell them [the Levitt] to do it or don’t do it on a particular night.”

Mary Miller, the Levitt’s lawyer, said the pavilion’s schedule of performances is published on its website, and that Wednesdays should be most likely to avoid conflicts because that is the Levitt’s children’s night and those performances end before movies would be shown by the Remarkable Theater. 

However, the Levitt does stage some shows on Mondays, she said, “and there could be a sound conflict. … While we’re happy to try to work things out, we’re not going to say no to a performer. If we can get them, we’re going to go ahead with the show.”

The town has an agreement with the Friends of the Levitt Pavilion, approved by the selectwomen and the Planning and Zoning Commission, but that doesn’t either require or prohibit use of the pavilion on specific dates or times during the season, Assistant Town Attorney Eileen Lavigne Flug told Wednesday’s meeting.

The agreement obligates the Levitt Pavilion to stage 50 shows a year, or more, but does not restrict its use of the property on any day or night of the week. “The Remarkable needs to coordinate their dates … that’s what their [Levitt] attorney is saying,” Flug said.

Eric Bernheim, the lawyer representing the Remarkable Theater, asked if a condition could be appended to the selectwomen’s approval of this year’s Remarkable request requiring Levitt officials to confirm performance dates with some lead time.

“We couldn’t do that,” Selectwoman Andrea Moore told Bernheim. “We’re granting a permit for the Remarkable to have the opportunity to use the lot Mondays and Wednesdays … The coordination of that would have to happen between the two organizations. We can’t mandate that.”

Bernheim also asked if the Remarkable would be allowed to schedule film screenings on additional nights besides Mondays and Wednesdays if the Levitt agreed. First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker said no, the Remarkable Theater was being granted permission to use the lot only on those two nights.

In response to a request from the Department of Public Works, Bernheim said arrangements will be made for the Imperial parking lot to be cleaned up after use by the Remarkable Theater to prepare for other uses, such as the weekly Westport Farmers Market on Thursdays.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.