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Date: 8/8/2022
LUDLOW – As the end of the town’s 99-year lease with the Ludlow Housing Authority is set to expire once some final work is wrapped up in one of the buildings, representatives from the Exit 7 Theater met with the Housing Authority to put together a new lease agreement for the theater.
During the Board of Selectmen’s July 12 meeting, the board met with Exit 7 President Adam Malmborg and Vice President Christina Collins to discuss the lease with the town set to vacate the property. As a result of that meeting, the board agreed to extend Exit 7’s lease through the end of September with the option to end the lease sooner if an agreement could be met between the Housing Authority and Exit 7 on the new lease.
Town Administrator Marc Strange told Reminder Publishing the work in 37 Chestnut St. – where Exit 7 currently resides – had been finished as of Aug. 3 and the Board of Selectmen met with the Housing Authority on Aug. 9 to discuss the next steps. Coverage of this meeting will appear in the Aug. 18 edition of The Reminder.
In an interview with Reminder Publishing, Malmborg said Exit 7 was finalizing the details of the new lease with the Housing Authority.
“Last week we met with the Housing Authority and honestly, they were really excited to continue our lease because they love us. They’re just figuring out how long, whether it’s 25 or 50 years, it depends on what they decide because they want to look at the logistics,” he said.
With the ongoing conversations throughout the process, Malmborg said Exit 7 was never concerned about the lease running out.
“We weren’t uneasy because we have been having conversations with the Ludlow Housing Authority all along, so we just wanted to clarify with them because we have been in town for almost 40 years, so we wanted to just continue that and we’re very excited to continue, we have so many ideas for the arts,” he said.
Malmborg lauded the Selectmen and the Housing Authority for their willingness to work with Exit 7.
“Both groups of people are wonderful, and they want Exit 7 to continue because according to them it is a gem in the community and we are really excited for that,” he said.
With the lease being finalized, Malmborg said people have plenty to look forward to in the next year.
“This fall we have ‘Something Rotten,’ which will run in October, in February/March time we are doing a straight play, ‘Clue,’ which we are very excited about. Next spring in April/May time will be ‘Into the Woods,’ it’ll be our spring musical, and as of right now our youth show for the summer of 2023 will be Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘Cinderella,’” he said.
While the show had already finished by press time, Exit 7’s youth show “Newsies” ran for its final weekend the weekend of Aug. 6. Malmborg added that residents can also look forward to an open mic night once “Something Rotten” has finished its run in the fall.
The upcoming year will be all about looking forward to the theater’s future.
“2022 to 2023 is going to be a year of looking forward and planning things because we also want to plan for the 40th anniversary, we’re thinking of doing some refurbishments inside the theater, we are working with the town of Ludlow for the 250th town celebration so we’re very excited for that. We have a lot of things coming up that we are very proud of,” Malmborg said.
Exit 7’s 40th anniversary takes place in 2024.
Malmborg added that he was looking forward to the future of the theater.
“We’re just excited, we feel good where we are, I feel like we have a great relationship with the Housing Authority now, we want to work with them and they are 100 percent on board,” he said.