BELDING THEATER AT THE BUSHNELL

The Belding Theater is a 906-seat performance space located inside The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts at 166 Capitol Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut. Named in honor of longtime trustee Maxwell Belding and his family, the Belding Theater serves as the smaller of The Bushnell's two main performance venues, complementing the larger 2,800-seat Mortensen Hall.

The Belding Theater hosts intimate theatrical productions, chamber music, lectures, comedy, cabaret performances, and smaller-scale touring shows. The theater's more compact size provides an up-close experience suited to productions that benefit from audience proximity. Programming is coordinated as part of The Bushnell's overall season, which draws from Broadway, classical, dance, and contemporary performing arts.

The Belding Theater opened in 2002 as part of a major expansion of The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. The expansion added the theater, new lobbies, education spaces, and enhanced facilities to the original 1930 Bushnell Memorial building. The Bushnell was originally completed as a "living memorial" by Dotha Bushnell Hillyer honoring her father, Reverend Dr. Horace Bushnell, a Hartford minister and civic leader.