Jazz? Reggae? R&B?

Guests will enjoy them all at the first performance of Dark Night Cabaret, a series of live shows planned for four Fridays in March at Edmond Town Hall. The special events will be in the Alexandria Room of the historic building at 45 Main Street.

The series opens March 8 with Thee MSM Band, who will be performing reggae and jazz favorites. Dark Night Cabaret events will continue March 15 with the Irish band Once Removed, which includes Newtown native Morgan Eve Swain; Jim Allyn Trio, with two additional local guest artists, on March 22; and then March 29, on the eve of National Poetry Month, the series will conclude with Connecticut State Troubadour Nekita Waller, along with Newtown Poet Laureate Lisa Schwartz.

Tickets for Dark Night Cabaret are $10 and will be available online at [naviga:u]edmondtownhall.org[/naviga:u].

Doors open at 7:30 each week, with an 8:30 curtain. Each performance runs until 10:30 pm. Beer and wine will be available, with cabaret-style seating.

According to Sheila Torres, the town hall’s operations manager, the cabaret series is being offered during a planned closing of Edmond Town Hall’s main theater space.

“Dark Night Cabaret is a way to continue to bring the community together for entertainment, just in a different space and format,” Ms Torres said. The theater is expected to be closed March 11 to April 11. All other building activities, including space and event rentals, will continue as usual.

Renovations planned for this month and next include repairing and/or replacing various theater components, including rigging, curtains, railings, and other things, [naviga:u]The Newtown Bee reported in February[/naviga:u].

“Dark Night” is a nod to the theater’s past, when it would go dark one night each week to replace the movie reels in preparation for the upcoming movie, according to the town hall’s board of managers.

Edmond Town Hall, completed in 1931 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was a gift from Newtown benefactor Mary Elizabeth Hawley. It has served as the center of the community and the heart of Newtown since its inception, providing generations of residents and neighbors with governmental services space; affordable family entertainment through its proscenium theater; sports opportunities in its gymnasium; and elegant space in its Alexandria Room — a banquet hall — for gatherings, fundraisers, civic occasions, or to celebrate life events.

Event rentals, live shows, movies, and a modest disbursement from a trust fund provide most, but not all, of the buildings operating expenses.