The recent closing of the Franklin Opera House – forced to shut down because of code violations that had been shelved for a while – pushed the Addams Family from their home and into a middle school cafeteria.

That means Lurch, Cousin It, Uncle Fester, Gomez, Morticia and the rest of the family oddballs must rehearse where they can. They began at the Franklin High School gym and then moved to the Franklin Middle School Cafeteria.

The Opera House will remain silent until the City Council, other city officials and the public decide if renovations, which one city councilor said could cost as much as $5 million, are worth the money.

The organizations that call the Opera House home hope their nomadic lifestyle won’t last long. There was a 35-year absence that began in the 1960s and ended in 2000. The city needed space for offices and a courtroom.

“The police went to the basement area where our dressing rooms were,” said Dan Darling, the executive director of the Opera House. “The stage was walled off and that became the courthouse.”

 The Opera House, built in 1892, is steeped in tradition. It served as the cultural and artistic core of the community through the 20th century, as was the case in many small New England towns. 

The old theater regained its artistic flavor when a police station and courthouse were built across the street, leaving music, dance and theater lovers salivating over the possibility of the building getting yet another chance at an encore performance.

“People who grew up here knew what it was like and what it looked like,” Darling said. “They got together and said, ‘Now that the space is open, let’s do it again.’ ”

A massive volunteer effort charged forward. The Franklin Opera House Restoration Committee emerged in 1999 and the place reopened two years later. It had fallen into disrepair.

The committee was “founded to restore, repair, and maintain the historic Franklin Opera House,” read the mission statement once the committee was open for business, “and provide performing arts programming for our citizens.”

Keeping the facility updated cost money, which wasn’t always available. The city hired an engineering firm about five years ago, Darling said, and saw problems.

“The report came out with a long list,” Darling said. “It has the original wiring, and over the years, different kinds of Band-Aids have been tried.”

Through the years, three programs took flight at the Opera House and called it home: the Franklin Footlight Theater, the Franklin High School Drama Club and the Franklin Children’s Theater Program. All have moved, from a facility dripping with history to a school cafeteria that feels like, well, a school cafeteria.

“We’ve tried to move tables and line them up in the back,” said Jule Finley, who worked as a drama teacher at Franklin High for 22 years and is the founder of the children’s program. “We try not to let the brick walls detract from what we’re doing. But it’s not the ambiance of the historic, beautiful Opera House.”

There will be changes for the Addams Family, which will run from Dec. 8-10. The seating capacity in the middle school will be 160, down from 299 at the Opera House. Spacing between actors will be altered. The Addams Family is the product of high school students, adults and community members.

Hayley DeSousa is a school nurse in Campton who graduated from Winnisquam Regional High and has been performing at the Opera House for about a decade. She plays an old Addams Family ancestor, ghostly white and spooky.

“I’m trying to look at it as an adventure,” DeSousa said. “I’m trying to see a positive and be creative with different spaces, but I’m sad the Opera House is closing. I hope the town will keep it alive.”

Her older brother, Derek DeSousa, works at Concord Hospital and plays Uncle Fester. “It’s bittersweet,” he said, “because you know it’s closing for good reasons and maybe we can have more people in there once it gets to code. But it’s a sad time. We’ll be excited to see what it looks like once it’s fixed.”

Funding for another renovation needs to be approved by the nine-person City Council. An open meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, at which time a recent assessment and price tag might be unveiled.

Bonds, fundraising and city money will be needed, said City Councilor Vince Ribas. He has a part in the Addams Family, too.

“No source for that funding has been identified,” Ribas said. “We might have a public referendum at next year’s election. There’s a strong will in the community to move forward as quickly as possible.”

Said Finley, “The Opera House has had such an impact on people for about 25 years.  I hope the community will remind the City Council and the people who make those decisions to make sure it comes back.”

For more information on the performances this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, go to Franklin Footlight Theatre’s webpage.