The Rough Draft Completes Its Final Chapter

Monday night — the last night The Rough Draft in Hamden was open for business — was trivia night, and true to fashion, the names of the teams reflected the times. But this time, when one of the teams was announced to be ​“We Shall Not Dwell, Not On Rex Manning Day,” the meaning was twofold.

April 8 — Rex Manning Day, made infamous by the 1995 movie Empire Records, which happened to be playing on the television behind the bar — marked the final night of the Rough Draft in Hamden, which had opened in June last year in the former site of The Space, and was now being sold to a new owner, Pete Mould, after only nine months in business.

“It’s no secret we were struggling,” said owner Karen Robinson. ​“Chris (Scionti) and I decided to sell outright” after taking on an investor and still finding it difficult to keep up. Robinson and Scionti are both teachers and parents and wanted to devote more time to their families and full-time jobs as well.

“We held a staff meeting to clear the air because there were rumors. We wanted to be up front, and we promised to give them as much notice as possible. We have so much love for them,” Robinson said.

The final musical performances were this past Friday, announced on Facebook along with the notice that the venue and bar would be closing Monday with one final night of trivia and reopening in a few weeks, under Mould’s ownership and with a new name: The Cellar on Treadwell.

“Show attendance wasn’t consistent,” said Robinson, but trivia had been ​“fairly successful.” Overall Robinson said that the venue had become ​“so much more than we dreamed possible,” but also said that there was ​“so much more to be done as time went on.”

“All the little things add up,” said Scionti. ​“We had growing pains, but we also spent a lot of time away from our families and spent a lot of time away from the business on the business. We always felt like we were almost there, but we at least kept it well enough for someone to carry it forward.”

“We experienced great music, and met great people,” Robinson said. ​“We learned about the business world while making great friends.” She could not say enough about the local music community as well as the workers who help build the place and also stuck with them ​“from beginning to end.”

“Especially after the flood” — an October rainstorm that put the basement space under inches of water — ​“there was such an outpouring of support from the community,” said Robinson. ​“It was almost overwhelming.”

Attendance at events varied, however. For example, Tuesday nights had been successful for a while as an art night, but then eventually attendance tapered off and the venue decided to close those nights.

“Tuesdays are rough,” Robinson said.

They also had a cross promotion for a while with the Space Ballroom next door, offering patrons of those shows 10 percent off dinner with their tickets, but that also tapered off.

“Every single person we talked to about it said to us, ​‘it is such a tough business, why would you do it?’” said Robinson. ​“But we know why we did it. It was a joint love of music.”

She said that they had the support of Steve and Jesse Rodgers, the previous owners of the venue; Robinson said that she had known Rodgers since they were teenagers and had even worked at the Outer Space herself.

“Everyone was sad that the Outer Space was not open anymore, so it seemed to rejuvenate everyone when we opened,” Robinson said. Things started out ​“enthusiastic” she said. ​“We had a slew of volunteers to help renovate” and the staff ended up being all former employees of the Outer Space. Most of the patrons were also former Outer Space regulars.

One of them was Chris Serapiglia, who was in attendance at trivia on Monday.

“I’ve been coming here since they opened, every Monday for trivia and every Friday for happy hour,” said Serapiglia. ​“And I hung out at the Outer Space too. Both of my bands — Pangalactic and The Joiner Inners — played here. There were good vibes all around.”

Anthony Apuzzo of Digital Tracks Entertainment who runs the trivia night agreed.

“I wanted to see it succeed,” he said. ​“I know it meant a lot to them.”

He noted that people and trivia teams have followed him there from other venues, and that he would be continuing at the reopened Cellar on Treadwell as well as other regularly scheduled venues.

“Trivia has been pretty regularly successful” said Robinson. ​“In fact, even my parents come every week.” She noted with a laugh that they are ​“proud to always come in last.”

Robinson said she was ​“sad all day,” but as of Monday night, ​“my heart feels happier.”

​“From the outside, it looks easy” she added. ​“It’s not, but still I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m going to miss it. I don’t consider us failing. We did what we wanted to do. We kept the vision going.”