Norwich – It’s fitting that Norwich Arts Center will open the play “Sealed for Freshness” Friday, just days after crews from Mattern Construction encased its building at 60 Broadway in scaffolding and draped a thick, opaque curtain over the structure to begin a $75,000 façade restoration project.

The two events are coincidental, NAC board President Charlie Chase said, but he likes the seemingly intentional tie-in between the building work and the play, stressing that the Norwich Arts Center remains open for theater events and exhibits in the first-floor arts gallery. The Broadway sidewalk beneath the scaffolding also is open, along with the parking lot adjacent to the building, Chase said.

NAC received a $50,000 grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development, matched with a $25,000 code correction grant through the city’s downtown revitalization program administered by the Norwich Community Development Corp. for the façade project, Chase said.

The façade project includes repairs to a structural problem on the right side support column, plus cosmetic restoration work, repairs to cracks in the masonry and a new seal to keep the weather out -- so the building actually will be “sealed for freshness,” as the play title states.

The façade work, being done by Mattern Construction of Baltic, will begin Tuesday and is expected to take about three weeks.

At the same time, Norwich Arts Center also rushed to qualify for a double rebate for energy efficient air conditioning systems offered by Norwich Public Utilities this summer.

The aging and failing heating and cooling system has left the third-floor Donald Oat Theater without air conditioning for the past several years, severely limiting summer use of the space.

Installing a new rooftop HVAC unit is expected to cost $19,700. NAC has received a $5,000 grant from Chelsea Groton Bank Foundation and used a $1,000 “generous donation” from a longtime arts center volunteer as the initial down payment for the work, Chase said. The center has applied for one other grant and will file an application for a third grant shortly.

The HVAC replacement project qualifies for a $9,250 rebate from NPU.

“When I found out they were going to give us the double rebate, I became very determined to make it happen this summer to take advantage of that,” Chase said.

While the construction work will take place during the week, the play, “Sealed for Freshness,” set at a 1960s Tupperware party, will run on the next two weekends. Performances will take place Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for NAC members and groups of 10 or more, $17 for military personnel, students and seniors and $18 for the general public.

For information and to order tickets, go to www.norwicharts.org or call (860) 887-2789.

c.bessette@theday.com