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NEW BEDFORD — Water damage. Worn-down paint.
No one could argue that the 18-month restoration of The Zeiterion was unnecessary.
Since it began in summer 2024, the $37 million project has peeled back layer upon layer of history. It has also brought together a master plasterer from New Bedford and a painter from Uganda into a covenant of camaraderie and friendship — which the pair reflected on from brand-new plush red seats in the theater.
◉ Follow us @newbedfordlight on social media with the hashtag #zeiterionreopens for live coverage of the Jan. 17 grand re-opening.
“This was a very personal thing for us,” said William Nagenda, 52, a painter originally from the Kampala area, who worked on the project. “This was special.”
“We clicked man,” agreed Serri Correia, 54, a New Bedford native and plasterer.
The artists are among a cadre of painters and plasterers who have spent months restoring the theater to its original 1923 white, gold, and gray color scheme. Their paths to The Zeiterion, though, began decades ago and a continent away.
Correia’s family, starting with his grandparents, came to New Bedford from Rabo de Peixe, São Miguel, after the 1957 Capelinhos volcano eruption on Faial that led to the Azorean Refugee Act of 1958. Correia, the youngest of six siblings, was the only one born in the U.S.
His earliest memories of The Zeiterion are of going to the symphony with his American born godfather, a World War II veteran named William Rodgers.
“He was the one who first brought me,” he said, excitement building as his memories surged. “I used to come here all the time and watch Bruce Lee movies with my friends.”
Correia studied at New Bedford High School in the 1980s but dropped out when he began work as a plasterer. He later returned for his high school equivalency, and has since worked on restoration projects at Yale University, the State House in Boston, and the replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate in Boston.
“I fell into this work and I just fell in love with it,” he said.
Seated next to him in the theater, Nagenda looked on with awe.
“Man, that’s a beautiful history,” he interjected.
Nagenda did not have the same childhood connection to the South Coast. During his early years, he farmed tea and cattle in Uganda. He said he had no painting experience until after he emigrated to the U.S. in 2008 — a move that came after he met his wife during a visit with family in California.
After some time living on the West Coast, he moved east to work as a house painter on Nantucket, where he first picked up the skill.
“I came here to have a better life,” said Nagenda, who now lives in Boston. “These are things we weren’t trained to do [in Uganda].”
Peeling back history
Both men agreed the project was among the most difficult they had worked on and said they felt the weight of history as they labored. Nagenda said the work has also taught him valuable life skills.
“Projects like this are what taught me how to start things and how to end things,” he said. “These are things I can’t do without other people.”
Over the months, they scraped through the layers of paint and plaster. Correia used dental tools to painstakingly craft thousands of small golden rosettes to decorate the ceiling and walls; Nagenda repainted warped surfaces, enhancing wall textures to invite theatregoers further into the sanctum.
“The whole project was intense,” Nagenda said. “The demands were huge, and there’s still so much left to do.”
Correia said that delaminating, scraping off layers of old plaster one at a time, was one of the most grueling parts of the process. He estimated they went through 10 layers before they were finally able to re-plaster.
“The moisture just ruins the place,” he said. “You have to become an archaeologist to do this right,” he said.
For both, the most important aspect of the work was the camaraderie they formed with about 50 or so fellow contractors.
And a sense of history.
“This was very personal for us,” Nagenda said.
Neither artist was fast to accept credit or recognition of his talents. But each sang the praises of their colleagues.
“These guys are all Michelangelo,” Correia said. “It’s an honor to work on this.”
Kevin G. Andrade can be contacted at kandrade@newbedfordlight.org.
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