A historic community theater in Fairfield beset by budget constraints signed a long-term lease for its building Wednesday that will allow it to keep its doors open.

The nonprofit organization that runs the Post Road theater says the building is in major need of repairs. Also, the group says operating the theater's marquee for the remainder of the year alone will cost $7,500.

Leo Redgate, the president of the Community Theater Foundation, says the building's landlord agreed to lease the building for 30 years.

"Now that we have this new agreement in place, it allows us to take it to the next step [and] ask for people's help," says Redgate. "With their contributions we can make the place even more special than it was today."

Redgate hopes the donations will allow the nonprofit to address the theater's rotting floors and peeling ceilings. He also wants to buy a new projector that costs $75,000.

And in the middle of an economic crunch, Redgate says he knows raising the funds to fix the historic theater will be difficult.

"I don't look at this as a one time, 'Let's give a lot of money,'" he says. "I look at this as the community's opportunity to think long and hard about what this place would be like without a foundation like this."