A small theater company in Milford has grown in popularity both in Connecticut and other parts of the country since it was started four years ago.

Jimmy Johansmeyer and Bert Bernardi started Pantochino Productions in 2010 after working for decades at a theater in Bridgeport. They are now based at the Milford Center for the Arts.

Bernardi writes the comedy scripts and Johansmeyer designs costumes for the productions. They are joined by Justin Rugg, who writes all of the music. In the four years since Pantochino was started, they have won multiple Broadway World and Critics Circle awards and produced 10 main stage original productions. Five of them were picked up by a West Coast licensing house. Their summer theatre camps have also all sold out this year.

The company depends on word-of-mouth advertising for promotion and they hope to open up their own facility soon.