Church and Theater Ensemble To Appeal Zoning Board Vote

The Cambridge Ensemble theater group and the church that has housed the group for four years will appeal in court a Cambridge zoning board ruling that prohibits the ensemble from performing at the church.

The church and the theater group plan to appeal the ruling in Massachusetts Superior Court, Ann Thomas, attorney for the church, said yesterday.

The zoning board in a three to two split, voted on November 18 to evict the group from the Old Cambridge Baptist Church because theaters are prohibited in the residential zone where the church is located, Jack Drummey, an official in the Cambridge public relations office, said yesterday.

Thomas said she will argue in court that "the theater's activities, which include teaching as well as performing, serve an important religious purpose, and the ensemble is therefore not controlled by zoning law."

Cambridge zoning law may not restrict the use of land or buildings for educational purposes if those purposes are deemed to be religious, denominational, sectarian or public.

"The issue then is whether the zoning board has the authority to tell the church how to handle its own religious and educational affairs," a member of the zoning board, who wished to remain anonymous, said yesterday.

Barbara Bregstein, general manager of the ensemble, said yesterday the ensemble considers itself an "integral part" of the church and a non-profit educational organization not subject to zoning law.

"We don't think that the court will uphold the board's ruling, and will issue to us a special permit allowing our group to perform in the residential district," Bregstein said.

Harvey G. Cox, Thomas Professor of Divinity and a member of the church, said yesterday that the zoning board had "overstepped its administrative bounds" by voting to remove the theater group.

"They have no authority to tell us we can't use our building for a purpose we see as integral to our mission in the area," Cox said.

"We do not accept the zoning board's defining for us what the ministry of our church should be, or determining for us what religious activities are," he added.

Cox said the ruling violates the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion.

Mary Solberg, chairman of the zoning board who voted against the theater group, was unavailable for comment yesterday.