Just a few months after celebrating its 50th anniversary, Bridgeport’s Downtown Cabaret Theatre has announced that it will be shutting its doors following the June run of A Chorus Line.

“We’re really losing something that was very special,” said Bob Scinto, chairman of the theatre.

The final performance will be Sunday, June 28.

“It’s just such an institution, such a landmark in Bridgeport,” said Hugh Hallinan, the theatre’s executive director. “I think it’ll be a long time before people forget about it.”

The theatre first started in the cafeteria at Sacred Heart University before moving into its current building across from City Hall in the 1970s.

At its peak, theatre officials say 60,000-80,000 people came through the doors each year, with many future Broadway performers and crew members getting their start there.

“I love the stories like, ‘I used to bring my children, and now my children bring their children,’” Hallinan said.

However, Hallinan and Scinto say times change.

People have other options for entertainment now, local banks that used to sponsor shows scaled back, and in 2015, the city sold the building, which they say increased operating costs.

“All we did was pay bills,” said Scinto. “We suffered. We were always paying last year’s bills with this year’s subscriptions.”

While they tried to keep it afloat, Hallinan says it became clear that the theatre was no longer sustainable.

“We went from 15 employees to seven employees, to five employees to one employee,” he said. “I’m a businessman. I know when the jig is up, and the jig is up.”

Scinto says all scheduled shows will go on as planned, and both he and Hallinan would like nothing more than to send the theatre out with a run of packed houses.

“Everyone who supported the theatre over the years, who came and bought tickets, we’re going to miss you as much as you’re going to miss us,” said Scinto.

As for “how to memorialize it,” Hallinan said, “I’m not sure yet. I’d like to think of something creative that’s kind of fun. I don’t want it to be a sad event.”

The camps and workshops booked for the summer in the building will also still be held before trucks come to start cleaning things out at the end of August.