When a local theater group was homeless, the Broadway Theatre took it in.

Now, the 76-year-old former vaudeville house relies on The Spare Parts Theatre Co. for help.

The locally based theater troupe fills hundreds of seats each time it stages a show in the struggling theater, which is the anchor in Pitman's downtown.

In return, the 1,036-seat theater offers the group a permanent home where they can store their props and costumes.

After the Spare Parts company formed 11 years ago, "we were rehearsing in people's back yards and basements," said member Dave Nolan, a borough resident. "We bounced around for quite a while."

Performances were staged in schools or wherever else the company could find space.

Shortly after he bought the theater in 1999, owner Dan Munyon began showing second-run movies. He also offered the Broadway to the theater group for use as a home base because he wanted to bring back the days of live performances there. Although the company pays rent to the theater for shows, Munyon allows them to rehearse for free.

"We wouldn't survive otherwise," said Nolan, 38, a union cement mason who earlier this month directed the Spare Parts Co.'s staging of the romantic comedy All This and Moonlight.

Munyon, 49, is looking for new ways to make the single-screen theater profitable after several rough patches during which he nearly went bankrupt.

After drawing big crowds to hot movies such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding late last year, Munyon switched from second-run films … which he would typically get eight weeks after their release … to films that have been out for only two or three weeks.

To draw more people, Munyon plans to open The Vaudeville Cafe in the lobby of the theater's balcony within the next few months. The 48-seat, French-themed cafe will serve coffee, tea and desserts and will be open seven days a week, a few hours before show time, he said.

Munyon said he'll limit the cafe's hours so it doesn't take business away from other eateries downtown. He's also shopping for a promoter to bring live concerts to the theater.

"I want (the theater) to be back to its former glory … back on the entertainment circuit," said Munyon, whose grandparents and father were vaudeville performers.

Nolan said the Broadway can thrive, but only if it gets support from the community.