MILWAUKEE SHAKESPEARE CLOSING ITS DOORS

[MatthewShiner]

MILWAUKEE SHAKESPEARE CLOSING ITS DOORS

October 28, 2008 - Milwaukee Shakespeare is closing its doors due to lack of available funding.

Despite generous support from private and public local, state and national foundations and granting organizations such as UPAF and the NEA, the company’s primary source of operating funds is the Argosy Foundation. Due to the current financial climate, the Argosy Foundation has eliminated support from Milwaukee Shakespeare in order to put itself in the best position to continue to grow and support the community in the future.  For this reason, Milwaukee Shakespeare cannot continue its season as planned.  While ticket sales have been at a record level so far this season, ticket income only provides a fraction of what it costs to keep a non-profit theatre company running. Milwaukee Shakespeare has been actively seeking and achieving outside support, but the growth has not been sufficient to withstand this loss in its primary source of funding.

Milwaukee Shakespeare has been honored to produce in such a theatrically rich city and proud of the productions they’ve done over the past nine seasons.  The Milwaukee Shakespeare board and staff will begin working this week to determine the best way to close down the company’s operations. 

[DeeCap]

I think we are going to see more of these notices....

Stamford Theatre Works, the Connecticut-based, non-profit equity theatre company, has announced that it will shutter in the midst of its 21st season.

Neil LaBute's The Mercy Seat, which ended its run Oct. 5, will have been the final production of the 20-year-old theatre company. John Cariani's comedy Almost Maine had been scheduled to begin performances Nov. 5.

STW founder and producing director Steve Karp said in a statement, "Over the last five years, our ability to raise money could not keep pace with our increasing operating expenses, and we found ourselves with an overwhelming accumulating deficit that has left us without sufficient resources to produce the currently scheduled production of Almost, Maine or a realistic projection of how we can produce the rest of the season."

The Stamford company points to severe reductions in corporate and private sponsorship as a major factor in the decision to dissolve the company. While STW cites positive press and 1,300 annual subscribers (90 percent of whom renew annually), the company said that ticket sales account for only half of the Stamford Theatre Works' annual budget.

The 2008-2009 season at Stamford Theatre Works was to include John Patrick Shanley's Defiance, Tom Dudzick's comedy Greetings and Michael John LaChiusa's First Lady Suite.

Stamford Theatre Works had also intended to present the 2008-2009 season at its new home, the Stamford Center for the Arts. However, the Stamford Center filed for bankruptcy in August, scuttling plans for the move and ultimately leaving the Stamford Center for the Arts, and the theatre designed specifically for Stamford Theatre Works, unfinished.

Founded in 1988 by Karp, Stamford Theatre Works offered nearly 100 professional productions during its two decades in operation. Stamford Theatre Works received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous awards from the Connecticut Critics Circle for outstanding work, including "Outstanding Contribution to Connecticut Theatre" in 1997.

"If there is any hope at this time for a professional theater of STW's caliber to continue, it resides in some community entity or combination of concerned individuals who believe that such a theater organization should exist," Karp added. "Though I will not lead this producing effort myself, I would be eager and interested, should I be asked, to preside over the artistic programming of such a financially viable enterprise."

[stagemonkey]

These notices always make me sad. 

[Srlaupan]

Yeah, i'm a student at uwm in milwaukee and you have no idea how many people's facebook status that day had to do with the mourning of milshakes

[MatthewShiner]

Opera Pacific cancels rest of season amid money woes
4:42 PM, November 4, 2008
The economic crunch has swallowed Opera Pacific's 2008-2009 season after a single production, "The Barber of Seville." The two remaining operas, "The Grapes of Wrath," a new work by Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie, and Richard Strauss' "Salome," with Deborah Voigt (left) in the title role, will not be staged, the company announced Tuesday. The reason: a drop in donations -- on which it relies for 60% of its revenue.

"Many of our large donors were less able to support us at the levels they have over the past few years," president Robert C. Jones said in a statement. That made it impossible for the company to raise enough to keep the season going at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Jones said the financial crisis also has led to a "substantial" reduction in staff, and that the company put its 20,000 square-foot office, rehearsal and workshop space in Santa Ana up for sale in hopes of raising enough cash to continue the season. "The building has not yet sold, and therefore we have lost the race with time," Jones said.

The company, plagued with deficits during most of this decade, tried to reduce expenses in recent years, spending $7 million in 2006-07, compared with more than $8 million in some earlier seasons, according to its most recent available tax return on GuideStar.org. The result in 2006-07 was a $1.3 million surplus, which Opera Pacific used to help pay down debts. Still, the company was carrying $2 million in loans from its officers and board members on its books.

[centaura]

I work for the only theatre in my town - I was recently recounting the economic woes of a friend of mine in a local major metropolis, and the person [to whom I was recounting the tale] asked me 'wasn't I glad that I lived in a small town'.  I said no - if for some reason my theatre went out of business, there would be absolutely no arts-related job that I could switch to.  We've had a drop in ticket sales this year, but we're going to make it through.

-Centaura

[sievep]

Add to this list the New York City Opera, which is in major financial crisis and just had their top guy leave after 21 months . . . .and The Washington National Opera has postponed it's planned Ring Cycle which was to be staged next year.

[sievep]

Baltimore Opera Co. to file for bankruptcy, cancels remainder of season

By Tim Smith | tim.smith@baltsun.com
    9:15 PM EST, December 8, 2008

After 58 years and more than 200 productions, the Baltimore Opera Company will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-law protection Tuesday amid dwindling ticket sales and contributions.

The remaining two productions of the 2008-2009 season, Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, have been canceled. Ticket-holders will not receive refunds. Singers engaged for next season are being released from their contracts, but the company plans to continue fundraising in an effort to resume productions in the future.

Deborah Goetz, senior director of marketing and communications, confirmed Monday that Baltimore Opera's board of trustees voted Dec. 4 to file for Chapter 11 protection.

"My heart sinks," said soprano Evelyn Lear, now retired and living in Rockville. She starred in three Baltimore Opera productions during the 1970s and 1980s. "The company had high standards, good productions, a good orchestra. I'm distraught that this may mean that opera is finished in Baltimore."

[sievep]

American Musical Theatre of San Jose Cancels Productions of 42nd Street, Tarzan and Closes Doors

By Adam Hetrick
01 Dec 2008

The American Musical Theatre of San Jose announced that it has canceled its upcoming productions of Tarzan and 42nd Street and has ceased operation, effective immediately.

Michael Miller, CEO and executive producer of AMTSJ, said in a statement, "We received a telephone call a few days ago from our co-producer for Tarzan, which was the Theater of the Stars in Atlanta, Georgia basically telling us that they had used all of the funds that we had paid them towards the production for other things. In essence, they cancelled the show without giving us any warning, and we discovered that the funds we had paid for Tarzan were spent on another production of theirs, which lost a significant amount of money."

Representatives for AMTSJ state that the company advanced Theater of the Stars roughly a quarter of a million dollars for the planned presentation of Tarzan that was to result in a mini-tour in conjunction with Dallas Summer Musicals.

[hbelden]

And my big anchoring gig this spring disappears.  Just when I became solidly the SM of choice in San Jose, AMT shuts up and I don't get to do one of my favorite musicals, 42nd Street.  I hate this economy. 

[RuthNY]

Arrgh!  Huge condolences to you and all your AMT colleagues. 

And my big anchoring gig this spring disappears.  Just when I became solidly the SM of choice in San Jose, AMT shuts up and I don't get to do one of my favorite musicals, 42nd Street.  I hate this economy. 

[Celeste_SM]

And my big anchoring gig this spring disappears.  Just when I became solidly the SM of choice in San Jose, AMT shuts up and I don't get to do one of my favorite musicals, 42nd Street.  I hate this economy. 

Seriously. This is just terrible. I was in shock over the AMT failure.

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1454639.html
Sacramento Ballet may go under if people don't buy more tickets for Nutcracker.

[MatthewShiner]

Baltimore Opera declared Bankruptcy .

[cprted]

Ballet British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) is on the brink of going under.    Two weeks ago everyone was laid off and the season canceled until an anonymous donor pitched in $42,000 which is enough to keep the company open for a run of The Nutcracker after Xmas.  Beyond that, things aren't looking good.

[hbelden]

I just got a fund-raising e-mail saying that Shakespeare Santa Cruz was going to close unless they could raise $300K by 12/22/08.  From their website:

"Our challenge is simply put – raise $300,000 in a week’s time or cease to exist.  Talk about “to be or not to be”?  The question is, can you help? Yes you can.  Click here to donate immediately, or keep reading to get further energized!  Do it NOW or forever hold your peace."