Deane Objects to Building Costs at Namesake Theater : New Theater Denies Mismanagement Charges

Kit Goldman walked into her own press conference and managed a slight smile.

“If we could package this and put it on stage, our season would be sold out tomorrow,” she said.

“This” is a controversy enveloping the lavish new Deane Theatre, its 15-member board of directors and patron Charles Deane, who earlier this week charged mismanagement on the part of his colleagues, including Goldman. She is the theater’s co-founder and producing director.

Goldman and other members of the board called a Wednesday press conference to denounce Deane’s charges and explain their side of the story.

Goldman’s husband, developer Dan Pearson, who oversaw the $1.6-million project, was particularly outraged by Deane’s charges, especially the assertion that Goldman had “protected” Pearson.

Construction Costs at Issue

Deane claims to differ with Pearson on construction costs. Pearson said Deane’s press release--made public Tuesday--was “full of innuendo” and lacked specifics. Despite being Goldman’s husband, Pearson claims, “there has never been a conflict of interest--we’ve bent over backward to be aboveboard to make sure of that.”

Pearson said it just hasn’t been his week.

“I hear Monday night that my house has been robbed,” he said. “and then a few minutes later I hear from a newspaper reporter about these charges Deane has made, which he still hasn’t made to my face. I have to read about them in the newspaper the next day, with me never being asked what I think.”

Board member David Thompson said he was astonished by Deane’s charges of mismanagement, adding, “We have never had any cause to consider any deficiency in the operating of the theaters.” (The Deane Theatre and the nearby Gaslamp Quarter Theatre are both administered by the New Heritage Theatre Board.)

Thompson said quibbles over management are “separate and bear no concern to the disagreement” over construction costs.

Board members described the disagreement this way:

Home Federal Savings & Loan agreed to finance the building of the Deane Theatre, in an old paper box factory, at a cost of $1.6 million. The owners of the building--adjacent to the Horton Grand Hotel, which is part of the same complex--agreed to pay $1 million in cash, which they did. The theater board was then asked to pay $725,000, of which Deane had pledged $250,000, thus winning the honor of having the theater named after him. Home Federal required only “proof of pledges,” which were then used as security.

Board members say Deane has paid roughly $100,000 of the total amount pledged. He is now balking, they say, at paying the remaining $150,000, which they say--ironically--is near the amount in question. At a meeting last month, Deane disagreed with a final construction bill of around $140,000 that Pearson said is owed the M.H. Golden Co. for completion of the project.

Audit Urged

Because Deane raised an objection, Pearson advocated an independent audit and, depending on the ruling, binding arbitration to settle the dispute. Board members say Deane appeared to agree with that, until news to the contrary surfaced in the press.

Deane submitted his resignation from the board on March 9, after which Goldman removed Deane’s picture from the theater’s lobby, sources close to the board said privately. That only aggravated tensions, members said. Nevertheless, the board voted unanimously to pursue the policy of audit and possible arbitration.

As a way of settling the dispute, board members said, contractor Golden urged Deane to place $150,000 in an interest-bearing escrow account until differences could be resolved. Deane refused. Pearson said the project came in $15,000 under budget. Several board members say Deane believes the under-budget figure is closer to $150,000--the amount they claim he owes.

“The figures prove it,” Pearson said. “I stand by them. I welcome anyone to look. I’m not hiding a thing. I just want the natural process of arbitration to be done--for the independent review to take place. Then maybe I can go back to enjoying my family and wife, who’s also been humiliated.”

In the meantime, Goldman said, “the Deane matter” will have no direct bearing on the theater’s artistic side. The show, she said, will go on as planned.