Curtain Coming Down on the Long Beach Repertory Theatre

The foundation that was supporting the Long Beach Repertory Theatre has pulled the plug on the fledgling company, which was scheduled to open its first show, “Elaine’s Daughter,” on Feb. 20.

The company was slated to produce three plays this year in the 862-seat Center Theatre at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center.

In its statement announcing the cancellation, the Regional Arts Foundation cited the results of a direct mail subscription campaign, which yielded approximately 1,200 responses to more than 128,000 appeals, and the failure of the foundation to match a $100,000 challenge grant that had been offered by members of the foundation board.

Harry Newman, chairman of the foundation, attributed the failure to “too many worthy charitable and cultural causes chasing too few dollars.”

But Shashin Desai, director of the theater, said that “the board got scared and jumped the gun. . . . If we had two more months, I have no doubt that it would work.”

He issued “an open call” to Long Beach residents to keep the theater alive. He said he hopes to establish a Long Beach Repertory Theatre board, separate from the foundation board.

“If there is any time in Long Beach when a resident theater can be,” said Desai, “this is the time.”

Rehearsals for the inaugural production were scheduled to begin Jan. 16.

The foundation’s general manager, Steven McCarthy, said he disagreed with Desai’s claim that another two months would have brought in sufficient money to open the season. “Another year might have.”

However, citing an earlier postponement of the opening from last fall, McCarthy added, “It would have been irresponsible on our part to postpone again. And I would not want to open and then have to close midway through the season.”

“We have such a small core of donors in Long Beach, and they are tapped out,” said McCarthy. “Unfortunately our solicitation arrived in the mail at the same time as those for the Long Beach Opera’s ball and the (Long Beach) Civic Light Opera’s building fund (a $350,000 campaign to finance the expansion of the group’s Youth Conservatory and Musical Theatre Research Library).” He also cited the ongoing subscription campaign at Desai’s smaller International City Theatre.

“It takes 20 minutes to move into Long Beach and get your name on every mailing list,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy said the foundation will send refunds to subscribers.