Theater Group to Search for New Location

LP Repertory Theatre came up well short of its fund-raising goal last weekend and will close its storefront dinner theater in Tustin and search for a new location.

The company hoped to stave off eviction by staging four benefit performances by Company B, a local variety troupe, said Trisha Andreatta, the company’s office administrator. But the shows netted just $800--considerably under its goal of $5,000.

The group, about $80,000 behind in rent, has been notified that it will be evicted at the end of this month but has asked for a month’s extension to give it time to move its sets and equipment into storage. Performances of its current production, “El Grande de Coca Cola,” will continue on a week-to-week basis.

“Right now we’re all going to take a breath and close this place down,” Andreatta said Tuesday, adding that the Lilliput Players, an adjunct company that offers touring children’s theater productions, will not be affected by the dinner theater’s closure.

Fractured Mirror, an improvisational comedy group that has performed at LP Repertory, is searching for a new venue, company officials said Tuesday.

LP Repertory opened its theater late in 1988 and suffered financial problems from the start, including a lack of funds for advertising. The company plans to look for a new location in Orange County.

“We will learn from our mistakes, that’s for sure,” Andreatta said. For one thing, she said, “we’ll make sure we have a lot more capital before we ever open again.”

Andreatta said the company is discussing a cooperative venture with other local theater groups, including Company B, the Orange County Black Actors Theatre, and Stop-Gap, a Santa Ana-based drama therapy group.