Coronet Plans New Production Rules

CORONET WATCH: One of the mid-sized theaters that might be a prime site for productions under a new Equity contract, the 272-seat Coronet in West Hollywood, is going through its own changes.

Owner Petrie Robie said she is looking for a long-term leaseholder with its own artistic director--someone who could produce shows, as opposed to simply booking them. She contended that her last lessees, Norman Maibaum and Edward Davis, charged too much for rental productions that came into the Coronet. She will ask for only $1,300 a week from her next lessee--but she wants “high-level theater with consistency.”

Maibaum responded that the next lessee will get nothing but a key to the theater--in contrast to the fully equipped and staffed facility that he and Davis provided renters. He said he charged renters an amount equal to his costs, $5,000 a week, and took a percentage of the gross only if the show was breaking even.