Donors Keep Grove Open Another Week : Theater: The nonprofit classical troupe still needs $32,157 by Oct. 5 to continue. City Council will meet to consider more funding.

The financially stricken Grove Shakespeare Festival, whipsawed by the City Council’s failure to act on a request for $25,700 in emergency funds, has raised enough money in private donations to keep its doors open for another week.

Grove officials met Tuesday after the council’s inaction Monday night and decided that rehearsals for the upcoming production of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” would continue.

The nonprofit classical troupe, Orange County’s second largest professional company, needs $9,194 by Friday to pay its bills. As of Tuesday it had raised $11,490, a majority from small individual donations and the rest from businesses or civic organizations.

Still, theater officials have said they must raise a total of $32,157 by Oct. 5 or they will not be able to continue operating. The Grove traces its current cash crisis to two major factors: a $42,000 deficit held over from last season and a shortfall in projected subscriptions this season.

The City Council is expected to hold a special meeting Monday to reconsider the theater’s request for further assistance. Ironically, while taking no action this week on the Grove, the council did approve a proclamation designating October as “pride in our cultural activities month.”

According to Grove General Manager Tony Maggi, the theater needed $7,248 by last Friday. That amount was provided by the City Council on Sept. 11 in response to the theater’s initial emergency request.

Maggi’s figures indicate that the Grove will get a temporary reprieve from bills next week: Only another $281 comes due on Sept. 28. But $15,434 will be required to meet expenses on Oct. 5, the day after “The Importance of Being Earnest” is to open.

As if theater officials did not have enough to deal with, Grove artistic director Thomas F. Bradac was called out of the meeting Tuesday with Maggi and managing director Barbara G. Hammerman because his pregnant wife, Anne, had gone into labor. Bradac rushed off with her to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center where, as of press time, she had yet to deliver.

Theater spokeswoman Dede Ginter said the Grove has received donations of $3,700 from local businesses, $6,090 from individuals through the mail or in response to curtain pleas, and $1,700 from the Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce, the Emblem Club and the Kiwanis.

Some of the theater’s top staffers have not been taking their salaries during the crisis, Ginter confirmed. But under terms of the Actors Equity contract signed by the Grove last week, union members working on “Earnest” must be paid.

The Grove’s current production of “Othello,” which also employs some union members, has not been affected. It is to close, as scheduled, on Sept. 22.