Treading Water in Their Own Unique Ways : Stage: The Moonlight Amphitheatre and North Coast Rep are both on solid financial footing despite the grim year for San Diego theater.

While several San Diego theaters are struggling to keep the lights on, two North County theater troupes are completely in the black--financially.

The Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista and the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach are enjoying a degree of fiscal stability despite a financially disastrous 1990 for San Diego theater in general.

The La Jolla Playhouse and the San Diego Repertory Theatre went public with their money problems, with the Playhouse saying it needed $500,000 to ensure its 1990 season and the San Diego Rep calling for $350,000 to complete the last four plays of its season. Both say they got enough money to survive--for now.

Starlight Bowl finished the year $220,000 in the red. The Gaslamp Quarter Theatre, with a debt approaching $1 million, suffered a worse fate. It suspended activity for six months and canceled several productions before reopening in November.

Just last month, the Bowery Theatre announced a $30,000 deficit, a significant amount for the small Equity group. The downtown company had to cancel a show and replace it with a less-expensive one to complete its season.

Despite this climate, the Moonlight and the North Coast Rep finished 1990 on solid financial ground. Further, both groups progressed artistically in 1990, mixing sure-fire commercial programming with more challenging works.

“We have a fairly unique situation here,” said Kathy Brombacher, Moonlight’s founder and artistic director.

“We are officially a program of the city. This relationship grew up through the Vista (Unified) School District. It’s easier for us to deal with our budget because we don’t have to pay rent on the amphitheater. And there are other costs that are absorbed by the city--utilities, support staff, secretarial staff.”

The Moonlight, a community musical theater group situated in Vista’s Brengle Terrace Park, began modestly in the summer of 1981. That year, the company presented two musicals--”Oliver!” and “The Boyfriend”--to total audiences of 3,178. Steadily growing, the company last year produced five musicals and boasted total attendance numbers in the 40,000 range. The theater budget accelerated at an even greater pace. The troupe produced its inaugural season for $10,000; the 1990 season cost upward of $250,000.

Such remarkable growth is made possible in part because of the relationship with the city of Vista, an arrangement in which the city provides the amphitheater with crucial subsidies and benefits. The Moonlight Amphitheatre generates 95% of its budget through ticket sales, but the amphitheater’s annual budget is kept at a minimum because of the city affiliation.

(The Poway Performing Arts Center exists under a similar arrangement with the Poway Unified School District. The Poway facility does not produce its own repertory, however, catering more to touring shows and collegiate productions. The Poway facility is essentially a space-for-hire, whereas the Moonlight Amphitheatre is a traditional repertory company which produces its own shows.)

It also helps that Moonlight is non-Equity (non-union), which means costs are lower.

But Moonlight’s dependence on city money also means that Brombacher and Vista work closely in maintaining the theater’s artistic direction. Moonlight rose to its current level of success on the strength of solid community theater productions of traditional, conservative musicals such as “South Pacific,” “Oklahoma!” and “The Music Man.”

Now, with a decade of success under her belt, Brombacher hopes to expand her theater’s artistic scope by introducing audiences to a more contemporary, more challenging repertory. She initiated the weaning process last summer, introducing her mostly conservative audiences to Steven Sondheim’s tongue-in-cheek musical “Into the Woods.”

“With ‘Into the Woods,’ we didn’t sell many tickets for the first weekend. But the word-of-mouth got around about what a good show it was, and the second week was great. We do want to do more adventurous shows, Sondheim shows, things like that. We are shooting toward a different taste.”

As artistic director, Brombacher not only has to persuade audiences to try out new material, she has to persuade city officials to take an occasional risk.

The city has proven fairly conservative in allowing Brombacher artistic freedom. Several years ago, Brombacher proposed staging “A Chorus Line” and was asked to reconsider.

Vista Mayor Gloria E. McClellan had seen the play and asked to review the script, Brombacher said. “We decided at that time that ‘A Chorus Line’ was not the best programming for our audience.”

Brombacher did not contest the decision, in part because she was not adamant about producing “A Chorus Line.”

“I probably would get upset if I felt very strongly about producing a particular play and somebody told me I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t be opposed to going into battle if I felt I was being pushed.”

Brombacher downplays the significance of the city’s influence.

“I’m the artistic director and the bottom line is, I decide on the season,” she said. “I run my decisions past an executive committee which is really our board. Generally, they make recommendations but they have never forced me into anything.”

Brombacher’s adventurous plans should develop further within the context of Moonlight’s newly formed winter season. Besides adding a second season of plays, the Moonlight is in the midst of a money drive to build a permanent, indoor theatrical space near the amphitheater.

“In the last couple years, we have moved into a second space, and we now have a winter season,” Brombacher said, referring to a converted recreation center also in Brengle Terrace Park. “Hopefully, we can expand with that and do some non-traditional programming, non-traditional musicals such as ‘Nunsense’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’ We hope to do some straight plays, maybe some classical works.

“We’re really in transition and we hope that the winter season will give us some artistic levity. Musical theater is a great diet to be on, but many of the people here want to get into what I call straight theater and develop audiences for something other than musicals.”

In Solana Beach, unlike the Moonlight Amphitheatre, the North Coast Repertory is a completely private institution, a nonprofit entity run by a board of directors. But it, too, is managing to stay in the black.

Artistic director Olive Blakistone doesn’t have to discuss the provocative nature of some plays with city officials, but by the same token, her theater does not have any city money to fall back on.

Instead, the 194-seat theater relies heavily on ticket sales and technology to make ends meet. And it, too, is non-Equity.

“The computers have totally automated the theater,” said Business Manager Tom Blakistone, an unpaid theater employee and Olive Blakistone’s husband. “We have installed a very elaborate local area network system with four computers.”

“We have computerized accounting,” he said “We’ve just installed a $3,000-computer-controlled lighting system to upgrade the quality of our stage lighting. We’re waiting for the laser printer for our desk-top publishing system. Soon, we’ll be creating our own artwork here for the programs and for our direct-mailing flyers.

“On a $300,000 annual budget, we are able to run this theater, do all of the promotions, do all of the mailing and everything with four full-time employees.”

All of this is crucial in the operation--and, indeed, in the artistic development--of the North Coast Repertory Theatre. By cutting overhead costs, the Blakistones free up funds to pay everyday costs such as utilities, rent, office supplies, etc. By cutting expenses, the North Coast Rep can also afford to pay its artists better stipends, thereby attracting more professional talent and producing higher quality shows.

The North Coast Repertory Theatre maintains a solid reputation as a progressive company.

In nine years, the group has staged three West Coast premieres and 19 San Diego premieres, as well as productions of controversial gay plays such as Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart” and Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy.”

“We’re having a very good year,” Olive Blakistone said. “We’re in the black. The last year has been very good for us, but I feel that has to do more with play selection rather than anything else.”

For the Blakistones, a “good year” means the duo maintains an artistic balance in the season; they have produced both invigorating, thought-provoking productions that tend to lose money, and lighter, more popular shows that produce surplus revenues.

“When we did ‘1940s Radio Hour,’ ” Olive Blakistone said, referring to Walton Jones’ light comedy, “we had to take our raps from the critics who said, ‘Why are you doing this?’ Well, for the money. For the audience, too. They loved it. It’s a fun piece, and the audience adored it.”

Added Tom Blakistone: “We have to do a ‘1940s Radio Hour’ type of piece to support the more serious theater we do. We are morbidly dependent on ticket sales. With a small theater, if you have a couple of plays that don’t do well at the box office, it can cripple you.”

The couple estimates that 95% of revenue comes from the box office. Larger theaters, the San Diego Repertory Theatre, for example, tend to generate about 60% of their budget from ticket sales; the other 40% comes through contributions and grants.

The Blakistones haven’t devoted much time to applying for grants because they have found the grant-writing process to be a time-consuming, risky endeavor.

“It takes a long time to put together a grant application,” said Olive Blakistone, “and then, you’re not guaranteed of receiving anything.”

The Blakistones are considering hiring a developmental director to pursue grants and to generate revenue, but for now, amid the developing recession and government clampdowns on arts spending, the North Coast Rep seems to be in a position to weather the difficult period.

“The prognosis for growth isn’t all that good in this economy,” said Tom Blakistone. “I think corporate giving is going to be cut back significantly.”

“And because we’ve never been dependent on those subsidy monies, the fact that the government may be cutting down won’t hurt us,” Olive Blakistone continued.

Regarding a prolonged recession, the Blakistones remain optimistic.

“Theater may have an elastic component in it in the economic sense,” said Tom Blakistone, “which means that people who might pay $250 or $280 for two season tickets to the Old Globe Theatre, might consider enjoying a theater that is within their constraints. They might consider coming to us.”

“Our season tickets only cost $80 or $90,” said Olive Blakistone, who added that a large portion of their audiences come from nearby North County communities.

“I’d like to think that people up here see us as an alternative to driving for an hour to see a piece of theater.”