San Diego Rep Says It Must Raise Another $350,000

The San Diego Repertory Theatre needs to raise $150,000 by Nov. 7 and $200,000 more by Dec. 31 or it will cancel the rest of its winter season, the theater’s board of trustees and executive leadership announced Wednesday.

The money represents the second part of the Rep’s “Keep the Lights On” campaign announced last October. The goals of the campaign included raising $350,000 by last Dec. 31 in order to complete the 1990 season, and $500,000 by the end of September to open the 1991-92 season and stabilize the company. The company achieved the first phase of the campaign, raising $363,000, but fell $353,000 short of the second goal.

The Rep’s next scheduled show, “I Ain’t Yo’ Uncle,” will open Wednesday as planned on the Lyceum Stage, but only because the San Francisco Mime Troupe agreed to a deferred-payment schedule, a spokeswoman for the theater said.

At immediate risk in the winter season is a possible extension of “I Ain’t Yo’ Uncle,” Nov. 2-9, and “A Tale of Two Cities,” scheduled to open Nov. 13, and “A Christmas Carol,” set to open Dec. 5.

Additional funds may also be needed to produce “Abingdon Square,” Jan. 15-Feb. 8; “Ruby’s Bucket of Blood,” Feb. 26-March 14; “Mirandolina,” April 1-25, and “The Women,” May 20-June 6.

Financial difficulties are not new to the Rep. In its 16 years of existence, this is roughly its third fiscal crisis. In 1988, thanks to the long-running success of “Six Women With Brain Death, or Expiring Minds Want to Know,” the company was on a successful financial track. But a drop in the subscription base that followed the poor critical reception of its 1989 season took its toll.

Producing Director Sam Woodhouse described this coming season as particularly “audience-friendly.”

He also said the Rep is addressing the long-term financial picture by cutting its overhead. The budget is now $1.8 million, he said, down from 1990’s $2.2 million and 1989’s $2.5 million.

“In terms of the long run, we have made some very aggressive business decisions that have reduced our annual expenses by 20%,” Woodhouse said. “We feel that we just need to dig ourselves out of the hole that we’re in right now. But, on an annual basis, we think we’ve established a new mode of operation that will be very stable.”

Given the current recession, it’s also a difficult time to be having a difficult time, Woodhouse noted. Last year, 42% of American theaters had operating deficits--a percentage that is expected to increase substantially in 1991. Locally, the La Jolla Playhouse, the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company and Blackfriars Theatre (formerly the Bowery Theatre) have mounted crisis campaigns or canceled shows in the past two years.