City Hopes to Salvage LATC Investment : Redevelopment: Officials want to prevent the downtown theater complex from becoming a white elephant. New tenants will be sought.

City officials scrambled Friday to salvage what they could from their $27-million investment in the Los Angeles Theatre Center after trustees of the insolvent company voted to cease operations.

Officials expressed frustration at LATC’s demise, but also determination to prevent the high-tech, four-stage facility on the fringe of Skid Row from becoming a white elephant.

“We are committed to keeping the lights burning at the theater center facility,” said Adolfo V. Nodal, general manager of the city’s Cultural Affairs Department, who hastily called a strategy session Friday morning of City Council aides, representatives of the mayor’s office and the Community Redevelopment Agency.

But even as he shuttled from one meeting to another throughout the day, Nodal acknowledged that it is unlikely a major theater company or consortium of smaller groups could take over the facility before next summer.

The city’s first move will be to secure the building, change the locks and take inventory of equipment as the LATC vacates the premises after Sunday’s performances, according to the terms of a contingency plan developed by the Cultural Affairs Department.

After that, Nodal said, prospects are uncertain. But he said he hopes to keep the center’s doors open for community uses, such as providing rehearsal space for the Latino Theatre Lab.

Among the long-term solutions being pursued is the formation of a consortium including the Mark Taper Forum, CalArts and Cal State Los Angeles to take over the LATC, Nodal said.

Councilwoman Joy Picus, one of LATC’s allies on the council, said she is pessimistic about finding other performing groups to fill the facility. “But the last thing that should happen is having the city own a building that is just sitting there,” Picus said.

Councilman Nate Holden on Friday said he wants the city to consider operating the center as an educational facility in conjunction with local schools or colleges. “I think we could get some use out of it; a place where youngsters could learn about the theater,” Holden said.

While the city is left with an empty building, the theater center’s closing will leave many others with empty pockets and lost hopes.

The 80 staff members will be paid from revenue obtained at the box office over the weekend, as well as the theater’s remaining $2,500 in cash. As of Friday morning, the theater box office went on a “cash only” basis, refusing checks or credit cards.

“This is a nightmare,” said Helena Kriel, the author, co-producer and co-star of “Pigs on Passion,” that was scheduled to open at the LATC Friday night. She and co-producer/co-star Gavin Hood have already invested nearly $10,000 in their production.

“They should have let us know we were putting our heads on the block,” Kriel said.

Officials of LATC’s Latino Theatre Lab vowed to stay in the LATC building. “We’re not leaving,” said Moctesuma Esparza, a board member of the lab and LATC. Lab officials said they’re still selling tickets for an Oct. 28 benefit for the lab, to be held at LATC.

Other losers included the 4,000 high school students who were scheduled to see “The Night of the Iguana” in performances sponsored by LATC’s educational wing beginning Tuesday.

Bill Bushnell, the LATC’s founder and artistic director, said that “in many ways, (the closing of the company) is liberating. . . . It’s an opportunity to reinvent my life.”

LATC will leave about $1 million in unpaid debts, officials said; the biggest debt is $330,000 in federal taxes. Locally, the biggest creditor is the Department of Water and Power, which is owed $69,000.

Pointing to recent financial problems at the Music Center and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Bushnell said LATC’s crisis “was simply one of the more visible problems. Performing arts companies all over the country are facing terrible, terrible circumstances. It’s because in this country, we have no structure that says the public sector has a responsibility for supporting the arts.”

Ed Avila, general manager of the CRA, which helped to bring LATC to Spring Street and was its largest financial backer during the past six years, said the city has invested $27 million in the LATC, including $5 million to purchase the building. For the future, he said, “The CRA will help in any way possible--not with dollars--but with energy and effort,” as a new tenant is sought.

The decision to close the LATC, the centerpiece of the city’s plan to revitalize downtown’s derelict Spring Street, followed a last-minute fund-raising appeal.

“I know they are desperate, but they shouldn’t be taking people’s money that way,” complained Steve Blake, a theatergoer who said he was solicited Wednesday evening to purchase a season’s subscription to the LATC. On Thursday night, theater officials said there will be no refunds to season subscribers.

Times staff writer Rich Connell contributed to this story.