Civic Light Opera Chief Leaves Post : Arts: Nagging strain of financial struggles was a factor.

SAN DIEGO — Effective Tuesday, C.E. (Bud) Franks resigned as executive director and chief executive officer of the San Diego Civic Light Opera.

But his resignation had been pending since October, Franks said, since the financial disappointment of the company’s San Diego premiere of “Annie Warbucks,” the opening production of the group’s first indoor winter season.

Franks said he is leaving to pursue two job offers, which he said he could not be specific about. He also acknowledged that the San Diego Civic Light Opera’s financial struggles have been very wearing. The company, with an annual budget of $3.9 million, faces what may be a $500,000 deficit at the end of this year.

“You do get burned out in this job and you get burned out pretty badly,” Franks said. “I need to get a little rest.”

Co-artistic director Bonnie Ward and board president James Bowers both expressed regret, though not surprise, at Franks’ leaving.

“We don’t blame Bud for anything,” Bowers said. “I think we have to blame it on the recession which has just hit California in the last few months.”

“I think that he came to Starlight at a very, very stressful time,” Ward said. “And I think it’s been really hard on him to struggle with the problems we’ve been facing with Starlight and the financial problems in San Diego. I think he was very frustrated with the fact that we were going forward with our winter season, but we were digging a financial hole with it.

“We’re very good friends and we really did hope he would be very happy here,” she said. “But I think the stress, when you go through hours and hours of the day having to put out fires, was just too much.”

Before coming to San Diego in January, 1991, Franks managed the Casa Manana Theatre, a musical theater in Fort Worth, Tex., for 16 years before being recruited through a national search by the Civic Light Opera’s trustees. Since his arrival he has helped the company achieve its long-term goal of establishing an indoor winter season, which began this year with “Annie Warbucks” and continued with a successful production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” both at the San Diego Civic Theatre. The winter season will continue in 1993 with “Grease,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “Oklahoma!”

The winter season has already sold 12,500 subscriptions, 70% of which are different from the summer season’s 13,000 subscribers, Franks said.

At the same time, Franks’ nearly two-year tenure coincided with a recession that Franks, Ward and Bowers all blame for a continuing slide in individual ticket sales and contributions. That, combined with the box office bust of “Annie Warbucks,” a co-presentation in which Franks had invested energy, time and company funding, has left the organization with a substantial deficit, the extent of which is still unclear.

Franks, 49, who described himself as “49 going on 100,” said he has “great mixed emotions” about leaving San Diego Civic Light Opera. “As an organization, we’ve come a long way. But it’s a hard thing to do, when you get to be my age and you have a major opportunity not to take it.”

Franks, who became the president of the National Alliance of Musical Theatre Producers this year, is San Diego’s third managing director in less than two years to leave a major theater organization in the wake of budget stress. Alan Levey, the original managing director of the La Jolla Playhouse, left his position late last year, and Adrian Stewart, former managing director of the San Diego Repertory Theatre, left his position this year. Both organizations operate with deficits.

Bowers said he intends keep programs that Franks set in place. The success of “Fiddler on the Roof,” which grossed $483,000, gave the board the confidence to continue with the winter season, he said. And even though “Annie Warbucks” was not successful here, San Diego Civic Light Opera would not rule out more co-presentations of other productions in the future.

“We’re bound and determined to keep going,” Bowers said. “We’re going to work furiously at increasing our philanthropic support, we’re going to knock ourselves out to increase sales for the rest of the season, we’re asking the unions and others to help us cut our expenses.”

Bowers said he expects an interim executive director to be named by the end of the week.