Buyer Sought for Historic Playhouse

The Moorpark Playhouse has been producing plays for more than 70 years.

But if proprietor Linda Bredemann does not raise some money fast, that could all be a memory.

Bredemann, who has owned the 306-seat theater on High Street for 12 years, said she needs $55,000 to meet her mortgage payments through May.

For a long-term solution, she needs to sell the theater--now listed at $625,000--with hopes that the buyer would allow her to continue running it.

Bredemann said the bank will allow the theater to remain open until March. So far, she said, she has received two sale offers but declined both because the buyers wanted to convert the building into office space and a recording studio.

She said she needs some financial breathing room so she can concentrate on bringing ticket sales up. Her mortgage payments are $5,000 a month.

Since she took the theater over in August after a one-year hiatus, she said, she is lucky to fill half the auditorium for her shows.