Laguna Playhouse lease amendment gives local nonprofits greater access

The Laguna Beach City Council unanimously approved a lease amendment with Laguna Playhouse on Tuesday, striking a deal that will grant local nonprofits an opportunity to use the venue in exchange for one-time financial assistance.

Laguna Playhouse brought in Adele Adkins as its new managing director this summer, and it signaled a change in direction when the leadership team indicated that it planned to stage more musicals and popular titles.

In a September interview, Adkins said she felt data supported the idea that a season built around such productions would not carry as much risk. She noted that regional theaters were being forced to reconcile with financial difficulties and figure out ways to become financially sustainable.

Not long after, leaders of the local theater approached the city proposing a modified business model. The venue would be made available for more community cultural arts uses, but it came with a request for $500,000 within the current fiscal year to facilitate that transition.

Council members on Tuesday approved that request for financial support, with it to be paid out in two installments. There will be $250,000 taken from the cultural and environmental stewardship tourism marketing district special revenue fund, with the rest to come from a reserve of $927,000 earmarked for cultural arts facilities.

The Laguna Playhouse is a 104-year-old institution. Its lease with the city runs through June 30, 2040.

Local nonprofits will receive a minimum of 10 weeks per year to use the venue, although there were questions around which dates would be available and who would get them.

“They’re floating weeks,” Adkins said. “That’s just part of the nature of what we do. It’s not like these exact weeks are available. … It’s working with the community groups, like, they really want two weeks in January, so I can make best efforts. There are times, like two weeks in January, I could confirm [availability in January] 2028 standing here tonight.

“It just also depends on [whether] we looking at a few dates in a row, or two dates, or one day. There are just variables, so it’s not just like these available weeks, because every group is going to have different needs.”

Billy Fried, the chairman and executive director of KXFM Radio, asked during the council meeting for more information about how local groups would be selected to choose dates to stage events.

“How about an actual system, whereby when those dates are announced and publicized, every nonprofit is invited to the Playhouse with Adele, and we have a lottery,” Fried said. “We find out what dates are available and find out who wants them, and if there’s two or three organizations that want those dates, maybe it’s simply some sort of lottery system.

“What I want to make sure is that we don’t miss out on an opportunity, somehow dates are confirmed without our knowledge. I think it should be public and transparent. … These dates are coveted. We know what dates we want, and so we just want to have a fair opportunity to get them.”

Following a council discussion, the Playhouse will be required by July 15 of each year to release to the city and to interested community groups the calendar of dates available for the next fiscal year.

“What I’m hearing is concern that there’s going to be favorite organizations who are given preference when the calendar opens,” Mayor Pro Tem Hallie Jones said. “So making sure that the process itself is clear, it’s super transparent and understood by everybody is, I think, important. … We have the opportunity to look at this on an annual basis in terms of how it’s working, and I think that should be codified.”

Assistant City Manager Gavin Curran said Laguna Playhouse leaders would be required to return to the council with an annual report, sharing details related to bookings and use of the venue by community groups.

The Playhouse may apply a ticketing surcharge of up to $3 upon the agreement, Curran said. Patrons will also be able to register as a guest and be able to make a donation to entities other than the Laguna Playhouse.

Laguna Beach nonprofit organizations will continue to pay a rate of $2,800 per active day at the Playhouse property (excluding days required to set up and take down an event), with 10 weeks set aside per year.

Outside nonprofits will be subject to a rate of $3,500 per day, and commercial entities will pay $5,000 per day, with no weeks reserved for groups that fall under those categories.

“This is really a tremendous opportunity that nonprofits have never had in Laguna Beach, which is to get 10 guaranteed weeks a year to do things that they haven’t been able to do in other locations,” Councilman Bob Whalen said. “We’re agonizing over some of the details, and we should. We probably won’t get them all right, but I think there’s some safeguards in there to bring it back to mutual discussion, if we need to. It’s going to be a big win, so I think we ought to be happy about it.”