Playhouse leaders pan idea of shorter lease

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The spotlight is on the Huntington Beach Playhouse

now that a preliminary lease agreement has been drawn up between the

theater group and the Central Library.

The playhouse, which has offered theatrical performances to the public

for 37 years, is hoping to convince city leaders that another five-year

lease is better than a proposed three-year lease.Since 1995, the private

nonprofit playhouse has used the library’s theater to put on a variety of

productions, including “Harvey,” “Evita” and “The Last Night of

Ballyhoo.” The lease on the 319-seat theater, which included renewal

options, ran out in December, and the playhouse has been operating on a

month-to-month basis since.

However, at last week’s library board of trustees meeting, members

proposed a three-year lease for $28,000 a year -- which is what the

playhouse has paid since it moved to the library -- but the lease would

come with new conditions.

“We are truly the city’s oldest cultural arts center in the city,”

said Bettie Muellenberg, playhouse director. “And we want to continue

offering that culture to the city.”

The City Council, which will have the final say over the lease

agreement, discussed the lease renewal at its Sept. 18 meeting, but

deferred the decision to the library board.

“We’re a working board,” said Don Stanton, playhouse treasurer, adding

that the theater group’s organizers also construct sets, serve as ushers

and direct the productions. “The five-year lease would be preferable

because it allows us to concentrate more on the theater than preparing

for lease negotiations every two years. But I think negotiations are

going well.”

Initially, the library board proposed a lease that raised the

playhouse’s annual rent to $121,000, the rental fee that is normally

charged to groups wanting to use the facility. But that $93,000 increase

would be financially impossible for the playhouse and force its closure,

theater officials said.

The playhouse produces seven shows a year at the Library Theater,

using about 70% of the available weekends, said Ron Hayden, the city’s

director of library services, adding that the Central Library is paying

off a $5-million bond that funded an expansion project to build the

theater. The loss in revenue from the playhouse’s rent has affected those

payments Hayden said.

The proposed three-year lease has three requirements.

The first requires an audited financial statement each year, followed

by a yearly business plan detailing the expected revenue through ticket

sales, fund-raising and other financial sources, as well as any special

projects. Those include creating a playhouse foundation, such as the one

at the Art Center.

The final condition is the shortened lease, coupled with a joint

annual review of the playhouse’s financial plan to determine other

possible funding sources, library officials said. The stipulations would

hold the playhouse more accountable to the library because it uses the

theater, they said.

The library’s proposed lease is scheduled to appear before the City

Council at its Oct 16 meeting. Playhouse officials said they will wait

and see what the City Council decides to do before continuing

negotiations.