May be curtains at HBP

Dave Brooks

The Huntington Beach Playhouse is having a hard time paying its rent

and is considering leaving town, company members said.

The group’s 2002 gloom and doom predictions about the theater’s

lease are materializing, Playhouse board member Harold Gooder said.

For 11 years, the Playhouse has held its performances at the

Huntington Beach Central Library Theater, hosting shows like “Bye,

Bye Birdie” and “Plaza Suite.” It’s current run, “Hello Dolly,” goes

through mid-August. Now Playhouse officials said they’ll likely leave

when the lease expires at the end of the 2006 season.

At issue is a surcharge the city placed on ticket sales;

theater-goers are asked to pay two dollars more this year and will be

asked to cough up three more by 2006. With ticket prices that run $21

for night performances and $9 to $17 for matinees, the surcharges

make for a significant increase that some say is driving away

customers.

“The city surcharge is eating us alive,” Huntington Beach

Playhouse President Catherine Stip said. “It’s not likely that we’re

going to extend our lease when it expires.”

The Huntington Beach Playhouse was founded in 1963 and held its

first play at a now demolished barn near City Hall, before moving to

a small venue in Seacliff Village and later Gisler Elementary School.

In 1993 the Playhouse moved into the library theater, operating on a

five-year, $24,000 annual lease. The agreement included a clause

giving the Playhouse two additional five-year renewal options, but

city officials said the library never submitted the proper paper work

to extend its contract.

From December 1998 to September 2001, the Playhouse operated on a

month-to-month lease under the same terms until adopting its most

recent agreement.

“They were operating under a preferential rate, essentially

special fees in recognition of them being a worthwhile community

organization that should get preferential rates,” library director

Ron Hayden said.

Over the objections of many Playhouse board members, Hayden said,

the council added the sliding surcharges in hopes of eventually

collecting about $110,000 a year for the use of the theater. The

council also tacked on an annual rent increase and shortened

performance calendar to allow the library to rent the theater out to

private groups at a higher rate.

“We wanted the Playhouse to bring payments in line with what other

nonprofits pay to use the theater,” Hayden said.

Money generated from the lease would help pay off several city

loans financing improvements at the Central Library.

“The problem when they raised the rent was that many of our

patrons are senior citizens on a limited income,” Gooder said. At the

time the contract was written and signed, many Playhouse members

loudly protested, instead advocating for only the shortened

performance calendar.

“Every year since we’ve signed that new contract, we’ve lost

money,” Stip said. “We can’t increase our own prices because of the

city surcharge.”

Tax returns for the Huntington Beach Playhouse available on

Guidestar.org show the group had an 8% drop in ticket sales for 2003,

although it did show the theater squeaking out a $7,000 surplus.

According to the tax return, the theater has about $188,000 in

assets.

The drop can be attributed to a number of issues beyond the

surcharge, Gooder said. Theater attendance overall seems to be down,

while the price of putting on musicals is going up. The licensing

rights alone cost about $15,000, Gooder said, while the normal

expenses associated with running a play could cost an extra $30,000

to $40,000.

At least 13 other theaters in Orange County receive some kind of

subsidized rent, a city theater comparison shows, and groups like the

Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse and the Newport Theater Arts Center are

charged only $1 a year to rent their respective theaters.

Hayden said the library has successfully rented the facility to

outside groups during off weekends and would expand that practice if

the Playhouse decides to leave.

“If they can’t make a go of it, the city will have to decide if

they want to continue the preferential lease,” he said.