The Pasadena Playhouse to close due to financial woes

[Liberal_in_LA]

The Pasadena Playhouse will close Feb. 7 after the final performance of its current production of "Camelot," leaving its future in jeopardy as company leaders explore ways out of its financial woes, including a possible bankruptcy filing.

Stephen Eich, the executive director hired last June to run the theater, said 37 employees learned at a staff meeting Thursday that they would be out of work. The playhouse is essentially out of cash to continue running, he said, and faces more than $500,000 in immediate bills, plus more than $1.5 million owed on bank loans and other debts that have dogged the nonprofit company since the mid-1990s.

Founded in 1917, the Playhouse was designated in 1937 as the state theater of California.

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The playhouse made its name nationally starting in the late 1920s, when, in addition to staging plays, it was home to a university-level theater training program that also featured a branch operation in New York City. Nick Nolte, Charles Bronson, Robert Young, Raymond Burr, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and Sally Struthers were among its students or staff members

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-pasadena-playhouse30-2010jan30,0,1723543.story

[niyad]

1. sad news indeed

[Hannah Bell]

2. capitalism destroys the arts.

[Bluebear]

3. It should be a protected cultural icon. How sad!

[mnhtnbb]

4. My aunt and uncle were graduates of the Pasadena Playhouse and

have been supporters for years. It will be a sad day for them to see it close.