{"id":243989,"date":"2010-11-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/this-opera-is-real-birch-north-park-theatre-faces-cash-crunch-uncertain-future\/"},"modified":"2010-11-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-01T07:00:00","slug":"this-opera-is-real-birch-north-park-theatre-faces-cash-crunch-uncertain-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/this-opera-is-real-birch-north-park-theatre-faces-cash-crunch-uncertain-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Esta \u00f3pera es real: Birch North Park Theatre enfrenta una crisis de efectivo y un futuro incierto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por David Schwab | Reportero SDUN<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
Workers recently installed a blade sign on the Birch North Park Theatre. The sign is an accurate replica of the original sign at the theater.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Birch North Park Theatre owner Lyric Opera San Diego is sending up a flare.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a cash crisis,\u201d said Leon Natker, the opera\u2019s general\u00a0?director, in an urgent letter sent out to the greater community. \u201cIf\u00a0?we do not reach the goal of $200,000 in the next 90 days \u2026 Lyric will\u00a0?be unable to continue: Its season is in danger of fading away,\u00a0?despite all our successes, and all the effort of the past five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Underscoring that \u201cwe\u2019re not closing tomorrow,\u201d Natker characterized\u00a0?the theater\u2019s financial predicament as real, its $200,000 request for\u00a0?donations as necessary and the 90-day timeline to accomplish that\u00a0?task as realistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re looking for $32 million by January,\u201d he noted.\u00a0?\u201cBut we seriously need $200,000 to bring back my ticket sales to keep\u00a0?the operation going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pointing out that the price of a theater ticket covers less than half\u2014even less when the ticket is heavily discounted\u2014of the cost of\u00a0?producing a show, Natker said donations are needed to make up the difference of the price of a\u00a0?ticket that brings \u201cthe joy of live music theater with a full chorus,\u00a0?full orchestra, terrific young artists and a staff to administer the\u00a0?program and maintain our historic home.\u201d Only with the community\u2019s help can the theater make a firm financial\u00a0?base a reality.<\/p>\n

Said Natker: \u201cWe cannot be the economic engine for\u00a0?the rebirth of North Park and remain unfunded: That is not possible\u00a0?today and it is not possible in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natker said the theater is directly appealing to the community for\u00a0?help through mailings and phone calls. That call for aid was answered\u00a0?initially in the first few days with $40,000 from about 35\u00a0?individuals, the largest donation totaling $5,000. ?Another problem with management of Birch North Park Theatre, said Natker,\u00a0?is that Lyric Opera only uses the facility part-time.<\/p>\n

\u201cLyric\u2019s doors can\u2019t\u00a0?remain open if we keep paying for 80 percent of a facility that we\u2019re\u00a0?only using 30 percent of the time,\u201d he said, adding the opera also\u00a0?has been subsidizing not-for-profits that have been using the facility the past\u00a0few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to develop donors to the North Park Theatre,\u201d\u00a0?he said. \u201cSubsidizing not-for-profits, cutting their rent\u2014it just\u00a0?catches up to you eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natker noted another difficulty is that North Park is very much a regional\u00a0?theater with only 5 or 6 percent of its patrons coming from nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy saving us, you save a valuable temple of art and beauty for all\u00a0?of San Diego,\u201d he concluded in his community letter. The theater manager blamed the ongoing economic recession, and an\u00a0?unforeseen turn of events with theater ownership, for why the\u00a0?institution is now between a rock and a hard place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe restored the building, we opened in 2005 and at that time we were\u00a0?the managing tenant, never intending to own the building or even have\u00a0?the option to own it until 2010,\u201d he said, adding Lyric Opera\u2019s hand\u00a0?was forced when the developer who owned the building \u201copted out of\u00a0?the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in the position to buy it, or buy it and sell it to someone\u00a0?who might want to keep it as a theater,\u201d said Natker, describing the\u00a0?first two years after Lyric purchased the theater as \u201cjust fine,\u00a0?everything was going along for us. We were just at the point to start\u00a0?really building up some kind of endowment so we had some kind of a\u00a0?cash cushion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, in 2008, the bottom fell out.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonations fell away,\u201d said\u00a0?Natker. \u201cIn 2008-09, the year of the (economic) crash, we opened our\u00a0?season the same week Lehman Brothers closed. We have simply just been struggling to build it back ever since with ticket sales and donations down in San Diego and the rest of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

What would be the consequence to North Park should Lyric fail in its fundraising bid to save the theater?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe end of Lyric would drag down several not-for-profits; the vast\u00a0?majority of businesses here came along since 2005, and I would say that\u00a0?we (theater) were the impetus for the renaissance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Liz Studebaker, executive director of North Park Main Street, the\u00a0?community\u2019s Business Improvement District, agreed the impact of the\u00a0?theater\u2019s going under would be hard to measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way I can underestimate the importance of the theater in\u00a0?North Park,\u201d she said, adding the theater \u201cis one of the most\u00a0?important, if not the most important piece\u201d of the community\u2019s\u00a0?redevelopment.?\u201cThe tenants in that building are right smack dab in the center of\u00a0?North Park,\u201d Studebaker said. \u201cHistorically, the (theater) structure\u00a0?itself is extremely important to the foundation of our redevelopment\u00a0?here, the base of our arts and culture. It\u2019s important to\u00a0?redevelopment here to keep that theater active.\u201d<\/p>\n

As another nonprofit, Studebaker said the North Park BID can\u00a0?appreciate the dilemma the theater finds itself in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know they\u2019re\u00a0?in trouble,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s never easy for a nonprofit. This year\u00a0?has been exponentially more difficult than normal on nonprofits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The North Park Theatre was built in 1928 and is the only theater of\u00a0?its size in San Diego County (730 seats) featuring a fly-loft for\u00a0?legitimate live theater productions, a full-size movable orchestra\u00a0?pit and a projection room for motion picture exhibition. It stopped\u00a0?showing movies in 1974 and sat idle for several years. The theater\u00a0?was purchased by a church and used for services and Sunday school\u00a0?meetings through the 1980s. ?In the late 1980s, the city of San Diego purchased the theater from\u00a0?the church with the intention of restoring it to use as a performing\u00a0?space. Several plans from developers were rejected, mainly for lack\u00a0?of funding.<\/p>\n

In 2000, developer Bud Fischer approached Lyric Opera San\u00a0?Diego with the approval of the city of San Diego to explore a\u00a0?restoration project. Fundraising on the part of Lyric Opera began in\u00a0?2001. ?Renovation of the theater has transformed it from an unused, out-of-?date venue to an entertainment destination with high-tech, state-of-the-art staging and lighting systems, projection equipment, and a\u00a0?multi-channel theater sound system. Connections to nearby fiber-optic\u00a0?lines provide high-speed access to the Internet and to global\u00a0?telecommunications systems, enabling simultaneous web casting of\u00a0?performances or a hookup to the Convention Center for meetings.<\/p>\n

La Jolla Music Society is one of North Park Theatre\u2019s many renters. The organization\u2019s president and artistic director, Christopher\u00a0?Beach, said losing the theater would be an incalculable loss to his\u00a0?organization and the rest of the San Diego arts community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last five years we\u2019ve added a new jazz series and expanded\u00a0?our dance series that has doubled in the last three years, and we\u00a0?present all of those concerts at North Park,\u201d Beach said. \u201cSo North\u00a0?Park for us is an extraordinary and vital resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beach said the Birch North Park Theatre is a one-of-a-kind venue fulfilling a\u00a0?multitude of artistic performance needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the combination of the\u00a0?right size and the right location with a stage house that permits\u00a0?dance,\u201d unlike other theater venues around town, said Beach, adding,\u00a0?\u201cYou can present dance at North Park and present it beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beach commended Natker on his management of North Park Theatre and on\u00a0?how accommodating he\u2019s been with bookings, noting he has \u201cbeen an\u00a0?extraordinary colleague and helped in many ways.\u201d Contemplating the possibility of the curtain coming down, Beach said,\u00a0?\u201cI think the North Park Theater is too important a resource for that\u00a0?to happen. I sure hope he\u2019s (Natker\u2019s) successful in raising the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

For information, visit www.birchnorthpaktheatre.net<\/a> or call (619) 239-8836.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dave Schwab | SDUN Reporter Birch North Park Theatre owner Lyric Opera San Diego is sending up a flare. \u201cWe are in a cash crisis,\u201d said Leon Natker, the opera\u2019s general\u00a0?director, in an urgent letter sent out to the greater community. \u201cIf\u00a0?we do not reach the goal of $200,000 in the next 90 days […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":840,"featured_media":243990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"This opera is real: Birch North Park Theatre faces cash crunch, uncertain future","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}