Aftereffects of COVID pandemic shutdowns have lingered in the loss of audiences and other financial support for the Public Theater of San Antonio, presenting incoming President and CEO Asia Ciaravino with what she realized was a crisis point.
The result is a pause in productions for the recently announced 2023-24 season to make way for a $500,000 “Save the Playhouse” emergency fundraising campaign.
“We have to balance the head and heart right now,” Ciaravino said, in terms of balancing a passion for theater with the state of financial distress the organization is experiencing.
The productions affected are Twelfth Night (Oct. 6-22), A Xmas Cuento Remix (Dec. 1-17), Spring Awakening (Feb. 16-March 3), Intimate Apparel (May 10-26) and Once Upon a Mattress (July 12-28).
Ciaravino said when and with what production the company will resume its performance schedule will depend on the success of the fundraising campaign.
In July, the Public Theater announced a partnership with the Classic Theatre of San Antonio and a combined leadership team of Producing Artistic Director Jimmy Moore, Managing Director Christina Casella, Director of Marketing and Audience Experience Rick Sanchez and Ciaravino as top executive.
The production seasons of the Classic Theatre of San Antonio, Teatro Audaz and Miscast Theatre Company — resident companies of the San Pedro Playhouse, the Public Theater’s home in San Pedro Park — will go on as scheduled.
Ciaravino’s official start date is Aug. 30, but when she and Casella, who started Aug. 2, “took a look under the hood” at the Public Theater’s financials, they discovered debt and significant shortfalls in projected income, as well as a lack of fundraising over previous years.
The Public Theater is not alone in its struggles. Nonprofit theaters around the U.S. are announcing similar pauses to production seasons, staff cuts, layoffs and other cost-cutting measures.
Ciaravino said the Public Theater’s pause is in part to avoid such layoffs and cuts, and the hope is to resume productions in 2024 in a healthier and more stable financial state.
“It’s trying to figure out what the new equilibrium, the new balance is in the ecosystem of the arts and how we get that supported,” she said.
After receiving a $40,000 pledge from board members, the next step is reconnecting with past sustaining members of the organization from individual donors to foundations and corporations, Ciaravino said. A gala celebration is planned for the fall, and plans are in the works for a new education program for all ages.
Ciaravino led the organization from 2012 to 2016, when it was called The Playhouse San Antonio. Given its history, she is optimistic that the city will support its longstanding community theater.
“Theater has been around for centuries,” Ciaravino said. “I don’t think that this community will allow a theater with a 110-year history to collapse. I believe that this community will support The Public/Playhouse, and I believe that we can overcome this time.”