Intiman Theatre Cancels Remainder of 2011 Season Due to Financial Struggles

Financial woes have taken their toll on the Tony-winning Intiman Theatre, which will cancel the rest of its season and lay off all of its employees, according to the Seattle Times. Intiman's board made the decision Saturday morning.

"Our primary intent has and continues to be to preserve the future of Intiman - and our hope was to save the season, too," the theater said in a statement on its website. "Simultaneous efforts to accomplish both are simply unattainable."

"With our current income limitations, there's no alternative" to canceling the reamaining four shows of the season after the final performance Sunday of its current production, "All My Sons," the statement said.

The theater had recently reached its emergency fundraising goal, but it wasn't enough to continue with the season. The theater does hope to come back with a new season in 2012.

"It was my recommendation based on the numbers and what we would need to do to get through 2011," consulting managing director Susan Trapnell told the Seattle Times. "I've been through this enough to know it will wear out everybody if it's not really possible" to raise enough money to get through the current year. So we just decided that a healthy 2012 is more important than continuing 2011."

There are approximately 20 people employed by Intiman, all of whom will be receiving two weeks' notice.

The theater is working with their nearly 5,000 subscribers to work out their season subscriptions. Trapnell is working with other theaters in town to see if they will honor Intiman's tickets.
Other options may be for ticketholders to write their ticket costs off as a donation to the theater or to apply the cost as credit for the 2012 season.

Intiman was founded in 1972 and was the winner of a 2006 Tony Award for outstanding American regional theater. But according to IRS filings, it ended each year from 2003 through 2009 in the red. Among their problems was a debt of $2.3 million by November 2010.

Intiman's endowment had fallen from $3.6 million about two years ago to $1 million last fall. The endowment is now essentially at zero after using the money to secure, and then pay off, a $900,000 line of credit, board president Bruce Bradburn explained to the Seattle Times.
Bradburn said: "If we are going to survive as a theater, we have to look forward and we have to recognize the mistakes that were made, and put procedures in place to make sure they don't happen again."

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