Swift Creek Mill Theatre to Pause Operations in May

WTVR reports that Swift Creek Mill Theatre, a professional theater that has operated in Chesterfield County, Virginia for 60 years, will temporarily suspend operations on May 9, 2026. The board of directors announced the pause to allow for a restructuring of the organization and a search for new funding sources.

According to the theater, ticket sales have declined approximately 25 percent since the COVID-19 pandemic, rendering the current business model unsustainable.

"We need to take some time to do a deep restructuring and look at all our strategic planning for the theatre because we're not working in a sustainable way right now," Steve Koehler said in remarks to CBS 6 Richmond.

Swift Creek Mill operates as a professional house, paying its artists and staff. "We pay them, what we feel, is a pretty decent rate for the region. I believe we pay fairly well," Koehler said.

The theater is housed in a 360-year-old building on Swift Creek, which divides southern Chesterfield County from Colonial Heights. The venue has weathered multiple floods and the pandemic shutdown over its history, and has historically drawn more than 11,000 adult and 13,000 youth patrons annually.

Performers and staff affiliated with the theater described the closure as a significant loss. "I was devastated. I don't want to cry," Tara Callahan Carroll said. Sandy Lambert added, "It's going to be a horrible, horrible loss. It's like losing family knowing that it's closing."

The board intends to use the three-month pause to evaluate new funding methods and operational changes. "We don't know what the result of this three-month pause will be. I don't want to give false hope but I do believe there is a lot of hope in that we will be able to restructure," Koehler said.

Lambert expressed hope for a return in the 2027 season.

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