The Olney Theatre Center, host to a handful of Hollywood stars and magnet for devoted Montgomery County play enthusiasts, is on financial life support.
The 73-year-old theater has amassed more than $6 million in debt, according to county officials involved in closed-door meetings with the theater group.
Despite approving $500,000 for the theater — with strings attached — in hopes of keeping Olney afloat, council members aren’t banking on many more shows at the “South’s First Professional Summer Theatre.”
“I think they would have been better off filing for bankruptcy protection,” said Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, D-Silver Spring. “We don’t think that amount of money will pull them out of their hole.”
To receive the county money, the theater must provide plans by August for how it will wipe out the debt.
Community theaters nationwide have become increasingly common casualties of economic hardship, with donations — needed to raise the curtains — disappearing.
Olney Theatre officials did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment. They reported nearly $750,000 in cash and pledges so far this year, which they labeled the largest first-quarter earnings in the theater’s history.
Still, council members say the public needs to step up donations to ensure the survival of the theater.
“Olney is in deep trouble,” said Councilman George Leventhal, D-at large, explaining the half-million-dollar injection to Olney. “We had to face the question: Are we going to let the theater go under?”
Council members conceded it would be hard to justify the funding if the theater folds, thus the demand for a financial blueprint.
Gloria Swanson, Ian McKellen and Roy Scheider are a handful of actors who have graced the Olney stage, which opened in 1938. Earlier this decade, the theater raked in seven-figure grants and expanded its campus and play offerings.
