Limited performance space could translate into shortened seasons, slashed budgets and difficulty in attracting grant money for Arlington’s professional theaters.
Crystal City’s Clark Street Playhouse, which hosts the Washington Shakespeare Company, is scheduled to be demolished in October to make room for residential development, leaving the company homeless.
The county is weighing a number of options for the company, according to Mary Margaret Schoenfield, management specialist for Arlington’s cultural affairs division.
“We have a best-case scenario and a worst-case scenario,” Schoenfield said.
The county has considered moving Washington Shakespeare to Signature Theatre’s old building on Four Mile Run Drive, since Signature has a new $16 million complex in Shirlington. But the space requires at least $1 million in improvements. The county also owns warehouses in Shirlington that could be converted into black- box theaters if budget allows, Schoenfield said. But if funding is too tight, Washington Shakespeare Company may return to Arlington’s art incubator program, where it began. Since 1990, Arlington County has provided grant money and performance spaces such as Gunston Theater II and Rosslyn Spectrum Theater, which local companies like Keegan Theater and Teatro de la Luna share. In return, the county gets a 10 percent return on their ticket sales.
But those theaters are already booked solid, according to American Century Theater CEO Jack Marshall who addressed the Arlington County Board on Tuesday.
“It just seems like a wretched case of planning,” Marshall said Wednesday. If it returns to the incubator program, Washington Shakespeare Company will likely slash the number of shows in its season, and the length of each run, Artistic Director Christopher Henley said. Shorter runs do not give the theaters adequate time to publicize shows, he said.
Other Arlington theaters would also be crunched, Marshall said. A reduced season could mean more than a 20 percent reduction in American Century’s $200,000 annual budget, Marshall said, and lead to difficulties obtaining grant money, since funds are often tied to how many shows companies produce and audience size.
Marshall suggested other companies could use Signature’s new black box theater, but Signature publicist Suzanne Stephens said its expanded season does not have room for other companies. Schoenfield said the frequently changing demolition schedule for Clark Street Playhouse made planning ahead difficult.
“We all knew this day would be coming, but we never quite exactly knew when,” she said. “It’s safe to say it’s a very serious issue getting a lot of attention.”
