Egyptian Theatre cuts back staff, stage offerings

The sands of time at Park City's Egyptian Theatre Company may be running out.

In a move to make the theater more "financially viable," the board of trustees announced major changes to the theater company, including the dismissal of artistic director Terence Goodman; a restructured artistic season; and an end to its relationship with Actor's Equity — the professional actors union.

"It's mostly a financially focused decision; the current model is not financially viable," said Jeff Groy, president of the board of trustees.

"We've been looking at the finances because we have debt that has increased over the past 18 months."

In addition, Groy, who has been a board member for 11/2 years, said the last four shows have seen a decline in ticket sales.

"For example, when we did 'Cabaret' last year, we were doing an average of 150 seats per show (the theater seats close to 300), but we only averaged 80 seats for our more recent show, 'Forum' (which just closed March 21). The decline in ticket sales has been dramatic."

Goodman, himself an actor/director, served as artistic director for 11/2 years.

In an e-mail sent to former cast members, Goodman said, "they (the theater) have scrapped my season, of course, that I had budgeted for the worst-case economic situation possible, which would have made money on every single show by ticket sales alone and with no sponsors."

Noting that many companies around the country are going through similar struggles, Groy said, the board has been evaluating the theater — a long-standing artistic gem and favorite among performers.

"We've looked at past shows and which types have been profitable — from a ticket-sale basis — and we've received comment from the community about the focus of the theater. We're trying to create a financially viable future."

"We were pretty solid for a while, but it's always been fragile," said Richard Scott, who has served the theater in various capacities since 1981, including artistic director from 1992-2001. Scott also helped make the move toward Equity contracts.

"At the time, equity was the next logical step for the theater," Scott said. "We'd brought the production values to that point, and being located in a world-class ski resort, it made sense to become a small professional theater company and to strive to those accompanying standards."

"It was great and exciting and was the right thing to do," he said. But he also noted, "It does add to the expense — and it's not insignificant."

"From an artistic standpoint, the Equity model was successful," said Judy Brophy, the board's vice president. "But the model's expenses were significant, and it limited the types of shows and the number of nights we could perform."