Queen Anne’s Intiman Theatre is currently laying out a plan to reopen, according to a report by The Seattle Times. The theater closed back in April when the board opted to cancel the remainder of the 2011 season after several months of navigating through past fiscal mismanagement.
Photo of the Intiman Theatre courtyard by Joe Mabel.
Back in February Intiman began a campaign to save the theater from closure–it needed to raise $1,000,000 by this coming September in order to keep from shutting. The theater successfully raised half of the money needed to keep it afloat by the end of March, thanks to a great deal of community support and a $100,000 matching grant from an anonymous donor, but still decided to cut the 2011 season short in order to concentrate on its fixing its budgetary problems moving forward.
According to Times reporter Misha Berson, Intiman is laying out a new artistic map for the 2012 year, which includes plans to open the 440-seat playhouse to other arts groups, including the Seattle Shakespeare Company, the Whim W’Him Dance Company and Unexpected Productions (all of which have plans to rent performance space from the theater), all while it attempts to raise money, settle its $500,000 debt and fulfill commitments to subscribers and ticket holders from the 2011 season. From the Times:
The company has hired Andrew Russell, Intiman’s former associate producer, as its consulting artistic director through Oct. 1, said board Chairman Bruce Bradburn.
Russell’s immediate task is to craft a plan with the board to present to arts funders, and to the Seattle Center, the theater’s landlord and one of its biggest creditors. If sufficient funds are raised and the plan is implemented, Russell will become the full-time artistic head and more staff will be hired.
“We think this is, truly, good news,” said Bradburn. “We spoke with many artists in the community, and received four very interesting proposals for the future. We thought Andrew had some very exciting, fresh ideas. Then we voted — should the Intiman pack it in, or move forward? It was unanimous that we move forward.”
Read the full piece on Intiman’s future and new artistic director Andrew Russell’s plans in The Seattle Times here.