Arizona Theatre Company Will Cancel 50th Anniversary Season Without $2 Million By July 1st

The 2016-17 season was planned as a grand 50th anniversary celebration for the Arizona Theatre Company, but as reported by azcentral, the company is in danger of cancelling the season altogether and returning in 2017-18 with a revamped business model.

A memo sent to subscribers and donors today stated that the company needs to erase a $2 million debt by July 1st, 2016 in order to move forward.

"This is not a sort of fake, end-of-year, we-need-to-motivate-some-contributions (memo)," says artistic director David Ira Goldstein. "We need some cash to begin building the season, because we begin that on the 2nd of July."

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The state's only LORT Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company began as a community theatre in Tempe and now stages productions both there and in Phoenix. ATC has produced more than 200 plays, from the classics of Shakespeare, Shaw, and Moliere to the works of contemporary writers such as Shepard, Stoppard, and Fugard. ATC has also committed itself to the development and presentation of new works, both on the main-stage and through special programs.

The intended 2016-17 season includes two popular new plays from the most recent Broadway season, Mike Bartlett's KING CHARLES III and David Javerbaum's AN ACT OF GOD, followed by the classic musical, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. The season's second half would include THE RIVER BRIDE by Marisela Treviño Orta, winner of the company's National Latino Playwriting Award, the Johnny Cash revue RING OF FIRE and Jeffrey Hatcher's new mystery, HOLMES AND WATSON.

Goldstein introduces the season in the video. Visit ArizonaTheatre.org.