Final Curtain Call for Pasadena Playhouse

Pasadena - The 93-year-old Pasadena Playhouse rang down the curtain Sunday after the final performance of "Camelot."

A $3-million debt has forced the historic theater to close for the foreseeable future, the Pasadena Star-News reported. And the Playhouse's executive director, said no decision has been made about recompense for 7,500 subscribers who had expected five more productions after Camelot.

"Our subscribers are the most important thing here, and in the transition we're making," Eich told the Star-News. "We have every intention of finding a way for them to get their money's worth from the commitment they made to the Playhouse when they subscribed."

Realistically, it could take between $8 million and $10 million to regroup and put the playhouse on a settled course, Eich told the Star-News, and so far there has been no such offer. He said the Playhouse as started discussions with legal counsel over how to move forward, including a possible bankruptcy.

Ticket sales account for about 45 percent of the theater's annual $7 million budget.

When the Camelot stage-set is struck next week, the Playhouse building will be secured, Eich told the Star-News. All 37 staffers have been laid off, but the Playhouse will maintain a presence at the Rosemead Boulevard space donated by Michele Deadeaux, chairwoman of the Pasadena Playhouse Board, and her husband Roger.

"We do have a place to sit and strategize, without overhead," Eich told the Star-News. "A small group continues to do that, to find a way to figure this out. We're committed to moving us forward in the most responsible way possible."