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Show Silver Mill, theater group near agreement on Egyptian In keeping with the old show biz adage, "the show must go on," The Egyptian Theatre will open its doors again this fall for another season with the financially-troubled financially-troubled community theater group, Park City Performances (PCP). An agreement is being worked out between the Egyptian and Park City Performances, although it has not been finalized, said Randy Fields, a major investor in the Silver Mill partnership that owns the Main Street theater. Fields said that Silver Mill will continue to work with the local theatre production group at least until the spring. Fields said at that time a decision will be made as to whether the current relationship rela-tionship between Egyptian owners and PCP could continue. The major issue facing the non-profit Park City Performances and tne Silver Mill development firm is a financial one. Fields said that debt service on the $1 million theater is approximately $140,000 annually. an-nually. An alternative to private Ownership of the Egyptian would be public ownership, according to Fields. Although Al-though he had not discussed the matter with the city, he said that city ownership could be a viable alternative. alterna-tive. "It's too expensive for a private developer to run the theater at a $140,000 loss annually." Fields maintains that if the Egyptian Theater and PCP are to be "community . theater," then the community com-munity of Park City should support it more directly. However, Park City Performances Per-formances financial officer Jess Reid sees "the light at the end of the tunnel" for the community theater orgfni-zation. orgfni-zation. "The key thing is that we have an understanding to work together," Reid said of the relationship between Egyptian Theater owners and the local theater group. The debt-ridden Park City Performances had begun "doing the things that will get the organization in good financial shape," Reid said. As soon as the agreement with Fields and Silver Mill is finalized, Reid said, the next order of business will be a fall schedule. Reid said that the community com-munity production company hadn't put together a formal fall schedule yet because it wanted to make sure it had a place to put on productions first. Now that PCP is working out an agreement with "the landlord," Reid said the volunteer theater group could begin looking at productions, pro-ductions, personnel possibilities possi-bilities and fund-raising. Technical director Steve Hunt left the theater group last month. Nancy Harris is now the only paid staff member at PCP. "We've always perceived Park City Productions as a volunteer effort but we need staff support," Reid said. Terms for the financial formula between the Egyptian Egyp-tian Theater and Park City Performances will be worked out in the next six' weeks, Reid said. At that time the theater group will have a better idea on paid staffers. |
