Library budget crunch hurting community theater

Signature Productions has been a staple in the community for 23 years, and there are some who feel the county library district is trying to shut it down.

"We have not booked a 2012 season," Signature founder Karl Larsen writes on the troupe's website (signatureproductions.net). "The library district has decided to raise the fees for use of the library performing arts center, and we cannot afford the increase. ... This outrageous fee increase of (more than 300 percent) is unacceptable, and will ... put us out of business."

The site invites viewers to endorse an online petition protesting the amount of the increase. At performances of the group's current "Hairspray," volunteers are standing outside the Summerlin Library soliciting signatures.

The problem is that performing space is at a premium. Larsen feels if the library is not available for a reasonable fee, then theaters that need a 250-seat or so venue will be out of luck.

"I agree that the district needs to increase its fees," Larsen says. "They haven't done it in years. But this amount is (unmanageable). We usually don't make money on shows, and if we happen to, then the money goes towards the next production. No one gets paid."

Larsen points out that a recent mounting of "The Sound of Music" cost about $85,000. Ticket prices were in the $15-$25 range. The fee increase would force Signature, which usually performs three musicals a year often for a month or so run, to charge up to $50 or $60 a ticket.

"People won't pay that kind of money for community theater," he explains. "And the library theaters were built to serve the community."

Clark County library's executive board director Jeanne Goodrich regrets the hefty increases, but feels the board had no choice.

"We started considering the big increase two years ago when we hit a snag in our budget," she says. "We looked at different options. There are a lot of things we used to do that we can't do. Theater is very expensive, and we had to look at, 'what is our core mission?' We have about 1½ million books checked out every month (in addition to computer usage, DVDs and CDs) and the Summerlin library is a 299-seat space."

Goodrich says the budget crunch has resulted in, among other things, a layoff of 93 employees and a reduction in operating hours. On top of that, the district is dealing with an 8 percent drop in property taxes.

Still, the library is trying to enter partnerships with groups that don't charge admission. Goodrich says hosting a group such as Broadway in the Hood at the West Las Vegas Library (which admits patrons without charge) is "consistent with our core mission."

"It's a sad thing," she says, "but you can't subsidize everything."

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at
vegastheaterchat@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.