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Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Garden Theatre Closure Leaves Patrons Without Refunds & Youth Productions Without Venue
www.broadwayworld.com: The abrupt closure of the Garden Theatre has left patrons without refunds for pre-purchased tickets and season subscriptions, as the nonprofit organization cites "insurmountable" financial challenges. The shutdown also halts ongoing youth productions, impacting local children and the wider community.
2 comments:
Lydia J
said...
This was a bit of a shock to the central Florida community, but when I first heard about I was not all that surprised. The Garden has had a lot of internal issues, especially within the past few years due to management changes and direction choices. There were strong accusations of racism on their board. Qualified staff at the theatre were passed over for a direction job while they brought in another person from out of state, and many other issues occurred. They developed a really poor reputation in the Central Florida community (word spreads quickly) and started to have a lot of trouble getting people to work for them, leading to trouble raising funds and multiple cancelled shows. It is unfortunate for the patrons who have already invested in this season and the kids who are doing shows. But I am glad that they are still trying to put on those youth performances, I hope they are able to make those happen.
It’s interesting how abruptly the closure of this theatre was announced to the surrounding communities. I wonder what the story is about how they ran out of money so quickly. I can imagine with the current hurricane season, that the price of lumber, costumes, props, etc has grown exponentially. It’s weird to me that the city was not notified of this closure before it happened, especially if the theatre was such a prominent hub for the community. I hope that the community will see the value in this space and this company and help get the company back on its feet. It always breaks my heart a little when I hear about theatre’s having to close due to insufficient funds, because it clearly brought light into the community through its community performances, and its children shows. I hope that the parents of the children for the show A Little Mermaid will be able to get enough funds raised to put on the show at a different venue for their kids. I hope that Orange County is also able to re-open the Garden Theatre so that it can continue to give back to its community.
2 comments:
This was a bit of a shock to the central Florida community, but when I first heard about I was not all that surprised. The Garden has had a lot of internal issues, especially within the past few years due to management changes and direction choices. There were strong accusations of racism on their board. Qualified staff at the theatre were passed over for a direction job while they brought in another person from out of state, and many other issues occurred. They developed a really poor reputation in the Central Florida community (word spreads quickly) and started to have a lot of trouble getting people to work for them, leading to trouble raising funds and multiple cancelled shows.
It is unfortunate for the patrons who have already invested in this season and the kids who are doing shows. But I am glad that they are still trying to put on those youth performances, I hope they are able to make those happen.
It’s interesting how abruptly the closure of this theatre was announced to the surrounding communities. I wonder what the story is about how they ran out of money so quickly. I can imagine with the current hurricane season, that the price of lumber, costumes, props, etc has grown exponentially. It’s weird to me that the city was not notified of this closure before it happened, especially if the theatre was such a prominent hub for the community. I hope that the community will see the value in this space and this company and help get the company back on its feet. It always breaks my heart a little when I hear about theatre’s having to close due to insufficient funds, because it clearly brought light into the community through its community performances, and its children shows. I hope that the parents of the children for the show A Little Mermaid will be able to get enough funds raised to put on the show at a different venue for their kids. I hope that Orange County is also able to re-open the Garden Theatre so that it can continue to give back to its community.
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