Interested in buying/building a new theatre for live arts

tdeluca on November 3, 2005 at 11:26 am

Thanks Steve, I will.

stevepatrick on November 11, 2005 at 9:38 am

Todd,

Any luck? I’ve written a couple tiomes to Sandy but I haven’t gotten any more info. Do you at least know the town?

Steve

focus on November 18, 2005 at 11:51 am

Steve;

Have you done any market research of the area at all. You should do a area market analysis of the county,regional and state patron market base. This will help you to do budget projections of potential patron counts and help with financial projections.

As for a small auditorium of 450 seats or less, you will be limited on the type of talent you can book at your venue. It would be best to acquire or build a venue of 1000 seats or more. This would allow you much more flexibility on the type of entertainment you could offer. Example, you could book Kelly Clarkson or Larry the cable guy, for two shows and sell them out, giving you more bang for your buck. With just a 450 seat theater, you would be hard press to book then at all. Just something to think about.

If you have not already, you should have a business plan prepared. A good sound plan can be used as a template to help guide you, through all of your different business phases you will need to address. In addition, you will need a business plan with financials, to present to a lender or investment group to sell your idea to.

Sometimes organizations limit themselves to just a small market area, you should think about serving a 100 mile radius of your theater location. Market research has shown that patrons will travel up to that distance to see quality entertainment.

Finally, if you locate a historical theater instead of building one, there are feasibility studies, community fundraisers and grants that you should consider. However getting access to some of theses federal, state and local funding depends on how you are structured? Will you be a non for profit or for profit ententes.

If you have any additional questions, you may contact me at www.onstagein.com and I would be happy to assist you further.

romeoisojuliet on November 29, 2005 at 10:36 pm

Dear Todd and Steve,

Hi there.

My name is Paul Riopelle. Please forgive this rather bold email, but I found your recent correspondence on the “Cinema Treasures” website as gentlemen who were looking to purchase/renovate a theatre in the Massachusetts/New Hampshire area, and I thought I would write to inquire about your goals for such a theatre, to see if we could possibly help one another.

I am a New York-trained, Equity actor who has worked Off-Broadway, performed in International tours, served on a Hollywood film as Dustin Hoffman’s Personal Stand-In, and currently live in Chicago, having made my living for the past 15 years as a professional actor and occasional director (I am currently 36 years old). Having succeeded in these different areas, my personal/professional goals are beginning to shift, and I am looking to change my life by settling in a place I really love, and co-owning/running a theatre, where I can direct and act in shows that I truly value and that are supported by a surrounding community. Having been on tour several times through the beautiful eastern seaboard, I concluded it would be the perfect place to launch my dream of founding my own Professional Equity Theatre Company, which would produce a full season of Musicals, American Classics, and Shakespeare, in a place that many consider the most cultured area in the nation.

Just beginning my quest for information on Theatres in the Massachusetts area, I came across your correspondence on the “Cinema Treasures” website, and just wondered whether you had similar goals and dreams to mine, and were looking for an experienced Artistic partner in the enterprise. Being an unmarried, self-sufficient artist-type, I would have little to bring to the endeavor in the way of financial capital. However, I have ENORMOUS experience with theatres—having headlined (as well as serving in administration and teaching capacities) at some of the largest ones in the U.S. (including New York’s National Shakespeare Company and the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the 4th largest Classical Theatre in the Country). I could bring a wealth of knowledge on how to run a theatre from an Artistic standpoint, from the casting of a company, to the direction of productions, even how to write proposals to get other backers and community groups interested in supporting us—and I would be VERY interested in relocating and committing to doing this at a New Theatre FROM THE GROUND UP—with passion, with insight, and with tireless energy. If this is at all similar to your own goals in looking to purchase a theatre, I would very much like to talk with you at further length about if and how we might collaborate on such a venture.

You may email me at my personal address () at any time, to ask as many questions as you would like of me, and if you find the answers satisfactory, I hope we can continue to discuss the possibilities. I realize this is a very bold and unorthodox email—and if your plans for the theatre are vastly different than what I am suggesting, I greatly apologize. It is just that I am trying to take my life in an exciting new direction, and I am not beyond any daring move to make that happen.

I eagerly look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Paul Riopelle
Chicago Equity Actor

jukingeo on May 4, 2006 at 11:05 am

Hello

STEVE—I have seen your posts floating around here at CT for a while now. Did you ever find what you were looking for in a theatre? I am asking because I too am looking for a place to showcase live acts. Really, I would'nt mind a place that does both movies and live acts…but I would prefer live acts as there is not much money to be made in movies. So did you find a theatre? It is funny too because I was also looking the MA area and the only thing I found was the Paris Theatre and from what I gather it is located in the seedy part of Worcester, MA. Not the idea places to set up operations. I saw in one post that you were interested in the State Theatre in Sandusky, Ohio. That is a big jump…MA to Ohio. This is where I first came across your posts and I too was going to persue interest in the State Theatre, but seeing nothing in terms of a for sale sign, I turned to the Erie County Chamber of Commerce. They said that the State theatre will reopen soon. So I doubt it will be put up for sale :(.

JG