PORT ORANGE, Fla. (AP) - Thank You Five, the modest 50-seat theater in Port Orange, was looking at the upcoming spring season as their busiest yet.
The company had two mainstage productions and roughly 10 other events - stand-up comedy, open mic nights, musical cabarets - in the works.
Then, ticket sales slowed substantially in mid-March when fears of the coronavirus’ spread started to set in. The theater closed for two weeks in hopes the threat of the outbreak would subside and it could reopen soon.
More than two months later, that day still hasn’t come.
“We’d just started our fourth season at Thank You Five, and it started off with a bang. I mean, our attendance has been up. It started out to be a really good year for us, and this kind of just completely pushed us off the rails,” said Terence Van Auken, president of the board and founding member at Thank You Five. “It’s been devastating for us.”
The nonprofit theater, which relies solely on ticket sales for revenue, now faces possible eviction from the space it rents in Ravenwood Square Plaza off Clyde Morris Boulevard, Van Auken said.
Even during good times, community theaters get by on a shoestring budget. Reopening in a limited capacity likely won’t be enough for some to cover expenses, and even reopening fully doesn’t guarantee that the resources will be there to start again.
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