Virginia Rep hits another funding rut after Northside theater sale falls through

The Virginia Rep Center for Arts and Education at 4204 Hermitage Road. (BizSense file photos)

A failed real estate deal has brought the curtain down on a Virginia Repertory Theatre production slated to run in the coming weeks and left the nonprofit once again searching for additional financial support.

The theater company’s plan to sell its Center for Arts and Education at 4204 Hermitage Road hit a snag in recent days after the contracted buyer backed out unexpectedly.

Without the anticipated cash infusion from a sale, Virginia Rep lacked the funds needed to put on a traveling production of “Fat Ham” set to run at the November Theatre next month, Managing Director Klaus Schuller said.

“We decided to very quickly cancel the production to have enough money to honor their contract cancellation clauses and not put them in jeopardy of being stranded in Richmond,” Schuller said.

The canceled shows come amid ongoing financial difficulties at Virginia Rep. In September it made a public appeal for emergency donor support and raised $1.15 million during an 11-day fundraiser that staved off the organization’s closing.

Klaus Schuller

But Virginia Rep has since burned through those funds and finds itself again in a precarious situation. The organization said the funds were spent on production expenses, paychecks and other costs associated with running its operations.

Schuller said the theater group is now seeking new donors to provide funding as it works to restructure its operations and get on more solid footing.

“We said very clearly at the time of the emergency fundraising and repeatedly since that this was buying a few months of runway, and that runway has come to an end,” he said.

Part of the plan to right its ship is to sell the former Scottish Rite Temple on Hermitage Road.

Virginia Rep is seeking a new buyer for the 50,000-square-foot center, which has a 650-seat theater, 400-plus-seat banquet hall, office space and other facilities on a 5-acre site. Virginia Rep paid $3.5 million for the property in 2022 to use for its children’s programming and family-oriented productions.

The would-be buyer of the Northside property was a church, and its decision not to move forward with closing on the deal last week caught Virginia Rep off guard.

Schuller said the buyer backed out because it determined it would be too expensive to complete renovations and major projects needed at the property, such as HVAC replacement.

Several parties are interested in the property, Schuller said this week, and Virginia Rep is hopeful it can turn around a quick sale of the property. Potential buyers include religious groups and a group interested in using the property as a performing arts space.

The property is also being marketed as a redevelopment opportunity. The city most recently assessed the property at $3.5 million. The site is zoned Residential Multifamily (R-53).

Jim Ashby and Jeff Cooke of Thalhimer have the listing.

Virginia Rep bought the Northside building under the leadership of Phil Whiteway, the group’s co-founder and then-managing director. Whiteway later had an acrimonious split with the group that ended in a now-settled age discrimination lawsuit.

The canceled “Fat Ham” presentation was a co-production between Virginia Rep and Norfolk-based Virginia Stage Co. The play is a modern-day “Hamlet” adaptation, in which a queer black man named Juicy encounters his father’s vengeful ghost during a cookout. The production had been scheduled to come to Richmond as part of a tour.

Virginia Rep said in a Facebook post this week that the production was canceled strictly for financial reasons, and the decision to back out of “Fat Ham” wasn’t politically motivated.

“We apologize to everyone impacted by this decision — it was financial and not political in any way. We recognize the fear and hurt that this decision has sparked, especially at such a volatile time in our country,” the organization’s post read in part.

Kevin Craig West, the actor playing Juicy’s murdered father, said in a video posted to YouTube that he and other actors were informed last week that the Richmond shows were canceled.

“The Virginia Stage version went phenomenally. It was the most amazing experience that I’ve had working with a group of actors. … I was looking forward to bringing that joy to Virginia Rep,” West said in the video uploaded Tuesday. “We sadly were informed on Valentine’s Day that the Richmond leg was canceled.”

Schuller said refunds were in the process of being issued for ticketholders.

Virginia Repertory Theatre’s November Theatre at 114 W. Broad St.

Schuller said Virginia Rep also continues to be plagued by poor ticket sales. Its recent production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” saw tickets sales that were 40% lower than expected, and initial ticket sales for “Fat Ham” also were below expectations.

Virginia Rep has blamed rising costs and a slow return of audiences to performances following the COVID-19 pandemic for its difficulties, which Schuller has said are industrywide challenges, as well as the departure of donors after the organization’s co-founders exited.

Virginia Rep is in talks with potential major donors and institutions to find new funding to continue its operations. Schuller said the theater didn’t want to seek funding from small donors, which powered the previous fundraising drive.

“We’re trying to obtain bridge financing. We’re not doing a public appeal this time, we’re talking to major donors and foundations,” he said. “We don’t want to go back to that well of asking smaller donors to pull (money) out of their pockets.”

Schuller said the additional funding is critical for Virginia Rep to continue to operate. He said the organization is hopeful it will be able to stage the remaining shows on its calendar, including “Waitress,” which is set to begin in June at the November Theatre, and “Dial M for Murder,” which is scheduled to kick off in late March at the Hanover Tavern.

“Until something is secured, we’re proceeding as modestly as we can in hopes of preserving what’s already scheduled and fulfilling the rest of the plan we have to bring the company back to full operations,” he said.

State funding is also a possibility for the group. It hopes to get $250,000 through an amendment in the state’s upcoming budget to support operational needs. The budget amendment, sponsored by Sen. Lamont Bagby, originally requested twice that amount.

Virginia Rep is operating on a $6.5 million budget for the current 2024-2025 season, which includes productions, operating and real estate expenses and educational programming costs.

The organization has cut its staff by 15% and is operating with a full-time team of about 35 people. The theater also has several hundred part-time workers and actors.

Schuller reiterated that “Fat Ham” was canceled because it happened to be the next show. He added that Virginia Rep previously canceled another production scheduled for March, “Love That Dog,” while still in its planning stages. 

“We can’t say often enough that whatever play was going to be next was going to be canceled,” he said.