Some questions concerning NINE
Q: Was NINE cancelled due to lack of ticket sales?
A: No. Tickets for NINE had not been put on sale yet, so there was no indication of how well tickets would have sold. Advance ticket sales for OUR TOWN and the fundraiser did not meet expectations; PIPPIN sales were low as well. While we expected NINE to be popular, there was simply not enough funding to go into production, regardless of how well future sales might have been
***UPDATE***
The rights for all amateur productions of NINE have been pulled due to the show going into a Touring production. Academy would not have been able to produce this show in any case, even if funds had been available.
Q: Is Academy declaring bankruptcy and/or selling all of its assets to another Theater?
A: No, Academy is not declaring bankruptcy.
Q: Is Academy holding back exclusive rights to NINE or any publicity arrangements with the Park Theater?
A: No. Academy holds no exclusive arrangements with anyone.
Q: Will Academy do a smaller show in place of NINE?
A: The Board of Governors has decided to go ahead with a smaller-scale production to close the 55th Season; the comedy, SOCIAL SECURITY.
Q: I'm a Season subscriber/advertiser. I signed up for a Season that claimed NINE would be the 3rd show. Do I get a refund?
Press Release on the closing of NINE
It is with great regret that Academy Players announces that its Spring 2010 production of the Tony Award-winning musical NINE has been cancelled due to insurmountable financial setbacks.
At the halfway point of its 55th Season, Academy Players finds itself burdened with the debt of past productions coupled with poor advance ticket sales for the remainder of its Season. At this point, proceeds from the upcoming production of OUR TOWN will only serve to make a small dent in current debt. There will be no budget to pay for rights, production costs and facility rental fees to produce a show on the scale of NINE.
It was hoped that the recent fundraiser would increase cash flow temporarily, but poor turnout at that event coupled with meager advance ticket sales for OUR TOWN leave Academy scrambling to cover outstanding costs. Faced with a large rental fee from East Greenwich High School for the production of PIPPIN, lack of support and interest from the community and overhead from insurance, vendor bills and past production costs, Academy is not in a situation to incur more cost overruns for a large-scale musical.
The decision to cancel a production which has already been cast is not one that we have taken lightly. The Board of Governors feels that to continue at this pace, with no way of knowing if funds to produce NINE would be available, would be fiscally irresponsible and a disservice to the many people who had committed to the rehearsal and production period. If we had been forced to cancel later, the disappointment and disruption would have been far greater.
While we still hold out hope that a donor or group of donors steps forward to pull Academy out of this hole, we know that it is unwise to put our heads in the sand and wait. In this economy, with businesses and institutions falling all around us, and events such as the disaster in Haiti demanding people’s responses, a Community Theater does not seem to rank high on the list of causes to support. At this juncture, we will consolidate our resources as best we can, hunker down and continue to try and raise funds so that, perhaps, future productions will be a possibility for Academy and this community.