The Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre has enlisted the Grant Thornton accountancy firm to negotiate with creditors.
“The main goal of the proposal is to come to a new agreement with the [Blue Bridge Theatre Society’s] remaining unsecured creditors,” board president Christopher Mackie said in a statement.
Mackie said if the proposal is accepted, the nine-year-old theatre company will be “well positioned” to implement plans aimed at creating financial stability.
Blue Bridge artistic director Brian Richmond said he could not provide specifics of the proposal or his company’s current financial situation.
“It’s not that I’m trying to be evasive, it’s just that it’s a process,” he said.
Richmond said Blue Bridge hopes to settle with its creditors as soon as possible.
“We’re hopeful … We’re optimistic that we’re going to remain a fixture on the Victoria arts scene.”
The company aims to disclose full details of its new financial plans at a public annual general meeting in March.
Last December, Richmond said his company, with an operating budget of about $500,000, had accumulated a deficit of $200,000. Eighteen months before that, Blue Bridge carried a $500,000 debt. Much of the debt reduction was due to creditors forgiving loans.
In 2015, the company announced that — in the face of financial difficulties — it would discontinue year-round productions in favour of summer seasons. Blue Bridge’s 2013 move to the Roxy Theatre from the McPherson Playhouse resulted in a major drop in audiences.
This year, the company plans to stage Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, Garson Kanin’s Born Yesterday, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Red, Hot, Blue! — a new revue of Cole Porter songs.