Further Crumbling at Wisdom Bridge
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During the early 1980s, under the artistic leadership. of Robert Falls, Wisdom Bridge was one of the local theater community’s crown jewels. But things have changed. In anticipation of a tough year, Wisdom Bridge’s operating budget for the season has been trimmed to a lean $900,000, down from around $1.3 million in recent years. Wisdom Bridge also is struggling with an accrued deficit of several hundred thousand dollars. In the past, says Conlon, the board of directors probably would have voted to continue paying the staff despite the theater’s financial difficulties. But this time they opted for a different approach. “We’re not going to dig the hole deeper,” he says. “We still want to be able to pay our bills as they become due.”
Conlon says the board is looking to various foundations for grants, though he concedes that most philanthropic groups aren’t giving out as much money as they once did. If Wisdom, Bridge can remain in business until June, Conlon said, the board will have more information about where the general economy is headed and should be able to make some hard decisions about the company’s future.
Some of the League’s board members believe that if phone-order ticket sales go well, they could start to eat into walk-up business at the outlets. On the other hand, marketing director Karen Barger said credit-card acceptance could increase the operation’s gross revenue by as much as 10 percent annually. The League currently pulls in about $200,000 a year from Hot Tix, a little less than half of its current operating budget.
