Tough times have hit the Fulton Opera House.

Facing a possible $380,000 deficit for the fiscal year ending in June, due to dwindling corporate sponsorships and falling box office revenues, the Fulton is slashing its budget and laying off four full-time employees from its 30-member staff.

"Unfortunately, we had to cut into the bone to avoid such a significant deficit," says Managing Director Aaron Young. "We try to be nimble. You have to be when you're a non-profit. The changes we're doing are painful, but not unusual for us. They're the pains of a non-profit."

While the mainstage season will continue as scheduled, costs will be cut in costuming, sets, cast and orchestra size.

The three remaining shows in the Family Theatre series have been canceled and the touring production, which presents shows in area schools, has been eliminated for this year.

A revised budget will cut $288,000 in expenses through June, from an annual budget of about $3.8 million.

Young says subscription sales are at an all-time high for the theater, but single ticket sales have dropped, resulting in revenues 18 percent below budget.

Single ticket sales can make up about 65 percent of revenues.

"We've lost a couple bank sponsors this season and corporate income is about 18 percent down," Young says.

Not that corporate donations are totally gone.

PNC Bank, for example, which sponsored the Fulton's last show, "42nd Street," has no plans to cut back their giving next year.

"We have a great partnership with the Fulton," says PNC's Rob Rutz, vice president, director of client and community relations for central Pennsylvania. "We have no plans to reduce our level of support. And we have been pleased with the Fulton's  openness and transparency (about their budget problems)."

Young says he began seeing real problems this past fall, as ticket sales fell just as the financial crisis was making headlines across the country.  

Young attended a national theater conference where the news was gloomy. Theaters across the country have been closing and cutting way back. He notes that economists told the group not to expect ticket sales or corporate support to get better until at least 2010.

"We knew we had to trim our expenses to account for the decrease in income," Young says. "Our biggest expenditure is personnel."

The layoffs include an administrative assistant, a box office associate, a carpenter and a sound and lighting supervisor.

All salaried staff will also lose a week's pay this year.

The budget problems will allow the theater to reassess some of its programs and make them more effective.

"We are going to be able to ride the storm," says Harvey Owen, president of the board of trustees. "We are heartbroken that we had to let people go and cut programs. We are absolutely committed to the Family Theatre series. But by tightening our belts and redefining the model of how we're going to run the theater, really good things will come out of it. We are going to refocus on our mission." 

Young says the situation is tough, but not dire.

"The good thing is, this community embraces the arts," he says. "We live in a community that gets it."


Staff writer Jane Holahan can be reached at jholahan@LNPnews.com or 481-6016.