The first thing Clive Cholerton wants you to know is that the Caldwell Theatre is not folding.
The Boca Raton playhouse has been in a financial bind ever since it took out a $6 million mortgage on its new theater in 2008. But it sees an end to its difficulties with an imminent filing for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy.
“The decision has been made and that is what we’re working towards,” says Cholerton, the company’s harried artistic director. “We have a few details to work out. Mostly it’s making sure that when you go in with the filing, all your ducks are lined up, because that’s how you get out of it more quickly.”
The elephant in the living room, the issue that no one connected to the Caldwell wants to talk about, is whether the 37-year-old grande dame of the South Florida theater community would “pull a Florida Stage,” a new phrase in the lexicon which means abruptly shutting its doors and disappearing forever.
“We are not folding. We are not going anywhere,” stresses Cholerton. “We as a board have never discussed Chapter 7 bankruptcy,” the route Florida Stage took to end its operations.
The Caldwell has retained bankruptcy attorney Brad Shraiberg and is working with him to structure a plan to give the theater some financial relief and to get back into gear.
“The first hurdle we had to overcome was with our own legal counsel,” explains Cholerton. “When he came in, he said ‘Prove to me that you are viable.’ We had to give him a detailed cash flow analysis, a business plan moving forward, so he could structure the reorganization. Because he was like, ‘Look, I’m the one who has to go out and sell this to the world. So don’t make me look bad.’ ”
In mid-February, Legacy Bank filed a foreclosure action against the Caldwell, saying it had fallen behind on two loans, one for $2.88 million, and the other for $3 million, according to published reports.
Cholerton inherited many of the Caldwell’s problems when he assumed the artistic and managerial reins of the theater in 2009. Because of the scheduled demolition and redevelopment of the Levitz Plaza where the Caldwell previously performed, it had to commit to building the new, virtually adjacent playhouse just as the economy was tanking, the South Florida real estate bubble was bursting and public funding was disappearing.
At the same time, Cholerton began wiping the cobwebs off the company by producing more new, edgy plays instead of the Caldwell’s usual menu of American classics. But the dwindling audience suggests that Cholerton may have changed the ship’s course too quickly.
“Have I gone too far? Yeah, I’d be an idiot not to look at that,” he concedes. “I didn’t say to myself, ‘Let’s see what I can do to alienate some people’ or anything like that. But I have a vision of what I want to do with this theater, and we have brought a lot of new theatergoers in. So it’s a balancing act.”
In addition to the mortgage, which has reportedly not been paid since August, the Caldwell owes required payments to Actors Equity, as well as money loaned to the company by several major benefactors. Getting an exact total of the company’s debts is something Cholerton was advised by his attorney not to discuss.
“Brad said, ‘Do not give a number. The second you give a number and it gets published, then when you go into court and it’s a different number, you’ve got to explain that. So don’t do that.’ ”
Legacy Bank, the mortgage holder, had no interest in owning a theater, but the foreclosure action on the Caldwell is a way to protect its investment. Cholerton sees the Chapter 11 route the way to prevent the Caldwell’s doors from closing.
“The bank is very much a part of it. We continue to talk to them almost on a daily basis,” says Cholerton. “They’re part of the team that we work with. They’re part of what goes into the bankruptcy court.”
Cholerton emphasizes that with Chapter 11 protection, the Caldwell will be able to focus on what it does best — produce plays — and the audience should not notice any behind-the-scenes financial adjustments. “Oh, no, not at all. If anything, it strengthens us,” he says.
He is close to announcing a schedule of plays for the 2012-2013 season, and its next production, the musical revue Working, is scheduled to open Friday.
“By declaring bankruptcy,” says Cholerton, “We get to finally move forward.”