SCR Says It’s Having a Fine Year : * Finances: The theater has been able to hold the line on expenses and expects to meet its fund-raising goal of $1.6 million.

South Coast Repertory, Orange County’s professional resident not-for-profit theater, is waging a successful battle against the tide of red ink washing over similar theater companies around the country.

“We’re having a better than average year,” says spokesman Cristofer Gross. “Ticket sales have been strong. We’ve gone over our earned-income projections on some shows, and we haven’t had any disasters. So we’re doing well.”

In addition, Gross says, SCR has “basically held the line on expenses” with an overall $5.8 million operating budget for the 1991-92 season, up only $200,000 from the previous season.

SCR expects to meet its fund-raising goal of $1.6 million this year, up $100,000 over last. “At this point our fund-raising is on track,” says Gross. “We’re at 54% of the goal, or a little over $800,000, which is where we were last year at this time. On the other hand, it is a tougher year to raise funds and we have to work harder for it.”

From board members on down, says Gross, the theater’s volunteer fund-raisers have intensified their efforts with “a full-court press.” They’ve worked the phones more, made repeat contacts with donors who needed less prompting in previous years, and have followed up new leads more thoroughly than usual.

“Those are the basics of raising money anyway,” Gross notes. “But this time we cited the very real potential for a deficit. And that was a new message, because people historically think of us as rich.”

SCR has sold slightly more than 21,000 subscriptions for its 1991-92 Mainstage and Second Stage seasons, about the same number as the previous year. A record number of subscriptions--more than 23,000--was sold during the 1986-87 season. But, according to Gross, that made the availability of single tickets somewhat tight, and the company decided not to push for higher subscription sales.

Ironically, the Grove Shakespeare Festival, which has had a history of red ink, also is weathering the recessionary times and even may be poised for growth, all because of a recent windfall.

In December of 1991, the company received a surprise grant of $250,000 from the Leo Freedman Foundation. It amounted to just about a third of the Grove’s entire projected 1992 operating budget of $756,000 and, unlike most foundation grants, it did not require the troupe to match it with other, hard-to-raise contributions.

Thus, instead of beginning the upcoming season “$50,000 to $70,000 in the hole, we’ll start with a cash balance of $193,000,” says Grove treasurer Lawrence Capalbo, noting that the 13-year-old Grove has never started a season so cash-rich.

O.C. Theaters Faring Better

South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa and the Grove Shakespeare Festival in Garden Grove are holding firm against the tide of red ink swamping theaters elsewhere.

South Coast Repertory

In Millions

Category 1990-91 1991-92 Operating budget $5.6 * $5.8 Contributed income $1.5 * $1.6 Earned income $4.1 * $4.2

Grove Shakespeare Festival

Category 1991 1992 Operating budget $730,000 * $756,000 Contributed income $431,000 * $200,000 Earned income $460,000 * $485,000 Starting cash balance $ 30,000 $193,000

Note: South Coast Repertory operates on a fiscal year; Grove Shakespeare on a calendar year

* Projections

Sources: South Coast Repertory, Grove Shakespeare Festival