In the latest round from our city council they are proposing to eliminate seats from our new Performing Arts Center theater, rendering it virtually useless.
What a brilliant idea.
Maybe I’m wrong, but you have a stage, seats, sound system, and lighting system. Sounds like a perfect place to hold a council meeting. Put some tables up on stage, a guest podium, plug in the microphones turn on some lights and voila. To destroy this resource would be a travesty. The possibilities for this theater are endless. I’ll name just a few; teen movie night, youth and adult drama programs, youth and adult music programs, dance classes, charity events, comedy night, chamber music, benefit concerts for the city, orchestras, rock bands, a Shakespeare or drama company for two weeks in summer, film festival, movie screenings, film shoots, pageants, recitals, music competitions, poetry readings. Just think of all of the cultural events that could come to Malibu.
This decision reeks of the same knee-jerk reaction the residents get from the council to every problem that they confront. I ask the council to look to the future, what will it mean to the city to have this Performing Arts Center 50 years from now and how can we use it to generate money for the city. So what if it has not rented in the last six months. Has the council actively pursued renting it? Perhaps you should get a booking agent to set up events. You can’t tell me if a high-end comedian or singer was booked in this venue that the event would not be a success.
Of course it would be used primarily for weekend and nighttime events, who can go see a concert during the day?
Maybe the city council should seek a variance to get back the 100 seats to make it more viable. They have acquired a great asset for the community. I hope they reconsider what they are about to do and don’t destroy our community’s new theater.
Richard Kraft