LOS ANGELES — It’s been three years since the Fountain Theatre’s parking lot was transformed into an outdoor stage. Artistic director Stephen Sachs created the space under the principal of, "if you build it, they will come." And they did, he said — at first.

“Now, things have changed,” he said. “The tide has turned, and I think that a lot of people are still trying to discover for themselves what post-pandemic life is like.”

It's true for theatergoers, he says, and for theater makers. Sachs is in regular contact with the leaders of other small theaters around Los Angeles and says the level of concern is still high.

“Theaters everywhere are struggling,” he explained. “I mean, you go to the supermarket, and all the groceries are more expensive, right? When you run the theater company, it's exactly the same thing. Lumber, electricity, tubing, materials, everything just costs so much more than it ever has before. So to produce a play, and to do it of quality, is more expensive now than it has ever been in my 33 years of running the Fountain Theatre.”

The Fountain is a nonprofit theater, and so is Center Theatre Group, which announced last week that it's made the “difficult but necessary decision” to pause programming at the Mark Taper Forum beginning in July. The nonprofit has also laid off 10% of its full-time staff.

Director of communications Brett Webster says there have been some success stories since the reopening.

“But then, things started to fall back off again,” he added.

The organization had a $9 million operating gap two years ago, which they were able to offset with “extraordinary grants and funding.” This past season, they faced an $8 million gap. Meanwhile, much of the pandemic-era government assistance that was available to arts organizations has ended.

“So those gaps are hard to close,” Webster explained. “And you can see there's a trend happening there that we just can't keep up. We knew that we had to stop the bleeding, which is why we made these significant changes.”

The financial pressures on theaters are coming from all directions. Production costs are higher. Grants are fewer. And after a few years of DoorDash and Netflix, audiences may have simply fallen out of the habit of going to see live shows.

“I think we're really in a defining moment for the American theater,” said Danny Feldman, producing artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse. “I think that we have very real challenges in front of us. Here at the Playhouse and just in the American theater, [audiences] have not come back in the same numbers.”

“In a period where folks are more and more isolated and divided, our theaters, our cultural experiences are a time to come together," he added. "And we may intuitively say, 'I don't really want to go out tonight. I don't want to do that.' We're here to give you a reason, to make it worth your while to get off the couch, get in the car and come out.”

“We're finding that people are really truly only going out to the theater if it's something that they feel like is the only place to experience it,” Webster echoed. “People have just created these habits of not going out to support live theater and performing arts in the way that we'd like. And the reality is, if they don't, it's going to die.”

And with it, many of the opportunities that local theaters like the Taper bring. Some groundbreaking works debuted in the unique downtown venue: "Angels in America," "Zoot Suit," "Jelly’s Last Jam," not to mention "A Transparent Musical," created by Joey Soloway, which is currently having its world premiere in the space.

“If you think about what kinds of things have come from this space, and what kinds of dreams come from this space, it's more important than ever,” Soloway told host Alex Cohen in an interview for "Inside the Issues."

Nonprofit theater, they say, is often where marginalized voices get amplified. The suspension of programming at the Taper means postponing of the world premiere of “Fake It Until You Make It,” a play by Larissa Fasthorse. This year, Fasthorse became the first Native American woman to have a play run on Broadway, and the debut at the Taper, which had been scheduled for August, would have made her the first Native American woman to have a show at that venue as well.

“If you look at, you know, the posters here at CTG and all of the marginalized voices that were brought to the front, and all of the artists who are given their first shows, I mean, Faith [Soloway] and I would not have this show. We would not be here if it weren't for CTG… making sure that they're pulling the artists of Los Angeles into the bigger theater world.”

They called CTG an “amazing home” for their musical, but they know they arrived at a difficult time. 

“It's very, very hard to make anything work right now,” they said. “We're in a sea change.”

Webster says CTG has seen an outpouring of support since the programming postponement was announced. But what they need, he says, is for people to buy tickets. Ahmanson subscriptions are down 42% compared to 2019 — and 35% for the Taper.

This summer, the company will welcome Snehal Desai as their new artistic director. Webster admits that this is not the way they had hoped to bring him on board but says he was aware it was a possibility. The company hopes to be able to resume programming at the Taper after the 2023-2024 season and in the meantime, they plan to use the Taper for “special events and community-centered programs.” One of the theater group’s main priorities under new leadership will be building new audiences.

“And I think one of the ways that we could do that is be better about reaching out to our community,” Webster mused. “Snehal has done that extraordinarily well during his time at East West Players and is really in touch with the Los Angeles community.”

Meanwhile, the new season at the Ahmanson will be announced in the next few weeks, and CTG is planning some programming at the Kirk Douglas as well.

“So we're asking the community to really kind of help us through this time,” Webster said. “Now is the time to kind of show your support by buying a ticket.”

Sachs agrees. As the founder of a nonprofit theater, he says, the mission has always been about art, and he says he will continue to pursue that mission — even in the current climate. This isn’t just a tough time financially, he explained. Many theater directors are struggling between their own “artistic souls” and the need to sell tickets.

“Our goal is not to make money, but to change lives and to serve the public,” he said. “However, we're also a business. We're an arts organization that has to stay fiscally afloat. So there's always that delicate balance of, 'How do you create the art that you need to create? And how do you pay for it, especially in this very, very difficult environment?'"

Sachs understands couches are comfortable but says there’s nothing like the power of live theater — whether you catch a show inside a theater or outdoors. Gathering together is more essential now than ever, he believes, and he hopes audiences will put down their remotes — or their phones — and start to take their seats at local theaters again.

“It's the opportunity to be together with other human beings live and in-person, and to have this this shared experience of being told a story that enhances your life and, I think, illuminates what it means to be a human being," he said. "And that, you can never have by yourself in front of a screen.”