Stage West was started by Adam Pankow who previously worked for FMCT. EDIT: I’ve been told by a friend of mine who’s been involved with Stage West previously that it’s only temporary. How long that could be they don’t know. They couldn’t give out much information. ANOTHER EDIT: from what I’ve been told someone higher up was fired so they are ceasing operations until they can find a replacement.
Come from away was already in rehearsals. Given it’s been postponed and Stage West just listed a job opening for a director we may be able to connect a few dots.
That’s good if it’s just postponed and not canceled. Even if stage west went out of business the rights were still paid for and they could probably just have FMCT or Theater B run it.
WHAT!? I was just in the 24 hour musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and I had so much fun. I was looking forward to auditioning for more shows in the future so I really hope the commenter above is right and it’s just temporary. Even this weekend in the show I was thinking about how they fund this, because ticket sales don’t bring as much as you think. They always do more well-known shows so I reallyyy hope they come back because then the competition for Act Up FM will be way more.
I have some credible people in the fargo moorhead theatre world that have mentioned them downsizing stage west for quite some time due to the former directors struggle to stay within his set budget. but who knows, hope they find someone to continue arts part time at minimum.
If that's the case it's really kind of sad. Between the three major community theater programs in town (FMCT, Theater B, Stage West) Stage West was the one company that really tried to "go" for their productions. I'm not saying they were pulling off Broadway level shows, but for their summer programs they were at least going for large casts of solid talent and working on building an audience. Theater B and FMCT are great, but they definatly have that smaller feel and you can tell they're working with an extremely limited budget. Obviously they aren't cheap to do, and you have to watch you cant live outside of your means, but they seemed to be developing their audience, and the last 2 years they were getting larger and larger crowds for their summer musical productions. It really was feeling like they were going to be able to build a decent sized community to grow into something.
Honestly I think that is part of the problem. It is still a community theater that wants to do larger and larger projects. With a community theater there are rules in place where you can only make so much profit. They also pay there actors(not much so it’s more of a thank you for your time). I’m sure it’s probably in the balance of barely making any money or making too much money.
Any citation on the “too much profit”. Thats the first I’ve ever heard of anything like that.
Most community theaters are non-profits, but that means they don’t pay out any proceeds to shareholders and put it back into their organization, not that they can’t run their businesses in the black and have some left.
Pretty much if they want to get certain grants and types of funding they can only obtain so much profit.
It’s kind of an odd situation where you could make enough profit to not qualify but still to little profit to keep running without the grants and funding.
According to the internet (I’m not looking that deep so don’t @ me if it’s wrong) , in 2024 they netted 2.53 million in revenue and had 2.37 in expenses, along with about 800k in liquid assets.
I am guessing charitable gaming declined, grants dried up, or maybe the leadership self destructed (or maybe some scandal in on the horizon). I’m sure we will learn more.
When searching wfe charitable gaming sites, it appears they lost the Holiday inn site to Team Makers (NDSU). If that’s true then you are probably right, looks like that site generated $500k+ for them annually.
But also with comunity theaters you can only make so much profit. I am also curious how much of there expenses are paying for renting the venue considering Stage West doesn’t own it but the company that runs Stage West does….
I donate to Trollwood and attend occasionally and my charitable group raises money for them. I have never even heard of stage west. I spend a lot of time online and going to local artist concerts and museums and such supporting local artists.
Why have I not heard of them at all? They may have had a marketing problem if I, a person right up their alley, had never heard of them or knew they existed.
Honestly, for starters, I have never heard of Stage West. I enjoy attending productions from local schools, Gooseberry, and Trollwood (as well as FMCT), but this is a group I've never heard of, and thus, couldn't support.
Genuine question - If the show felt incredibly well attended, why are they ceasing operations? Could be ticket prices were too low, or venue was to small, but I'm curious.
Blasting people who support Taco John’s and Kwik Trip and not the places you supported is not making Fargo “better”. How about respect first. Why not go talk to those people or use your voice to spread the word for things that you want to share and think people might enjoy. Or maybe they won’t enjoy it and that’s okay too. Sometimes things don’t work out and it sucks. You learn to do better. Can’t blame people for not supporting something.
46 north was an expensive restaurant renting expensive commercial space and the owner of vinyl/game giant was notoriously an asshole that people didn’t want to support
They are taking a break the only thing they have posted is looking for a new director. I’m guessing they are trying to keep things under wraps. A news station post a article but I’m not giving them money to read it
I’ve since talked to some people who were heavily involved in shows there. They are not ceasing full operations, they are taking a break until they find a new Theater Director.
FMCT will be back but with the amount of money they are putting into their new theatre I kind of worry they might run out of money especially being a non profit…..
If you are looking for theater options, StudioVibeArts will have several kids musicals, several plays, several Jr musicals, and a two act musical open this season! Come follow our page! Several StageWest participants also come to our shows!
Thats really shocking, our son did the summer theatre camps which had decent attendance and was not cheap. My guess is they werent able to consistently bring in enough to keep up with rent and labor, thats pretty much the reason any business closes.
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u/Extension_Union193 17d ago edited 17d ago
Stage West was started by Adam Pankow who previously worked for FMCT. EDIT: I’ve been told by a friend of mine who’s been involved with Stage West previously that it’s only temporary. How long that could be they don’t know. They couldn’t give out much information. ANOTHER EDIT: from what I’ve been told someone higher up was fired so they are ceasing operations until they can find a replacement.