As Nonprofit Theaters Struggle, Seattle Rep Cuts 12% of Staff

As nonprofit theaters around the country grapple with continuing financial troubles and a changed post-pandemic theatergoing landscape, Seattle Rep announced this week that it would lay off 12 percent of its employees.

The move by Seattle Rep, the city’s pre-eminent repertory theater, underscores the painful calculus that nonprofit theaters across the industry are facing. As the financial crisis in regional theaters continues, many have pared down programming or shaved costs by relying on co-productions with other theaters.

The theater says it is cutting administrative roles to prioritize production. It is cutting its head count from 108 to 95, a net loss of 13 full-time jobs.

“There has to be some sort of action in response to what’s happening in the field,” said the theater’s artistic director, Dámaso Rodríguez. “Some folks suspend production for a while. That’s not the approach we’re taking.”

The theater, founded in 1963, has a storied history. It helped start Richard Gere’s professional acting career when he was 19, was home to the original workshop production of Wendy Wasserstein’s Pulitzer-winning play “The Heidi Chronicles” and saw the first reading of Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner’s “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.”

But like many theaters, Seattle Rep is facing financial challenges. It has lost more than half of its subscribers — who buy tickets for multiple shows at a time — since the pandemic began. It is expected to report a $335,000 deficit on a $16 million budget when its current fiscal year ends this month. Rodríguez said the newly announced cuts were part of a three-year plan to better position the theater for the future.