STUDY MISSES KEY PLAYHOUSE POINTS

Editorial Comment published in the Palm Beach Daily News September 28, 2008
By Patrick Henry Flynn

The Webb Management Study was not objective and hardly as worthy as the study they did in 2004 for Sidney Spiegel and Peter Cohen, which recommended destruction of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse.

This time the size of the Theater they could endorse was predetermined by the use of the criteria “town serving” –which mean 50% of patrons must come from Palm Beach.

Accordingly, Webb (p. 17) ran the numbers on the number of residents, and probable theater attendance, in accordance with “town serving”; and concluded a 250-seat theater is the limit.

Meanwhile, Webb also concludes (p. 17) that the Town Council is not of one mind-- in applying the selectively- enforced “town serving” ordinance to a non-profit, community- serving Poinciana Playhouse.

It also remains to be seen if “town serving” applies to the high-end, Bal Harbour, type of luxury-store retail environment the new developer-lessee apparently plans for Poinciana Plaza?

To its credit, the Webb study calls for multi-use facility for the arts. But the report ignores that the Palm Beach Theater Guild already has Performance Partners (Ballet Florida, Palm Beach Symphony, Palm Beach Principal Player, Palm Beach Opera, Palm Beach Atlantic University, PlayGround Theatre)-- who have written agreements to perform music, dance and subscription theater.

The study—commissioned by the new developers—also does not give the Poinciana Playhouse the chance to change from a theatrical roadhouse booking in shows to a regional subscription theater. Subscription theater is the principal income stream in the Palm Beach Theater Guild business model.

One conclusion by Webb (if you buy into the smaller, 250 seat theater) is it would require “a level of renovation” that would make the Royal Poinciana Playhouse “un-recognizable.”

On the contrary, the Palm Beach Theater Guild has reliable estimates -- from the firm doing Seagull Cottage -- that a loving restoration of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse and the Celebrity Room would cost $100 dollars a foot ($3.8 Million).

At their request we shared these numbers with Webb Management and we have asked the Poinciana Plaza Lessees for an opportunity to raise the balance of these funds -- to give Palm Beach residents a life of enjoyment with a rich choice of the performing arts.

Lastly, a person named “Mr. Acree” recently tried to characterize the fundraising of myself and the Palm Beach Theater Guild as “Cavalier.” His basis for that assertion was that I had “approached” him for a donation. But “Mr. Acree” and I have never met.

Patrick Henry Flynn
West Palm Beach, FL