Popular Bay Area Children's Theater Company Closes

The closure of a popular local children’s theater company has parents scrambling to find alternative summer childcare and wondering if they will be reimbursed for enrollment fees already paid.  

Known in Alameda as Kids Take the Stage, Stage Kids and We Are Theater, the company has produced musical theater around the Bay Area by and for children for almost two decades. An estimated 4,000 students have been enrolled in its classes. 

In a letter issued this week to contractors, vendors, parents and others, the managing director of its parent company, Trevor Weaver, attributed the immediate dissolution to three factors: a slowdown in class registration, a rise in rehearsal and performance rental space costs, and a significant drop in ticket sales to its seasonal shows. 

In order to continue to offer its classes, camps and workshops to youngsters, Weaver said the company had been borrowing in hopes of a turn-around. But those outside funding sources for its summer and fall programming could not be secured, leaving the company insolvent and unable to fulfill the remainder of its financial obligations to its contractors, landlords and vendors.

Some parents who pre-enrolled their children in what would have been the program's upcoming classes, paying tuition up front, are upset.

"I am annoyed that they used 'early sign-up' marketing to capture our funds while they were in financial trouble," said David Sayen, the East End father of 10-year-old son Julian Sayen.

David Sayen said he had recently taken advantage of a discounted half-off promotion by We Are Theatre to enroll his child in what was to be a forthcoming production of Beauty and the Beast.

Sayen believes it is unlikely parents who registered their children for upcoming classes will get reimbursed anytime soon, noting other creditors will likely take precedence. Meanwhile, he says he will explore other options for his son with other theatre companies in the East Bay.

Not only have parents who registered their children in advance been impacted, but the company's teachers have not been paid. Over the next several weeks, Weaver wrote, those owed money by the theatre company will be contacted by a liquidator’s office.

Weaver contends that the company did everything to stay afloat, including not paying the managing and hiring director for the past six months. But, in the end, it was not enough. 

Local parents whose children have been involved with the theater company say they regret the company’s closing but are not surprised it suffered financial collapse. 

Lori Mandell’s 17-year-old daughter Katie performed as a young child with the group and returned last year to work as a counselor in the summer program.

Mandell, who lives on Harbor Bay, once sat on the Kids Take the Stage board of directors when it was a nonprofit entity. “I can tell you finances were always a big issue, as they are for many non-profits. I’m sure changing from a nonprofit to a forprofit, LLC, did not change the financial challenges. It was often very difficult to make ends meet, so this news is not surprising to me,” she said.

The company, Mandell says, will be missed.

“It was a great asset to the community. Trevor Weaver was a creative professional, and as a parent, I appreciated how the programs gave my then rather shy daughter a lot of confidence on stage," she said.

Bay Farm parent, Cindy Berk, said Kids Take the Stage had been a huge part of her family’s life since 1999 when her son, Jason, now a college student and composer/singer/musician, played the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland at seven. Her younger son, Noah, also participated in several productions.

“Our children found their voice and passion in the programs they participated in with Kids Take the Stage," said Berk, who also said Weaver had been a wonderful influence on her children and extremely generous in extending scholarships to children whose families could not pay full fees. “In this economy I’m not surprised by the news,” she said. 

Alamedan Page Barnes' daughter also particpated in many Kids Take The Stage productions. Barnes is a volunteer member of the board of directors of another children's performing group in town, the Alameda Children's Musical Theatre.

Barnes said she never considered the two theatre companies competitors because she believed they offered quite different experiences. She said she is sorry to see Weaver's company fold.

In response to the announcement, which has rattled parents of children in the wider local drama community, Barnes said the Alameda Children's Musical Theatre issued a letter to its parents and supporters reassuring them that the ACMT was on very sound financial footing and plans to continue performing for many years to come.

As of publication time, Weaver had not responded to an email asking for further comment beyond his written announcement. The number on the company's website was disconnected.