As you may have heard, Fanny Hill is closing down its theater operation, citing poor attendance due to the woeful economy. And they’re serious – they’ll be remodeling the stage area into more seating for the restaurant, which will continue operating. However, the entire property is up for sale, and according to the company trying to sell it, they’re “looking to find someone with the ability to take this beautiful property and turn it into a viable business again." The place is perched over the Chippewa River and houses the theater, the restaurant, a bar and 11 hotel rooms, so there’s plenty to work with. The Leader-Telegram has the best coverage of the news, and includes this little paragraph:

• Fanny Hill has struggled competing with nonprofit arts groups, Heyde said. Fanny Hill pays actors but receives no public funding or sponsorships.

This is interesting. All of the L-T’s direct quotations from people involved with the theater cite the bad economy – no mention of competing with nonprofits – so I’m not sure where that info comes from. On one hand, it makes sense. Local nonprofits are able to stage larger (and more) shows, so there’s definitely competition. But on the other hand, Fanny Hill’s shows represent a different kind of theatre, and I’ve never found myself trying to decide between a State Theater show and a Fanny Hill show.

Fanny Hill offers dinner theatre (or, at least, they will be through the Christmas season). I’ve got nothing against dinner theatre (I actually like it), but it’s usually of the comedy/farce persuasion. So if you’re not in the mood for Noises Off, you go somewhere else. So I’m not sure that competition with other live theatre played that big of a role in Fanny Hill’s shrunken show attendance.

That said, public funding for nonprofit theatres certainly takes some of the edge off bad box office sales. For now.