LAKELAND - Renovations to the Lake Mirror Center and a sour economy have put the Lakeland Community Theatre in a financial bind.

The struggles prompted board President Daryl Ward to send a letter to hundreds of people on the theater's email list asking for money.

"From what I recollect, we've never sent out a distress call, but in our current fiscal crisis that's exactly our reality!" Ward wrote in an email in March. "And in order to keep our theatre going, we need everyone who loves this theatre or has been touched in some way throughout our history to come together and row us to safer shores."

In the email, Ward, an assistant principal at Harrison School for the Arts, made an appeal for donations, using the image of a stage show to promote the idea.

"This is not a real show, but a quick way for you to make a donation to help our theatre out of this crisis - a Faux Show," Ward wrote.

So far, the faux show has raised more than $7,500. To donate, someone only needs to purchase a ticket for a show at lakelandcommunitytheatre.com or call 863-603-7529.

Ward said season ticket sales took a hit after construction began earlier this year at the Lake Mirror Center Theatre Complex, the community theater's home. The theater's lights, chairs and air conditioning are being upgraded. Before the upgrades could begin, workers had to remove asbestos from the ceiling.

About 40 percent of season ticket holders didn't renew.

"I don't think we anticipated what a negative impact this was going to have on us," board member Holly Parrish said. "The overwhelming reason was, ‘I don't want to have to drive around to unfamiliar places.' "

Renovations on the theater were expected to be finished in July but construction has been pushed back 30 days. A performance of the "Wizard of Oz," scheduled to begin on July 21, will be held at Harrison School for the Arts.

The theater's current production, "Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming," started Thursday at Southeastern University's Bush Chapel.

Alan Reynolds, the artistic managing director for the theater, said the budget has been cut from $320,000 to $275,000.

He thanked officials at Southeastern University and Polk Theater for letting them use their theaters. And he thanked donors. He paraphrased Blanche Dubois in "A Streetcar Named Desire."

"We're dependent on the kindness of strangers," Reynolds said.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20110414/NEWS/110419684#