Updated at 9:10 a.m.
WARWICK – Ocean State Theatre Company Inc. abruptly closed its doors late Tuesday evening, citing financial reasons, according to WJAR-TV NBC 10.
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“It was a heartbreaking decision for those of us who are passionate about OSTC, particularly after what is undoubtedly the best artistic season we have ever had,” Andrew Cohen, chairman of the board of directors for Ocean State Theatre Company, said in a statement posted on WJAR-TV’s website Tuesday night.
According to Cohen, patron records are being retained until the theater determines what to offer in compensation to current ticket-holders.
The Ocean State Theatre Company’s website was inaccessible as of Wednesday afternoon, and no one from the theater was available for comment on the closure. However, according to the statement released Tuesday night, the future of the company is currently open-ended.
The Ocean State Theatre Company opened in its Warwick location in 2012.
According to court documents filed on Wednesday in the Kent County District Court, the theater company’s landlord, Mutual Properties 1245 Jefferson LLC is seeking $860,000 in rent, taxes, utilities, late fees, and interest. The complaint states that the theater company’s rent was $21,114 per month.
Mutual Properties also filed for a restraining order Wednesday that seeks to prevent Ocean State Theatre Company from removing anything from the theater space in Warwick.
Mutual Properties released a statement from Stephen Soscia, managing member of the company on Thursday in which he said, “We regret the decision made by Ocean State Theatre to abruptly close its doors. We worked cooperatively with them for the five years they were our tenant, and on several occasions, restructured their 21-year lease to de minimis rental amounts to meet their cash flow.” Explaining the situation that brought to be the legal complaint, Soscia said, “In short, we afforded them every opportunity to restructure their obligations which today exceed one million dollars, and assist them with a smooth, seamless transition to insure their future success. In the end, however, they were unable to do so. As their single largest donor, we were surprised by their abrupt closure as we had been informed that they intended to remain through July of this year, and then would relocate to another location. ”
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
