Intiman on Life Support for Years

Seattle Times' theatre critic Misha Berson says the Intiman's latest crisis is really nothing new and symptomatic of a bigger problem:

[L]urching from crisis to crisis is no way to maintain a theater over time. Intiman is now taking steps to get its house its financial order, by cutting its budget, bolstering its endowment, renegotiating its debt. It has a new managing director, Melaine Bennett, with a solid background in fundraising. That's a good start. But Intiman, especially its board, needs to take a hard look at the theater's mission and internal workings. Are the artistic plans commensurate with the funds available? Is the theater keeping its donors and the community well-informed about its fiscal condition?

And is the board examining its own part in the years of financial overreach and poor planning? Colburn [the Managing Director who took the fall for the current mess] was on staff for 20 months. Intiman has been oozing red ink for at least six years.