Evicting the Latino Theater Company from LATC

Adam Leipzig, publisher of the website Cultural Weekly, doesn't pretend to be objective about the city's move to remove the Latino Theater Company from the Los Angeles Theatre Center, its Spring Street home for six years. He writes:

Let’s be clear: I’m a partisan in this fight. I was on hand when the building was built and opened in 1985; some people called me “the kid.” I left a few years before our original theatre company sputtered to a halt. Then I watched as the City took over the building and occasionally booked lackluster shows while the structure became dowdy and forlorn. During those years I could barely walk into the lobby – it had grown sad, old, dull and lifeless. Its torn carpet got more ragged with each visit; its burnt-out lights went un-replaced.

Then, in 2006, the Latino Theatre Company became tenants, and brought the place back to life. Through unique partnerships with diverse theatre companies, LTC created an umbrella under which new work began to thrive. The four theatres, which under the City’s stewardship had been dark most of the time, once again filled up. The lobby grew vibrant with audience, actors and playwrights.

The city, for its part, contends "the Latino Theater Company and the Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture, which have been warring in and out of court since 2009, failed to keep basic accounting information regarding ticket sales and other revenues and that, against the orders of their lease, they depleted a building maintenance account."

The theater company has posted a statement: "The Board of Directors of the Latino Theater Company would like to reassure everyone that everything is being done to work constructively and amicably with the City of Los Angeles to resolve any and all issues arising from our current lease situation regarding our home at the Los Angeles Theatre Center." More

Stories on the dispute:
Downtown News
LA Times
KPCC