New director hopes to revive LBI stage venue

BEACH HAVEN, N.J. - Roy Miller wants to rescue the Surflight Theatre. But the 450-seat venue where the Broadway producer was a teenage thespian is awash in debt.

Ticket sales and donations to the nonprofit have been sluggish over the last few seasons. If its board of directors can't raise $500,000 by month's end, the Long Beach Island stage billed as "Broadway at the Beach" may lower its curtain for good.

Miller, 50, was appointed Surflight's artistic director last month, replacing Steve Steiner, who was fired in August amid allegations of financial mismanagement. To underscore his commitment, Miller, a former member of the board of trustees, will donate his first year's salary to the cause. He has declined to say how much that would be.

"I have a strong personal connection to Surflight and am deeply honored to carry on the rich legacy of Joe Hayes while taking the organization to the next level of excellence," Miller said in a statement. He was a high schooler when Hayes, Surflight's founder and then director, gave him an apprenticeship in 1975. Miller stayed for three seasons.

Miller's Broadway producing credits include the current West Side Story; The Drowsy Chaperone, winner of five Tony Awards in 2006; and The Pee-wee Herman Show, opening next month.

His goal is to put the Surflight in the same echelon as the Williamstown (Mass.) Theatre Festival, one of the country's most influential summer stock houses, said Miller, who worked for more than a decade as associate producer at the venerable Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn.

He has said he plans to continue his work in New York, where he will commute from Long Beach Island. He vows to use his Broadway connections to bring crowd-pleasing productions and big-name performers to the Surflight.

Surflight has appointed another Pee-wee Herman producer, Timothy Laczynski, as chief financial officer. Laczynski, who has expertise with start-up ventures, will donate his salary as well. Broadway publicist Charlie Siedenburg also has been enlisted.

If the theater's board of directors and the community can't raise $500,000 by Oct. 31, the 61-year-old landmark and its adjoining Show Place Ice Cream Parlour might close their doors, board president Gene Hammond said.

The Surflight had $2.3 million in revenue in 2009, about $300,000 less than it spent on producing an ambitious season of more than a dozen musicals, nearly as many children's productions, and an off-season concert series. The theater employs eight full-time employees year-round and hundreds of Equity actors, production personnel, and others during peak season, June to September.

The previous artistic director spent lavishly on productions and charged as much as $200,000 in theater expenses on high-interest credit cards, Hammond said. The board is seeking to pay off the debt and position itself for the 2011 production season.

It has secured a six-month extension on payments to its largest creditor, TD Bank, Hammond said.

Hammond describes Miller as an experienced fund-raiser adept at wooing corporate sponsors. But asking for contributions now is tricky, he acknowledged.

"People don't want to get the sense we're asking them to give money to a sinking ship. We want them to look at it as an investment in a new era for the Surflight," Hammond said.

A two-hour town meeting was scheduled at the theater Saturday to answer questions and hear suggestions from the public.

"We think being in Roy Miller's hands is heading us in the right direction," Hammond said.

Locals say they are counting on it.

"We really don't want to see the Surflight close," said Shelley Frieze, 36, of Beach Haven, who brings her two children to the theater for productions such as The Princess and the Pea and The Little Mermaid in the summer.

"It's been here so long, it's a real part of the fabric of our community that is beloved by different generations of people. My mom used to bring me here, and now I bring my kids here," Frieze said.

With its youth program ended for this year, the Surflight will close its season with adult works, including Rupert Holmes' Accomplice, Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers, and the annual Surflight Holiday Spectacular.

Miller said he hopes to announce the 2011 schedule soon.