The Vexler Theater will shut down permanently, closing the curtain on 22 years in the community - KSAT San Antonio

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SAN ANTONIO – Local performance centers are making difficult decisions to survive after the state’s reopening following a year of coronavirus-related closures.

The curtain is closing for The Vexler Theater in the Barshop Jewish Community Center after 22 years.

Ken Frazier, the heart of the program and the artistic director, says even though he wore every hat there is, it has been a year-long struggle to determine what would happen.

“Another three months and then finally, it was a ‘we can’t do the other three months,’ and it’s just time to, you know -- we have to let it go for now,” Frazier said.

Frazier said he is still in shock, but he’s been occupied taking down the seating and stage and clearing out the space for its next act, whatever that may be.

Saul Levenhus, president and CEO of the Barshop Jewish Community Center, says it was a business decision resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The facility reduced its workforce by 25%. In a typical year, the operating budget is about $6 million. It was well below $5 million in 2020, according to Levenhus.

“Our ability to be able to put people in the theater shoulder-to-shoulder comfortably without masks is simply not a practical application at this time,” Levenhus said.

Levenhus said the nonprofit’s mission is to be good stewards of funds and save other programs. The truth, he says, is that The Vexler Theater was not bringing in money for the center, and it was just an extra program that they provided for the community.

“It loses money on an annual basis. JCC has invested close to $4 million in the theater over the last 22 years,” Levenhus said.

He says to ask the community to support it this year is what they’ve been doing to this point and will likely have to continue to do if it were to stay open.

“The truth of the matter is this (decision) is very painful and was not reached easily,” Levenhus said. “And truly, the hope is there will be a window of time for us to resume operations in the future.”

As Frazier takes everything built in the last two decades apart, he says it might feel permanent, but in the end, the nature of a black box theater is that it morphs and adapts with every story. He says the departure is not permanent.

“The magic of theater will still move on and hopefully come back into this room. It will be in other theaters around San Antonio and across the country,” Frazier said. “So, you can’t you can’t kill the art form.”

Michael Fresher, CEO and president of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, says he and his staff are looking toward the spring and summer in the hopes that crowds and shows return.

The doors of the Tobin Center have remained opened since June 2020, but all events have remained socially distanced functions at 30% capacity with a maximum of 1,700 seats available. Officials hope to increase the capacity numbers in August but say the center has been hurting financially.

“It’s been brutal. We’re probably close to $13 (million) to 15 million behind in 2020,” Fresher said. “We ended up about $15 (million) to $18 million short of where we were in 2019. We have put together a really conservative budget.”

Art organizations everywhere will have to change their strategies, according to Freshner. He says the center has furloughed employees, made cuts where they could and are looking to apply for grants.

Also on KSAT:

The Southwest School of Art has been hit financially by COVID-19 pandemic

$62 million lost across arts and culture groups in San Antonio since pandemic began

Coronavirus in Texas: Houston reopens first major art museum in nation since pandemic began

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