NEW ORLEANS – A plan involving restaurateur Dickie Brennan is the latest effort to save the historic Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre as it tries to fight back against severe financial problems.
The theater board is in discussions with Brennan, owner of two French Quarter restaurants, to turn unused space in the theatre into a high end restaurant.
The deal has not been signed but would allow the theater to remain where it is, unchanged and producing plays.
Board president Cassie Steck Worley tells Eyewitness News this would be a lifeline to save the nearly bankrupt theater.
The theatre’s board voted in March to cancel the remainder of the 2010-11 season, saying in a message to patrons that the facility’s financial stability was in “serious jeopardy.”
Le Petit is the oldest continuously-operating community theater in the country.
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Reporters Meg Farris and Scott Satchfield contributed to this report.
