Strapped Chula Vista theater looking for donations and a new home
OnStage Playhouse, one of the oldest resident theaters in South County, is in a race to cross the “finish line.”
Executive Artistic Director James P. Darvas said Monday that if he can’t raise $25,000 in donations by the beginning of August, the final two shows of the 2026 season will be canceled.
And even if he can raise the money - $7,000 has already come in since announcing the Finish Line fundraising drive last week - the company will face an even bigger hurdle next year.
In February, OnStage’s three-year lease will expire on the downtown space it has occupied since 1999 at 291 Third Ave. in Chula Vista. Over the past three years, rent on the space has nearly tripled to $6,850 a month. Darvas said his company can pay its bills with ticket sales during the months it has a play onstage, but during the months it is developing new plays and rehearsing shows, there is no income.
The solution, Darvas said, is finding a new and more affordable home for OnStage in 2027.
“The campaign wer’e doing now is to help us finish this season in December. Then we will pause because we won’t be in this space any longer,” he said. “We would like to work with the city of Chula Vista on finding a space for a reasonable amount of rent. That’s the goal.”
OnStage was founded in 1983 and moved around the city before it landed on Third Avenue. After longtime artistic director Teri Brown retired in 2019, longtime volunteer board member Darvas took over. One of his initiatives has been the “page to stage” program, where he has worked with many San Diego County playwrights to develop and premiere their work at OnStage.
The final two plays of the 2026 season - “Mensa” by Salomon Maya and “December 4th” by Charles Peters - are the 11th and 12th plays developed in the page-to-stage program. Darvas said those productions will be canceled if the $25,000 fundraiser doesn’t meet its goal.
OnStage is one of three local theater companies that have made public appeals for funds in recent weeks.
San Diego Musical Theatre launched an emergency fundraising effort in May to raise $100,000 in donations by June 30 or it will have to cancel its fall production of “Rock of Ages.” Erin Lewis, who cofounded the Kearny Mesa company with her husband, Gary, in 2007, said the public appeal was launched due to a range of factors, including rising labor and production costs, seating constraints that limit ticket sales and the loss of NEA and other grants.
And Trinity Theatre Company, which presents youth and adult productions in a converted space in the Mission Valley mall, has enacted a multipoint strategic plan to reduce its budget deficit, caused by many of the same problems facing other theaters.
Trinity Founding artistic director Sean Boys wrote in an email update last week that through several initiatives, the company’s budget deficit has been reducedfrom $175,000 to $89,000. The company will now be raising its ticket prices, expanding volunteer opportunities and reviewing systems to reduce costs moving forward.
“Change is hard,” Boyd wrote in the email, “but I am deeply grateful to everyone who has come forward with time, talent and treasure as we navigate this changing fiscal landscape.”
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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 2:22 PM.