After a little over a decade of productions, OB Playhouse will soon close following a rent increase at its space in Ocean Beach.
The community theater at 4944 Newport Ave. has hosted more than 30 productions of Broadway musicals.
The current tenants, Bill and Jennie Connard, owners of OB eBikes in front of the theater, took over the performance space in June 2016.
“We kind of made the name for the OB Playhouse as far as the reputation for quality shows put on there,” Bill Connard said. “People would come from all over San Diego. … Many people in OB are not musical theater people, but walking by and seeing something different to do, we would constantly hear people who had never been to musicals that became repeat patrons.”
Will Corkery, a volunteer performer who plays Benny in “Rent,” Wildsong Productions’ current, and last, show at OB Playhouse, lamented the ing of the theater and the uncertainty it leaves for Wildsong.
“There’s something about this company that pushes people to bring their all to it,” Corkery said. “It’s not something that I’ve experienced anywhere else that I’ve done theater. … I’m not ready to give that up.”
But after “Rent” ends its run on Saturday, Dec. 23, he might have to.
With the news that their rent would be increasing, the Connards concluded they couldn’t afford to keep leasing the space. Consequently, OB Playhouse will cease and Wildsong will have to find a new venue for its productions.
“The rent on the space is about $8,500 [per month] before utilities and the equipment, and the landlords were looking to raise it to about $14,000 a month,” Bill Connard said. “With that said, it’s not the landlord’s fault that the playhouse is going away. It’s that commercial rents are too high to community theater.”
As of mid-September, commercial rent in San Diego County had grown 4.6 percent from a year earlier, according to real estate tracker CoStar. That growth was faster than the national benchmark.
Court records show that Lyle and Linda Cocking, who own the playhouse property, filed a commercial eviction action against the Connards in March 2022. However, the case was dismissed by Judge Gregory Pollack in Superior Court in San Diego.
The Cockings could not be reached for comment.
The significance of “Rent” — a musical about artists facing eviction from their space and struggling to make ends meet — being the final performance at OB Playhouse is not lost on the cast and crew.
“I think on the subconscious level it’s affected everyone,” said Wildsong Artistic Director Brooke Aliceon. “I don’t know how it wouldn’t. There’s this constant emotional tug of war between the doom of it all and being really proud of what we’ve done. This show means a lot.”
The playhouse site, formerly used as a bar, was renovated into an amateur music venue by Paul Bolton, owner of the former Electric Chair hair salon on Newport Avenue. Bolton rented out the space to production companies to put on musical theater shows, which is how OB Playhouse came to be.
But the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a hefty challenge for the Connards after about five years of productions. The theater had to shut down seven different times, Bill Connard said, meaning it lost ticket revenue while still needing to scrape together enough money to make rent.
“On top of all those variables, with us paying about $100,000 in rent while we were shut down, it just took all the fun out of it,” Connard said.
That, coupled with the birth of their first grandchild, prompted the Connards to take a step back from producing shows in 2021.
“We were exhausted,” Jennie Connard said. “When we first started the theater in 2016, we put our savings into it and we went hard at it to get the theater going. We were in a good spot and we felt really good about bringing theater to OB. We had great casts and great audiences that were loyal, so trying to start that back up and rebuild was just a little too much for us at the time.”
“After COVID shut us down, and [after] we did ‘Spamalot,’ I opened the bike shop out in front,” Bill Connard said. “We were looking for someone that wanted to rent the space on a temporary basis in order to cover our rent until we got through our lease.”
That’s when Wildsong came in.
The community theater company, founded in 2019, ran its first few shows in Escondido. But when the Connards’ troubles made OB Playhouse available, Wildsong made the theater its tentative home.
Aliceon said the Connards have been ive during the company’s time in the space.
“For us to come in and take over this portion of the lease was a huge weight off their shoulders,” Aliceon said. “Bill still runs the bike shop up front. They’ve donated costumes and have been very involved and helpful.”
Wildsong’s ethos is to equity and diversity, giving many performers and crew an opportunity to get a foot in the door of the theater scene that they might not be able to find otherwise.
Ava Castenada, who is performing in the ensemble of “Rent,” said she has as much opportunity to land a lead role as anyone else.
“As a transgender person in musical theater and trying to keep up with the competitive nature of it, this is one of the only places that really allows me to build my resumé,” Castenada said. “I think that’s so important in this day and age, when you have more queer people in theater, to not just shaft them and not give them opportunities. That is what the community really needs.”
Sarah Blanche Hayes, who is playing her first lead role as Mark in “Rent,” said the collective of volunteers is one of the hardest-working teams in San Diego.
“Our artistic director … is also onstage, she’s also choreographing, she’s also directing, she’s also in charge of costuming,” Hayes said. “Our technical director is also onstage, also running sound, also doing the sets. It’s a very small team that puts this all together. All of us are really committed to making the best show possible. It’s really clear that people on the production side pour their hearts and souls into this, and we really want to honor and respect that.”
Wildsong is seeking a new space as well as financial for its efforts.
“Although we’ve done good work, it’s very hard to secure funding when we’re so young,” Hayes said of the organization. “We don’t have any big donors, we don’t have any grants, it’s just us. Ticket sales are not enough. We need to find somebody who has money and loves our mission.”
of Wildsong said they remain hopeful it will be able to continue beyond OB Playhouse.
“This company is so special that I think the community needs this, especially with how inclusive it is,” Castenada said. “There is no way that this is the end, because it’s barely even started. “
The group has launched a hip campaign at givebutter.com/RGnix4 to raise funds to help it keep operating following the playhouse closure. The effort has generated more than $6,600 so far.
The Connards have been able to find another storefront in Ocean Beach for their bike shop. But they said the end of the playhouse will create a void in the OB arts community, and they fear that bringing such a theater back is unlikely in the current climate.
“What’s really a bummer isn’t just that we won’t be doing it anymore, it’s … that there won’t be a theater in OB,” Jennie Connard said. “The people of OB were really behind it and happy to have something to do in town that wasn’t just drinking and eating.
“The music scene is alive and well, and there’s other arts and culture for sure, but you won’t be able to watch a show there anymore. Something special was going on here.”
‘Rent’
Where: OB Playhouse, 4944 Newport Ave., Ocean Beach
When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 6 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 23
Cost: $30-$38
Information: wildsongproductions.showit.site
