N&R above-the-fold front-pager on Triad Stage’s financial problems:

Triad Stage has mounted a major fundraising campaign to erase its $500,000 accumulated deficit.

The Joseph M. Bryan Foundation and The Cemala Foundation have agreed to give $250,000 if the downtown professional theater can raise $250,000 in new and increased matching funds from the community by Dec. 31.

Triad Stage has no immediate plans to close its doors or cut programming, co-founder Richard Whittington said.

But if the nonprofit organization doesn’t raise the money, Whittington said, “we will continue to struggle financially and our future would be less certain.”

Note a major source of Triad Stage’s financial problems is the purchase and renovation of space for its scene shop after the city pulled the lease on space it was renting for $1 a year. That’s a nice little subsidy.

Realize Triad Stage and the proposed GPAC isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. By the same token, it illustrates that government-sponsored competition for Greensboro’s entertainment dollar in this economy doesn’t make a lot of sense.