Tim Willert
DOWNTOWN -- Glendale's classical theater company has been awarded
$30,000 by a court-ordered arbitrator in its breach-of-contract lawsuit
against Cal State L.A., co-owner Geoff Elliott said Friday.
The theater group was awarded $25,000 in damages and will receive a
$5,000 deposit from the university, which had demanded $20,000 in a
counter-suit, Elliott said.
A Noise Within was seeking $437,000 in damages stemming from a
disagreement that led to the award-winning company leaving the
university's Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts complex and returning
to Glendale last summer.
"We were initially disappointed because we felt that our claim was
valid," Elliott said Friday. "But ultimately we were delighted to have
the ruling in our favor and put this behind us."
The company had two years remaining on a contract with Cal State L.A.
when the relationship began to deteriorate in December 2000.
According to Elliott, the company's new production sets were removed
from the Luckman and left outside for an extended period of time. Some of
the sets were damaged by rain.
"We clearly had a dispute as to what our rights were as the company in
residence at the Luckman," Elliott said. "We were given an edict that we
were to remove all of our property."
Elliott and his wife, co-owner Julia Rodriguez Elliott, hoped to
recover more damages.
"We're a small nonprofit," Elliott said. "$30,000 is nothing to sneeze
at."
The highly regarded theater group left Glendale in 1999 after nine
years for Cal State L.A., but returned to the Masonic Temple building at
234 S. Brand Blvd. last summer.
While the company has a year remaining on a two-year contract at the
temple, Elliott and his wife continue to look for a suitable location to
expand.
"We're looking for something with a minimum of 10,000 to 12,000 square
feet," he said.
Elliott said he is considering two locations in Glendale, and has yet
to look outside the city.
"We never wanted to leave Glendale and we don't want to leave Glendale
now," he said. "But if the future of the organization depends on us
finding something somewhere else, then we would have to consider it."
