BY HOOK OR BY CROOK

More on the (temporary?) closure situation, this time from Joel Beers of the O.C. Weekly:

The Monkey Wrench will decide by Friday where to open both (pool) no water and The Revenger's Tragedy, a 20-person show scheduled to open March 11. At the moment, the most realistic possibility is one of Fullerton College's performing spaces.

The company will also decide by Friday whether it's even feasible to continue building in its Harbor Boulevard space. The main issue seems to be the space's brick buildings. The brick aesthetics are a big reason why the company chose that space, and having to hang drywall over that brick to accommodate the city's firewall regulation would be tantamount to "mutilating the building and that's something we just aren't prepared to do," Barton said.

The Collective will speak to its landlord Friday to determine the feasibility of continuing to build in the space. Whatever happens with that space and these two shows--the casts of each are committed through April 11--Barton said the Monkey Wrench collective will continue. "Whether we open in Fullerton at that space any time in the future or cut our losses and flush that $15,000 down the toilet we'll know by Friday," Barton said. "But even if we walk away from that space, we will continue as a gypsy theater that rents out spaces."

"We'll open next weekend by hook or crook," Barton continued, but admits that opening in a different space will greatly compromise both shows. "We spent a lot of time on both these shows because we wanted to open with a big bang. By opening in another space, we'll have do so with a much smaller explosion."

O.C. Weekly Theater Blog