Another poor theater season at Centennial Hall has added $300,000 to UApresents' three-year-old deficit, making it tougher for the theater organization to start repaying the university the $800,000 it now owes.

Since ticket sales began flagging in fiscal year 2001-2002, UApresents has cut its performance schedule and budget in half, eliminated half of its employee positions and developed a more business-oriented approach to picking its shows.

"Our season is half the size it used to be, and we're working with half the staff and half the resources," said William Seberger, Uapresents spokesman. "That's a big change because last year we had 101 performance nights, and this year it's going to be 61."

Late last fall, Seberger said UApresents projected losing $1.4 million by the end of the year. But an unexpectedly profitable spring semester reduced that potential loss to $300,000.

The university has allowed UApresents, a department of the university, to float its deficit using the university's working capital.

UApresents remains optimistic about the season ahead, said Seberger, who expects the organization to start $100,000 annual repayments to the university next year.

To meet that goal, the organization has taken a more cautious approach when selecting performances for the season.

"We have to feel now that every show can pay for itself," said Seberger, who is a former Arizona Daily Wildcat employee. "And if we think it won't, we either won't go for it or make sure we have a donation set up to pay for it."

While university budget director Richard Roberts said university administration doesn't dictate which shows are chosen for the performance season, he said he has coached UApresents management in a "philosophy of business model."

"For years and years the model was one of an assumption that the Broadway shows would make money, and the smaller shows would lose money and the medium shows would break even," Roberts said. "But Broadway is not covering costs like it used to."

Roberts said UApresents management has done a good job of stabilizing its deficit following the flop of the fall musical "Hairspray," which cost UApresents $225,000. "They've trimmed down and thought seriously about who they book," Roberts said. "There are only three Broadway shows this season and there are usually six. We hope the ones that remain make money."

Seberger said being cautious has been paying off.

UApresents has already sold about 40 percent of its goal for tickets, compared to 25-30 percent at this same time last year, Seberger said.

Seberger said some scheduled shows are close to being sold out, including the Chinese acrobat and martial arts group Chi, jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and the Spanish guitarists the Romero Quartet.

To reduce dependency on ticket sales, which now make up about 60 to 70 percent of UApresents revenues, the organization is hoping to secure more donations and sponsorships.

The fundraising arm of the UA and UApresents have set a goal of raising $1 million this year. Last year the development director brought in $650,000 - $50,000 of which came in the form of a challenge grant from an anonymous donor.

Seberger said the Garth Fagan modern dance show is expected to lose money for UApresents, but $15,000 secured through a combination of donations and endowments made it possible to book them for January.

Seberger said modern dance and classical music performances are the most expensive and least profitable shows UApresents brings to Tucson.

"Presenting fine arts is difficult because on the one hand you want to provide interesting and fun entertainment with redeeming artistic value, and on the other hand you have to make money," Seberger said.

Roberts said finding a permanent executive director, which UApresents left unfilled for 16 months when former executive director Ken Foster left in 2003, will help guide the organization out of the red.

"An interim director isn't going to feel as comfortable making long term plans and goals," Roberts said.

Natalie Bohnet, former interim director of UApresents, was appointed executive director April 4 and makes $115,000 per year.

Seberger said if all goes according to plan, UApresents will be free of its deficit by fiscal year 2008-2009.

"But admittedly we're very nervous. We've had a difficult couple of years," Seberger said. "But it's a healthy nervousness."

Associate professor of dance James Clouser, who said he attends all the dance performances UApresents hosts, said he worries about how the company will balance its need to entertain and make money with its need to expose the university community to financially riskier artistic performances.

"Just because you can bring 100 people in with 'Mamma Mia' doesn't mean you don't want to offer people the chance to see the Piccolo di Milan," Clouser said.

He called the selection of dance shows this season "meager" compared to the past five years, when the seasons were "amazingly good and amazingly broad."

"But unfortunately the audience didn't respond to it," Clouser said.