Paramount Theater in Peekskill Closes Its Doors BY Vinnie Vesce's own account, his good old days in this hardscrabble river city often revolved around the Paramount Theater, a Depression-era showplace where, as a young man in the 1950s and "60s, he spent lazy Saturdays watching double features. As a city councilman and mayor in the 1980s and "90s, he helped transform it from a dying movie palace into a performing arts center. But, as Mr. Vesce, 64, stood alone in the Paramount's cavernous auditorium on a rainy weekday this month, he had a more immediate and less agreeable story to tell: As the board president of the nonprofit Paramount Center for the Arts, he was there to shut down the theater - at least until the city could find a new operator for it. This turn of events began, he said, when the recession hit not long after he joined the board five years ago. Contributions dropped off sharply, he said, and remained down. As expenses outstripped income, he said, a budget gap grew, compounded this year by the failure of expected government financing to come through. When an e-mail solicitation in August and a fund-raising gala in September fell far short of the $300,000 needed to close the gap, he said, the board announced it was ceasing operations on Oct. 4. "We ran out of time and money," he said. The decision to end operations apparently caught Peekskill city leaders off guard. Noting that Peekskill owns the building but does not operate the theater - that has been the role of the Paramount Center for the Arts, which leased the building from the city for $1 a year - Mayor Mary F. Foster said the closing "came as a surprise." That sentiment was echoed by Peekskill residents like Kirsten Berger. One of 36,000 potential donors who received the board's solicitation in August, she said she had not been sufficiently alarmed by the message to make a donation. Mr. Vesce said the board had to walk a fine line in its wording, conveying urgency without desperation; and so, too, in its actions: even as the e-mail was being sent, shows for the fall and beyond were listed on the schedule. Shows on the center's immediate calendar have been canceled. But while they were being booked, Mr. Vesce said, "we had every belief that we'd be able to generate the contributed income" needed to continue operating - an assertion that the mayor said was too optimistic. "Sometimes ambitions and cash flow don't align," Ms. Foster said. Whatever the miscalculation - Mr. Vesce said lawyers would be advising him on potential liabilities - the Paramount's closing signifies the end of an era that produced more than $1 million in renovations at the theater, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Renovations included the refurbishing of the auditorium, the construction of dressing rooms, the creation of a space to display work by the city's artists and the expansion of the stage to accommodate live performances. The shows, which generated traffic that spurred the development of clubs and restaurants, included famous bands that filled the theater's 1,024 seats, as the Beach Boys did twice in the past year, and less prominent acts that often filled the 60 percent to 65 percent of the house that Mr. Vesce said was typically necessary to break even, as the singer-songwriter Amos Lee did when he held the last concert there on Sept. But performers from the provinces of high culture often drew smaller audiences. Those not supported by independent sponsors tended to drain the budget, a situation that Ms. Foster said any new operator would have to address. The operator, she said, would also need a plan for deriving more income from the building when shows weren't scheduled. "It will have to have a business mind-set," she said. Björn Olsson, the executive director of the nonprofit Tarrytown Music Hall, expressed interest. Functioning as one organization, he said, the Paramount and the 843-seat music hall, about 20 miles downriver from Peekskill, could save money by sharing an administrative staff. They might also drive down artists" fees by eliminating bidding competition between the two houses. Competition from the newly reopened, 1,800-seat Capitol Theater in Port Chester is another matter. The impresario Steve Lurie, who presents about 60 shows a year in Tarrytown, said the Capitol had already signed artists who had played the music hall in the past, and could be a rival for acts at the Paramount. Still, Mr. Vesce denied that the Capitol was a factor in the Paramount's closing. And Janet Langsam, the executive director of ArtsWestchester, which has helped finance both the Paramount and the music hall, said she thought the Westchester County market could support all three theaters. Weeks after the theater's closing was announced, meanwhile, Mr. Vesce remained a presence on the site, taking care of remaining business. But he was doing so behind locked doors - separated, he said, from ticketholders who might be seeking refunds, for which there was presently no money. As he prepared to dissolve the Paramount Center for the Arts, he said, he was returning contributions received after the closing. At the same time, he expressed optimism about the theater's prospects. "This is not the end," he said. It will come alive again.