The Virginia Repertory Theatre is days away from finalizing a contract to sell its Hermitage Road location, providing hope after a financially turbulent season.

Klaus Schuller, the Rep’s managing director, said show attendance hasn’t matched pre-pandemic levels and likely won’t for another five years. This, coupled with a lack of an endowment fund and a hurry to resume normal operations, put the Rep on a knife’s edge late last year. 

Money from selling the former Scottish Rite Temple on Hermitage Road — which the Rep purchased in 2022 for $3.1 million — will be put into reserve after the buyer signs the contract, Schuller said. This comes after a previous contract fell through in February.

Schuller said that because of a contractual agreement, the Rep can’t publicly name the buyer until the sale is finalized.

Until the deal is finalized, the Rep will prioritize living within its means when the new season begins in September. It will be a shorter season than last year’s — seven shows compared to last season’s nine. Schuller said the company has focused on productions that it knows a lot of people will want to see. 

Schuller’s favorites include “A Christmas Carol” and the local premiere of “Come From Away” — a play based on the true story of a welcoming Canadian town that welcomed several planes that made an emergency landing during 9/11. Schuller saw the play in Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., before its Broadway debut.

“I’ve never seen an audience so ready to jump to its feet at the end of a show and overcome with emotion,” Schuller said. “I can’t watch it without crying.”

Other 2025-26 productions include “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Death Trap,” “Primary Trust,” “The Cottage” and “The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley.”

The shorter season will also make sure all the Rep’s productions run, avoiding the trajectory of “Fat Ham,” which the Rep canceled in February after the first Hermitage Road sale failed.

“If we had chosen to go forward and put [‘Fat Ham’] on the stage, we would have had to break commitments, leave people unpaid, do all of the things that we are absolutely unwilling to do,” Schuller said. “‘Fat Ham’ happened to be the next play up at that particular date.”

After the cancellation, Schuller said “Fat Ham” found new life at the Firehouse Theatre in April. Firehouse’s willingness to put “Fat Ham” on stage and community members’ continued support of the Rep through donations and attendance have encouraged Schuller during his first 10 months as managing director.

“It is so heartening going into this new season,” Schuller said. “I’m so delighted we are putting forward a season that has so much joy and community in it.”

Contact Reporting Intern Eleanor Shaw at eshaw@richmonder.org