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A big chunk of the financing had fallen through.
Theyre total victims theyve done absolutely nothing wrong but give everything there is to give.
Arnold described the untenable money situation to the cast and crew and offered to answer questions.
The next thing that happened was brainstorming among cast members, says the shows sound designer, Justin Ellington.
Oh, maybe this person could help out.
Up until then, he says, the production as a whole had been a real family situation.
People were making sacrifices they ordinarily wouldnt make.
Which adds to theouch.
How did this family get broken up?
It was an extremely late and nearly unprecedented move:Roomwas less than a month from its preview opening.
They did provide us a list, Arnold says.
Of course we wanted their list.
But from his perspective, it was not nearly enough.
Ive been doing this for a long time and know all of the players in the space.
And then we never heard from them for days.
Meanwhile, Arnold, Yeoburn, and Julyan were in a mad dash to find new money.
They made hundreds of phone calls and emails to prospective investors.
They researched people with deep pockets who would emotionally connect to the story enough to write a check.
The producers who were left, meanwhile, set themselves a deadline of 7 p.m. on March 15.
The next day, Thursday, they would have to commit to starting the tech process.
Once you do that, thats another huge chunk of money.
Gehan says he didnt know the release was going out.
One irony is that, by many accounts, the creative side of the show was going uncommonly well.
Despite the heartwarming dynamic, he says, optimism intruded into reality.
For Arnold and his fellow producers, the coming weeks tasks are threefold, he says.
The second, concurrent step, is to figure out what the show can be.
