After attending and reviewing many performances at The Salem Repertory Theatre, it was painful to hear that the theatre would be closing.

Salem Rep was good. Their actors inhabited complex roles with complete passion. Their plays were complex and thoughtful; in many cases Pulitzer Prize-winning. Always cutting edge, some were so fresh they were just off Broadway. Every production brought something new to its audiences. The questions they hashed over in their small corner of the Reed Opera House were huge and brilliant.

How do you continue to love when your heart dies? Can you really love someone if the world hates you for it? What makes art? What is greed and when is it justified? Answers were explored using drama of the highest caliber, piercing dialogue, fights, laughs and tears.

The mindset behind the founding of the theatre was more about art than commerce, said David Janoviak, one of the company's founding members.

“The artists who founded SRT agreed to give it their best effort for five years: to sacrifice pay, work and time for that period in order to serve a mission we believed in," he said. "We extended that time-line to nearly seven years.”

The end of the theatre came when members were no longer able to sustain such intense sacrifice.

“SRT worked on a budget that was reduced by 50% due to volunteerism, but ticket sales and donations could not even support this drastically reduced budget, much less the additional budget dollars needed for minimal staff and administrative pay," Janoviak said. "While I firmly believe that every company and board member sacrificed everything they could, we needed more volunteers who were willing to dedicate as many hours off the stage as on.”

Despite the support of a devoted volunteer workforce, the cost of producing high quality theatre exceeded the number of tickets sold.

“We were just no longer able to keep doing what we were doing without hiring some full-time and part-time staff," said Ted deChatelet, another founder and supporting pillar of the company. "Had some things gone differently, we might have been able to keep going, but I don’t think it’s fair to point the blame at anyone or anything.”

When asked if he would have done anything different, deChatelet said no.

Janoivak had a practical take.

“SRT had no paid staff or administration but spent a third of its budget on paid actors," he said. "I would reverse those numbers and adopt a budget model similar to small professional theatres in Portland, Eugene and around the country. We should have paid our actors $100 or less per show and hired an experienced, educated nonprofit manager and fund-raiser."

Such a model would require sacrifices of its own.

"Unfortunately, that would mean that only a few of the actors SRT audiences enjoyed would continue to work for SRT.”

Though they have garnered a wealth of knowledge from their experience with the theater, both men were unsure if they would be willing to one day try again to raise a theatre.

“It’s definitely too soon to say if I would try again or not," deChatelet. "I definitely couldn’t do everything that I did in the first few years of SRT again now that I have a family. But if someone else spearheaded the effort I would support them as much as possible. I would love to see someone else try again in Salem.”

In the meantime, both men will continue to nourish their love of theatre in their individual lives.

“As a professor of theatre at WOU, I’ll have plenty of opportunity to nurture my love of theatre," Janoviak said. "I will continue to find ways to contribute to the Salem arts community and eventually I will find my way back to freelance directing and acting.”

deChatelet plans to continue performing in Portland theater.

“I’ve always worked professionally in Portland and I’ll continue to do so now that SRT is closing. The big difference is that when I work in Portland, it’s the equivalent of being a guest in someone else’s house. SRT was my house. I’ll miss that more than I can say.”

Both had advice for anyone who might seek to follow their footsteps. “Don’t compromise your artistic vision," deChatelet said. "Walking away from SRT I am extremely proud of the work we did and feel a great sense of artistic accomplishment. We did theatre that reflected who we are as artists.”

Janoviak's words of counsel were a mix of the artistic and the realistic. “Sage advice, good intentions and inspired ideas will be plentiful and sweet, but they don’t carry the garbage to the curb.”