John W. Adkisson | The Roanoke Times

Molly Adler, 16, of Alexandria laughs while catching Sophie Miller, 15, of Washington, D.C., during the Traveling Players Ensemble's rehearsal of "Macbeth." The outdoor theater has worked hard to overcome financial struggles, and hosting traveling groups is part of its strategy to stay active.

The Roanoke Times | File 2003

The vine-covered stone walls of Lime Kiln's outdoor theater provide a unique experience.

LEXINGTON -- It is a summer dusk at one of the world's oddest performing arts venues, and a traveling theatrical troupe is performing the famous three witches scene from "Macbeth":

"Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble ..."

The former lime factory, its ledges and caves and old stone ovens still damp from a recent shower, seems the perfect moody backdrop as the old crones cackle and scheme.

Nights like this are the reason Theater at Lime Kiln will probably never die. Someone will always see its potential for creative magic.

But just four years ago it came awfully close.

The unique outdoor theater on the outskirts of town was $190,000 in the red, board members announced, and had laid off all its staff.

"We are at the point where we are not able to meet payroll," said then-president Mary Sayre at a press conference in November 2005. "We cannot continue to incur financial obligations we are unable to meet."

Lime Kiln today is still a far cry from the Lime Kiln of the 1980s and 1990s, which served up an annual summer blend of original drama productions and offbeat musical acts.

But neither has this rough diamond gone out of business.

Said Kim Renz, Lime Kiln's executive director since 2007 and its only full-time employee:

"I think we can survive."

Turbulent decade

What happened to Lime Kiln?

Money woes had plagued the outdoor theater long before the current economic downturn. Co-founder and artistic director Don Baker left in a bitter dispute over red ink back in 1993. Several directors came and went in the next decade as the theater's fortunes rose and fell.

John Healey, a veteran Washington D.C. actor, seemed to have righted the ship by 2003, when he conceded to a reporter that Lime Kiln "had gone through some bad moments," but added, "we've done a lot to turn that around." Healey oversaw an ambitious restructuring of Lime Kiln that included a new indoor venue in downtown Lexington (since closed), which expanded Lime Kiln's performing arts calendar through the winter months.

Two years later, Healey was gone and the theater was deeply in debt.

But Healey probably had the right idea when he told a reporter the rocky lime kiln ruins would always be the theater's heart.

"We're never going to replace this," said Healey in 2003, turning his gaze to the vine-covered stone walls.

"This is Lime Kiln."

New business model

Lime Kiln is no longer the professional theater that juggled productions of "Stonewall Country" and other original theatrical works with concerts by the likes of Richard Thompson, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Nickel Creek.

The current Lime Kiln is a different animal, as it probably has to be. "Macbeth," for example, was performed July 30 not by Lime Kiln actors, but a traveling troupe of teenagers with the Traveling Players Ensemble out of Washington, D.C.

Most theatrical productions in the last few seasons have been similar affairs, using amateur thespians or traveling troupes, which saves on production costs.

In addition, Lime Kiln's policy now is not to sign contracts with concert performers without first having a sponsor on board to help cover costs, Renz said.

But Lime Kiln still shows flashes of its glory days, most often with concerts in its alternative on-site venue, the Lime Kiln Bowl. On Sunday, it will present a concert by bluegrass legends The Seldom Scene. Other concerts this summer have featured bluegrass stars The Punch Brothers and Gary Ruley and Mule Train. And in July, Lime Kiln mounted a stripped-down production of "Stonewall Country," once its signature play.

There were minimal costumes this time, and no pyrotechnics, but the music was performed by Shenandoah Valley favorites Robin and Linda Williams. The duo, who often perform on Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," wrote the songs to "Stonewall Country" in the '80s.

The four-day run packed the house at $10 to $30 per ticket. Perhaps more importantly, it brought back former supporters who hadn't been to Lime Kiln in years.

Baker returned to serve as one of the narrators. Rockbridge Advocate publisher Doug Harwood, who said he was once banned from Lime Kiln's offices in a dispute with a board member, played the drums in the production, as he had in Baker's day.

"People hung around afterward and chit-chatted," Harwood said of the "Stonewall" reprisal. "It was a nice, warm fuzzy feeling."

"It was very nice to see some of the old guard here," said Renz, who called the event "a grand slam."

Mill Mountain, take note

Perhaps there are lessons in Lime Kiln's story for Roanoke's Mill Mountain Theatre, which went dark this winter because of hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.

So how did Lime Kiln return from the brink of financial demise?

Slowly, carefully, frugally.

"For a long time we were really lean and mean," said Joanne Peretti, who was board president after Mary Sayre. Peretti said some of the theater's vendors settled for partial payment or forgave Lime Kiln's debts altogether.

"That helped a lot," she said. Board members also raised money and made some contributions themselves.

"The community really rallied behind Lime Kiln and wanted to see it succeed," Peretti said. She said all the theater's debt has been retired.

Lime Kiln currently has an annual budget of $200,000, said Renz -- compared to $650,000 in 2003. Renz, the former executive director of the Halton Theater at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, N.C., became Lime Kiln's executive director on Oct. 1, 2007.

"We weren't offering a whole lot at first," Peretti said. "We were very diligent about not spending money we didn't have."

"You've got to think 'What's possible, what's feasible?' " said Renz.

One thing the board has decided is not feasible, at least in the short run, is professional theater produced by Lime Kiln itself.

"We're not going to produce theater like Lime Kiln did in the past, probably," said George Huger, the current board president. "We still have to be fiercely conservative."

Renz said Lime Kiln's focus now is community theater.

On the other hand, Lime Kiln's theatrical and musical offerings have grown over the last four summer seasons, from five or six in 2006 to at least 18 this year. Lime Kiln has also ramped up its marketing efforts, especially on its Web site and in its brochure, said Renz.

"I think this year we've begun to give something back to the community," Huger said.

He also said it may be time to think about doing more.

"I think that we're now in the position where we can really start to plan and look at some bigger pictures."