Each year when the New York City Opera comes to the Maine Center for the Arts, it is used to playing to a full house. In fact, for the past few years, tickets for the opera have sold out weeks before the show. But earlier this month, when “Tosca” came to the Maine Center, 300 of the 1,629 seats were empty.

It may be that a tragic opera shouldn’t be expected to go over well on a Monday night in the middle of a brutal Bangor winter, but it’s more likely that most people felt they couldn’t afford to spend $28 for a ticket.

The Maine Center is not the only local arts organization that reports a downturn in ticket sales, however. Penobscot Theatre subscriptions are down 17 percent from last year, and single-ticket sales are down 50 percent. Houses have regularly been less than half filled.

At the Theatre of the Enchanted Forest, two full-time staff members have been working without pay. Bookings for the popular winter-touring program, which takes children’s shows and workshops to schools throughout New England, are only a third of what they were last year.

For a city of 33,000, Bangor has an amazing number of arts organizations: a regional theater, a children’s theater, a community orchestra, a resident ballet company, and a posh performing arts center with the most diverse programming in the state.

In prosperous times, these institutions keep Bangor stages buzzing with drama, music and dance from around the world. But in a recession, life at the theater can be dramatically insecure.

Outlook grim for theater

At the Penobscot Theatre, where shows run four nights a week during a six-week run, the outlook has been grim. Artistic director Joe Turner Cantu and actors have given up paychecks. Two resident company members and an office worker have been laid off. The original budget of $500 for the construction of each show has been reduced to $50, or less.

Ticket sales were negatively affected when the performance schedule was changed from a single-show run to a confusing and ambitious repertory run. In addition, the theater carries a significant debt accrued primarily under the former management.

But the real culprit behind the present difficulties, said Penobscot board member and treasurer Lauren Schweikert, is the recession. Although the community has continued to provide support in the form of services and trade, the cash flow has been insufficient to meet the costs of running the theater.

“It’s a matter of doing as much as we can with a heck of a lot less,” said Cantu. “As a leader, I see my responsibility as continuing to advise and remind everyone on the board, in the staff and company that we can’t overlook our organizational, artistic, and civic successes because of our current financial turmoil. It can affect what we want to do, but it can’t negate what we’ve done.”

The final repertory segment, consisting of two plays, will be reduced from six to four weeks, and the spring festival of new works may be cancelled if money cannot be raised to support the week-long event. For next year’s season, Cantu has decided to abandon the repertory schedule, and is planning a more commerical program made up of better-known and easily accessible shows.

A need to pull together

Christopher Rock, artistic director at Theatre of the Enchanted Forest, has also had to engage in creative planning to make financial ends meet. Unable to afford the expense of hiring actors from away, Rock has drawn company members from a local pool, and instead of offering an elementary, high school and all-town show for the touring production, the company is offering a variety of smaller shows for broader audiences. And when they aren’t working in the office or at other day jobs, staff members are performing in the productions.

“We’ve had to rearrange our outlook and become more flexible,” said Rock, who has deferred all of his paychecks this year. “We don’t have the focus within the company that we would normally have because people work at the theater, but have to earn a living, too.”

Tickets sales are basically consistent with last year, added Rock, and patrons are still willing to give financially, but in smaller amounts.

“This can force us to take a look at what is important in our lives and help us find new and creative ways to keep those things,” said Rock. “It will give us a better sense of community. Everyone is going to have to pull together, and I think that’s going to happen.”

BSO not `an ivory tower’

Across town at Bangor Symphony Orchestra, ticket sales have been at an all-time high. This season’s four performances of “The Nutcracker” with the Robinson Ballet played to houses with more than 90-percent attendance. Classical concerts, which are performed approximately once a month, have averaged 90-percent attendance.

It helps that the Symphony is one of the oldest arts establishments in town, and generally appeals to long-time and well-established Bangor residents. It also helps that the Symphony employs full-time marketing director Alan Comeau.

Even though ticket sales for concerts and special events have been strong, there’s no false sense of security at the Symphony, according to Comeau.

“Everything we do is done with an eye on the economic situation,” he said. “We’re not in an ivory tower.”

Like the Symphony, Robinson Ballet is also experiencing one of its best years, but, as a community-based operation, runs on a considerably smaller budget, said Robert Libbey, who serves as both treasurer and secretary on the board of directors. There are no full-time staff members, no full-time salaries, and profits from various shows (including “Nutcracker” and other irregularly scheduled performances) go into future productions.

Libbey described the company as “the bag ladies of art. We run around and pick up scraps and eke out an existence.”

Because the company relies on volunteers, the labors are out of love, rather than out of necessity. “People are doing it because they like to do it and because they want to do it,” Libbey said of the staff at Robinson. “They don’t have the pressure on them to live off of dancing.”

Arts community committed

As the purse strings continue to tighten for Bangor residents, the state of the arts remains uncertain. It seems likely that many will choose to go to the movies, where a family of four can watch a film for the same price as some single theater tickets. In the mean time, artistic directors, and those who work behind the curtain, continue to put forth extra, often unpaid, effort so that the show may go on. And despite unhappy times, arts organizations remain committed to their goal of securing the sometimes shaky arts scene in Bangor.

“I’m always hopeful when it comes to human beings,” said Rock. “To keep theater and the arts a part of our lives, everyone is going to have to pull together. If we can let this bring us closer