Minneapolis theater files claim against Prince's estate
Updated: 4:24 p.m. | Posted: 1:41 p.m.
Minneapolis-based Mixed Blood Theatre has submitted a claim for almost $350,000 against the Bremer Trust, which manages Prince's estate.
Mixed Blood says it lost the money when the trust canceled the theater's 40th anniversary gala scheduled at Paisley Park on May 14. Founder and Artistic Director Jack Reuler said the cancellation came just five days before the event.
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"We were planning to use a chunk of that to balance our Fiscal Year '16 budget, which ended June 30, [and] to retire construction debt for work we'd done on the building," Reuler said.
The theater had been assured the event could proceed despite Prince's death in April, he said, and the cancellation was a serious financial setback.
"There was no time to make other plans on a Friday at 5:30, when people were flying in from all over the world," Reuler said. "So we sent back 1,000 people's ticket money to them. There were live auctions, silent auctions, all sorts of activities intended to raise money for Mixed Blood's operations and a major gifts campaign."
He said he has hope that through the legal process the theater will be made whole.
Mixed Blood filed the claim in Carver County Court last week.