A legal settlement reached between the Waco Performing Arts Co. and the Greater Tuna Corp. had WPAC board members smiling and ready to tackle the next chapter in the Waco Hippodrome Theatre’s history.

Details of the settlement, reached late Wednesday after a daylong mediation hearing in Waco, were not made public.

WPAC President Christy Rolf declined to say if the agreement included financial compensation for losses the WPAC blamed on the theater company and two entertainment agencies.

Joe Sears (left) and Jaston Williams are part of a “Tuna” production at the heart of a lawsuit settled Thursday with the Waco Performing Arts Company, which manages the Waco Hippodrome.

But she said that she and her board felt it had been resolved in a way that will allow the WPAC to move to the next phase of the Hippodrome’s future.

Rolf added that part of the negotiated agreement likely would be announced within the next two or three weeks.

“We’re not allowed to announce some things until we get that finalized,” she said.

Rolf said she couldn’t comment on whether the settlement would mean repayment of creditors, ticket refunds or an emergency $300,000 loan from Alliance Bank Central Texas.

The WPAC, which manages the Hippodrome, sued the Greater Tuna Corp. last spring, claiming the company and its agents acted in bad faith, leading to three cancellations of Hippodrome runs of the comedy “Tuna Does Vegas” in the theater’s 2008-09 season.

Those cancellations helped put the theater in a financial tailspin, the WPAC claimed, that ultimately led to the indefinite closing of the historic Waco theater Feb. 25 and the firing of its office staff.

The theater reopened for a March 19 performance of “Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway,” and its board intends to present the two shows left in its 2009-10 season. Plans for the theater’s 2010-11 season were shelved at that time.

Attorney Matt Morrison, who represented the WPAC in the mediation, said the parties involved agreed on a settlement framework, with finer points to be ironed out in upcoming weeks.

Morrison, a partner in the Waco law firm Harrison Davis Steakley Morrison, worked with Zollie Steakley in preparing the WPAC’s case.

“Right now, all the terms (of the agreement) are going to be confidential,” he said. “I think everyone worked in good faith to bring about an agreeable resolution. . . . The next step is for lawyers to nail down the fine details (of the agreement), and that takes some time.”

Waco attorney Michael Scanes, who assisted attorneys from New York and Austin as local counsel for Greater Tuna, could not be reached late Thursday for comment.

Moving on

Rolf and former WPAC Executive Director Scott Baker, who took part in the mediation, met with WPAC board members Wednesday night. Baker, reached for comment in Nashville, where he and his wife now live, said the mediation result will allow the WPAC to move on.

“We couldn’t have left there (the mediation talks) without a future for the Waco Performing Arts Co.,” he said.

“There was a palpable sense of optimism later with the board. They were glad to have resolution on the issue.”

Rolf said the Hippodrome still has considerable problems to resolve and that the board was contemplating options such as continuing rentals at the theater while trying different types of entertainment to test the response of Waco audiences.

“A lot of things need to happen to get the Hippodrome where it needs to be,” she said.

choover@wacotrib.com

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