As the Children's Theatre of Madison Family Theatre continues to face financial struggles, one local theater has offered a lending hand.

Madison's Bartell Community Theatre has offered temporary rental space to CTM while the 40-year-old children's theater attempts to overcome its current debt.

"We're tremendously grateful," Corkey Custer, president of CTM's board of directors, said. "Some people might think of us as competitors, but it's indicative of the type of town Madison is that the folks over there would offer space to us."

CTM cancelled all of its productions scheduled at the Overture Center this spring due to financial difficulties.

Nearly two years ago, CTM lost a significant amount of revenue from the production of "Camelot," and the debt has increased ever since.

"We reached a point where, if we'd continued, we'd be racking up more debt without any foreseeable ability to pay it, and that didn't seem right," Custer said. "The people at Bartell were kind enough to make an offer that, while we're recovering, we could use their facility for a smaller production."

Custer said the theater may plan to put together a cabaret show as a fundraiser with the temporary space.

However, CTM's residency at the Overture Center is in question, as the center will soon complete its annual review of all of its resident theater companies.

"We do not know yet whether [CTM is] able to go on being a resident agent," Overture Center President Michael Goldberg said. "We will be reviewing CTM's circumstances to determine whether or not they are consistent with residence status."

Custer said CTM is in the process of determining its legal relationship with its creditor and is developing a business plan for the new theater.

"The Children's Theatre of Madison is likely to go bankrupt," Custer added. "It's not clear if the company that will emerge will be the same company that has been in production for 40 years or if the name of the company will change."

But Goldberg hopes to see productions in the Overture Center by the CTM Family Theatre after the review process.

"Our fervent hope is not only that CTM will go back into production at the Overture, but also that it will be back on line as soon as possible," Goldberg said. "There is nothing more important for the Overture than for the resident organizations to be successful."

Even as a competing theater, Bartell Theatre managing director Lee Ann Cooper said she never wants to see another theater company fall.

"The more theater companies there are, the more people go to the theater," Cooper said. "When more people go to the theater, they realize what a wonderful gift it is, how affordable it is for their families and what a nice night out on the town it is."

Custer seems confident that if CTM does shut down permanently, Madison residents will still organize some type of children's theater.

"The people who care about this type of theater will band together, raise some money and put a theater together," he said. "There are a number of people who essentially demand — who insist — that there is a children's theater in Madison."