The curtain may have fallen for the last time at Stillwater's Zephyr Theatre after its board announced Monday that it laid off most of the staff amid mounting financial problems.

Executive Director Calyssa Hall has resigned, and Bil MacLeslie has agreed to serve as interim business manager on a day-to-day basis for now, the board told staff and donors in a letter.

"The financial state of the Theatre is such that immediate and substantial actions are needed," the letter read.

The board said it is working to assess the organization's status and to determine if there is a path forward. It gave no timeline for any decision. A consultant hired in July to develop a strategic plan delivered a report Oct. 5 that said "there was no indication of intentional financial mismanagement," according to the board.

The theater's in-school programming will continue as scheduled, as will the haunted trolley tours slated to begin Thursday and continue for the next three weekends.

When it opened four years ago, the nonprofit Zephyr Theatre hoped to establish itself as a performing arts center in the St. Croix Valley. After months of fundraising, the organization in 2018 purchased the former Zephyr train depot on N. Main Street for $2.5 million with the help of a commercial mortgage loan. The group envisioned a $4 million renovation plan to build a three-story, 330-seat auditorium, rehearsal space, lobby and public cafe.

The Zephyr has since hosted a wide variety of theater performances, live music, classic movies, a student improv troupe, book readings and events such as the popular Ice Palace Maze for the past two winters. The theater's schedule still lists several upcoming live music performances, including Tonic Sol-Fa and Mick Sterling.

The train depot was formerly the home of the Zephyr Dinner Train, which for many years ran along tracks that have since been converted into the Brown's Creek State Trail.

No one from the theater was immediately available for comment.