Spamalot was featured in February. (Kip Tabb)

As its 27th season approaches, Theatre of Dare finds itself in a serious housing crisis.

After a rainy summer, the College of The Albemarle Auditorium in Manteo that the Theatre of Dare community group has called home for more than 20 years has become overrun with mold.

Dare County officials have told theater leaders the cost to remediate the problem is prohibitive, and the auditorium will likely have to close permanently.

The auditorium was built as part of the first Manteo High School on U.S. 64 and opened in 1958.

Appearing before the Dare County Board of Commissioners on Monday, Theatre of Dare President Don Bridge asked for the county’s help in finding a new home for performing arts in the area.

“We are the only true community theater group in the entire region,” said Bridge. “We hope Dare County will consider the need to keep local performing arts alive on the Outer Banks.”

The auditorium opened in 1958. (TOD)

In the meantime, the Theatre of Dare is scrambling to find performance space for the five productions it has slated for its upcoming season.

The first production, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, will open October 20 in the Soundstage building on the grounds of The Lost Colony.

Theatre of Dare’s Christmas show, Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!), will be a traveling, dinner theater-type show that will be produced at several venues across the Outer Banks.

That leaves Theatre of Dare’s three 2018 productions Almost Maine, Cabaret and Love, Sex, and the I.R.S. without places to perform.

Board members have begun an intense search for venues to cover this season’s productions and beyond.

“It’s a little bit ironic,” said Tim Hass, Theatre of Dare vice president . “We’ve had a really good run of shows artistically for the past several seasons, and last winter’s Spamalot was probably the most commercially successful show we’ve ever had. So we felt like the group was really on a roll. And now we’re homeless.”