A special general meeting has been called for next Thursday where its future, financial options, membership and committee structure will be discussed.
Life member Denis O'Connor said the society had been experiencing "money problems for the last 12 months".
"Our main problem is there is a lack of people interested in the theatre now. TV has taken over to such an extent that smaller theatrical groups throughout the country are all feeling the pinch," he said.
The society, which was formed in 1948, has owned the 70-seat Fire Station Theatre since 1989. But membership numbers had dwindled to 30, when ideally they would be 50-plus.
With costs of $700 each month to cover insurance and a small mortgage, and annual membership fees only raising $900, the situation was "reasonably serious".
Money was usually raised by productions, which were staged twice a year, and a wardrobe-hire business, but with "discretionary budgets" tightening, a "falling off of the hiring numbers" had been noticed recently.
New committee members had joined the group, but getting "oomph" again had "not been easy", Mr O'Connor said.
Knowledge about how the society operated was also lost when the former president, secretary and treasurer died recently.
The committee was seeking a resurgence in patronage, but also people with skills to join the committee, or offer to be friends of the theatre to help backstage.
Options to revamp operations included putting on more regular shows, contracting out the theatre to community groups for meetings, starting restaurant theatre, running holiday programmes, and re-launching the society with an event a month, such as variety concerts and plays, for a year.
"Hopefully, this meeting next week will bring some new ideas into it."
Secretary Marlise Sparks said the society had been running for so long it would be "gutting" for it to get into serious strife now.
Taieri Dramatic Society
Founded: 1948.
First production: After October, Coronation Hall, 1949.
Bought: Old Fire Brigade Hall in 1989, slowly transformed into 70-seat Fire Station Theatre.
Productions: Two major events a year.
