Troupe Pays Schools for Truncated Program

ORANGE COUNTY —  Stomp, the world renowned percussion troupe, has paid the Orange County Performing Arts Center $21,000 to compensate it for a truncated educational program the performers staged last week, center and Stomp officials said Tuesday.

About 3,000 schoolchildren and others were surprised and “very disappointed” by the brief program, said Bernie Jones, fine arts coordinator for the Garden Grove Unified School District.

“I had calls from every one of [the district’s eight] principals by the time I got back to the office,” Jones said.

The problem occurred last Wednesday, when students from 27 Orange County middle schools arrived at the Costa Mesa arts facility expecting an hourlong program. Instead, the Stomp troupe performed for 10 minutes and answered questions for another 15.

A spokeswoman for the troupe blamed the shortened program on a “miscommunication” within the Stomp organization. Center officials said they had given Stomp all the details of last week’s program in writing in advance.

Stomp, which gave eight public performances at the center’s Segerstrom Hall last week, “feels terrible” about the mistake, tour representative Tanya Grubich said.

Stomp’s $21,000 payment will cover the cost of last Wednesday’s educational program, center spokesman Greg Patterson said. Much of the money will be forwarded to the schools to pay the cost of busing the students. A portion, he said, will be used to underwrite an educational program the center plans in April as restitution.