The San Jose Repertory Theatre will close for good and file for bankruptcy, the 34-year-old nonprofit announced today.

Closure was a last resort, the company’s board of trustees says, and was taken only after exploring other options.

“We deeply regret having to take this action because of the impact it will have on our 51 employees, the artists we work with each season, our season ticket holders, loyal patrons and generous donors and supporters board president Holly Walter announced online this afternoon. “We also regret the impact on the city of San Jose and the local arts community.”

But after months of trying to work out financial problems, slash debt and create a sustainable model for the theater, the company had run out of ideas.

“We want to thank everyone who has supported us during the past 34 years—including committed donors and subscribers, volunteers, artists and the city of San Jose,” Walter said. “We owed a deep debt of gratitude to everyone … we’re saddened that this history has come to an end.”

City Economic Development Director Kim Walesh said the theatre experiences a cash-flow crisis every year around this time, but has always managed to stay afloat. Not so this year.

The fiscal problem had cut too deep this time, said Rep Artistic Director Rick Lombardo.

“The Rep has seemingly gone from financial crisis to financial crisis for more than a decade, and this history, along with the lasting impact of the recession on what was an already weakened institution, finally caught up with us to create an untenable situation,” he said.

Lombardo called the news “devastating.”

“It is such a heartbreaking loss for the community, the incredible staff I was honored to work with and all the artists past and future on the Rep stage,” he said. “Saying goodbye to the actors I was directing in Landscape with Weapon, and then to our staff, were two of the most painful things I’ve had to do in my years in the theatre.”