The void thus created gave the city and the community a chance to create a new vision for the Strand.

The city appointed a task force of Upham’s Corner residents, arts and business leaders to make recommendations on how to improve the theater.

The task force conducted focus groups, interviews with community members and a community meeting to determine how nearby residents view the Strand and what they want to see there in the future.

In recent weeks, the task force released its report. The report calls for a continued focus on youth and family-oriented programming and diversity among performers, audiences, employees and producers. The report also calls for renovations to the facility.

While they emphasized that the Strand must keep its local focus, task force members urged the city to hire management that will increase the profile of the theater.

“I think that the task force saw this as a unique opportunity for the Strand to become not simply a community-based theater but one that actually draws from a broader segment of performers and audiences,” said task force member Ed Dugger, president of UNC Partners.

Following the report, the city issued a request for proposals from groups interested in running the Strand. The city and task force members emphasize that whoever runs the Strand must be able to generate revenue.

“Obviously, we are looking for someone with a track record of running such a theater and collaborating not just with the community but with businesses,” said Dolores Randolph, the assistant director of real estate for the Department of Neighborhood Development, the city agency that released the request for proposals.

One task of new management will be to increase attendance and bring in new programming while maintaining existing relationships with producers.

Interim Manager Michelle Baxter scored a victory on that front when she convinced BalletRox Executive Director Tony Williams, who had threatened never to come back to the Strand after then-Executive Director Victoria Jones bounced a check to BalletRox for $15,000, to bring his organization’s popular Urban Nutcracker back to the Strand in December.

“We haven’t signed the contract yet, but that’s something we’ll probably do,” said Williams. “If we can meet some of our target donations, we’ll be able to do the Urban Nutcracker.”

The city expects to choose a new management company by the end of the year. City representatives say the new management could be a nonprofit, a for-profit entity such as a university or theater school, or a collaboration between a nonprofit and a for-profit.

“Many nonprofits may have the capacity to run it, but it is an expensive undertaking catering to youths and other areas that are not necessarily profitable, so we would need help from other groups,” said Randolph. “We tried to keep the RFP as broad as possible because we are trying to attract a broad range of proposals.”

Interested groups must respond by September 30, after which time the city will hold open meetings where applicants present their proposals to the community and community members offer feedback.

In the meantime, the theater’s lineup of gospel shows and its summer theater program Strand Teen Players have been running as usual, as Baxter works feverishly to keep the theater on an even keel.

“This is a huge undertaking,” said Baxter, who served as program director at the Boston Center for the Arts for eight years. “I need to operate day-to-day and not think about the bigger picture. We’ve been lucky because we’ve been booked this much.”