Producers complain that management underpays them, increases costs after they have been agreed upon and conducts lackluster marketing. Producers and theater-goers say the theater is dirty and staff are rude.

The theater even failed to renew its entertainment license in November.

“They didn’t file any paperwork,” said the city’s Consumer Affairs and Licensing Director Patricia Malon. “They don’t have the right to have any entertainment until such time as we get the appropriate paperwork.”

The city apparently does not plan to take action, despite the fact that it is rare for a large venue’s license to lapse.

“To my knowledge, until it is brought to my attention that some entertainment is taking place, we don’t take action,” said Malon.

The Strand, owned by the city and managed by the M. Harriet McCormick Center for the Arts, has been a cornerstone of the Upham’s Corner neighborhood for 85 years.

Victoria Jones, a former WHDH -TV 7 award-winning producer, took over as executive director of the Strand two years ago. She hired her daughter and, allegedly, friends of both her and her daughter to help run the theater.

While Jones says she has added programming, revamped the computer and telephone systems and helped secure city funding for renovations, her team’s management practices have been criticized.

The Strand allegedly renegged on a contract to pay the Four Star Cleaners company for deep-cleaning work done a year ago. Management is now in discussion with lawyers for the cleaners, according to Jones.

“We thought the Department of Neighborhood Development was going to pay for this cleaning with a grant we got,” she said. “We found out that they only handled operational expenses and didn’t take cleaning.”

As for the lawsuit launched by BalletRox head Williams, Jones says it was simply bad luck that the check bounced.

Strand staff thought they had enough money to pay the Urban Nutcracker’s producers when they wrote the check, she said. But then, says Jones, the Strand received three or four checks that bounced, for a total of $3,000 to $4,000.

“Sometimes one check bounces on us,” she said. “It is very rare.”

The check, dated January 12, was for performances of the Urban Nutcracker ballet in December. The amount was less money than Nutcracker producers said they were owed.

However, they accepted the check, they said, with the intent of securing the rest of the money later.

The bounced check forced management at American Concert Ballet, Inc., the nonprofit that does business as BalletRox, to scramble to cancel checks they had sent out following receipt of the Strand check.

“As far as I’m concerned, it was a [very serious] breach,” said attorney William Caruso, who filed the suit.

Last Friday, a month after the check bounced and six weeks after payment was due, Jones said the Strand finally paid the producers of the popular December ballet.

Jones blamed a vacation for the lag time in paying the money.

“I was gone for two and a half weeks, and I am the one who signs checks,” she said. “I took a vacation to Las Vegas. That’s what took so long.”

However, Jones and her management team took well over three weeks after her return on January 20 to pay American Concert Ballet.

The Strand’s failure to pay for such a long time raises questions about the theater’s financial wellbeing.

Besides concerns about payment, other complaints about the Strand have surfaced. Some patrons complain about the quality of the service.

When Dorchester resident Yvonne Jones drove to the theater with a friend to purchase a ticket for the Nutcracker, she says they were both ignored.

“A woman behind the counter with dreadlocks was sitting on the phone while my friend was trying to buy tickets,” Jones told the Banner.

After waiting for a while, Jones double-parked and went and knocked on the box office window herself. The woman behind the counter initially ignored her.

“Then [the woman behind the counter] came out and said, ‘You are so rude,’” said Yvonne Jones.

Jones said it took her a whole hour to purchase a ticket.

Yvonne Jones said she called Victoria Jones the next day to complain.

“She said, ‘I can’t talk to you now. Send me an e-mail,’” said Yvonne Jones. “I did and she never wrote back.”