In 2002, promises and hopes sailed high for Boston’s Strand Theatre, a converted vaudeville house being rebirthed as a community performing arts center. “Less than two years later, the Strand’s books are soaked in red ink. The Strand’s 1,400-seat auditorium is dark on most evenings, and it droops with inactivity during the daytime. Paint is peeling, chairs are broken, and a city maintenance crew recently replaced 150 dead light bulbs that had been left in their sockets.”