The Derby Playhouse needs up to £2m a year to become successful, the man leading a campaign to save it has said.
The theatre is currently in administration after it failed to secure a financial rescue package.
Former chairman of the theatre board Professor Jonathan Powers is now fronting moves to raise a fighting fund to reopen the venue.
But he said the long-term future could only be secured with private investment of £1m to £2m every year.
The council and theatre bosses have blamed each other for the crisis.
"This can't be done by the council, it needs to come from the people"
In turn, the board said the building of the Westfield shopping centre put off audiences and the council forced them to open when attendances were likely to be low.
The Playhouse went into liquidation on Thursday but staff and actors insisted on holding a final performance of Treasure Island.
Then on Friday, the firm brought in to oversee the theatre said they would act as administrators rather than liquidators and would look to sell it as a going concern.
Radical solution
Councillor Alan Graves, from the city council, told the BBC's Politics Show that Derby needed theatre and he wanted to see it performed in the Playhouse.
But he said the previous situation had become untenable.
He said: "The facts are, that this financial year, over £2m was ploughed into the Playhouse from the Arts Council and the city council.
"I was being asked to put another £250,000 in just to get it over Christmas."
Uncertain future
Now Professor Powers has insisted the Playhouse needed a long-term solution.
He said: "It needs a massive public campaign to raise the kind of money to run the theatre on the line of our friends in Philadelphia where there are 56,000 subscribers.
"We are talking about the theatre coming into itself, every year, £1m to £2m from private money.
"This can't be done by the council, it needs to come from the people."
The administrators have said they are still looking at all the options but have advised people with tickets to seek refunds.
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