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In order to run a safe shop, we have a number of restrictions on PHP; but there are always work-arounds.  

In this case, it says you can't open something in /cgi-bin from within /httpdocs.  That's not easily fixed, since cgi-bin actually lives outside the webroot.

Looking at the code in PHPShout, it should be simple to simply copy the theme files over into a folder under the webroot.  
I am a little worried about the next line, the $datpath, which points to a Members folder, again in cgi-bin.  Is this intended to be a list of current members?  Which would mean a static copy would not work well.

The issue you're running into here is the relatively unusual practice of mixing
Perl with PHP.  Each of these scripting technologies have a set of security
restrictions to prevent exploits.  When you combine both sets of restrictions
you get difficult situations.

In this case, the PHP code is prevented by access rules ("open_basedir restriction")
from accessing info outside the web root.  And the cgi-bin directory where
Perl cgi scripts go is specifically set up outside the web root for
similar security reasons.