Curtain rises on North Hollywood residential arts colony

Their new home has its own $2-million live theater. So it was fitting that the opening act Wednesday for actors and artists moving into the NoHo Senior Arts Colony was an improvisation.

Operators of the 127-unit building had come prepared with a 4-foot-long pair of scissors for their grand opening, but they forgot to order up a ceremonial ribbon.

“Do we have a ribbon? Do we have some caution tape? Anything?” asked Tim Carpenter, head of a nonprofit organization called EngAGE that will be in charge of arts classes at the $42-million Magnolia Boulevard development.

One of the resident artists in a crowd of about 75 produced a colorful winter scarf as a stand-in for the ribbon and, after a mock cutting, the show was on.

The centerpiece for the apartment complex catering to actors and artists over the age of 62 is the theater stage with stadium-style seating for an audience of 76. North Hollywood’s Road Theatre Co. is slated to stage live shows there.

The state-of-the-art theater lured actor John Gowans, who moved into the complex from his apartment in Valley Village.

“It’s every actor’s dream to have a theater in their own home,” said Gowans, 69, who keeps busy with roles in television series and commercials and has leased a $2,300-a-month two-bedroom unit.

John Huskey, whose Meta Housing Corp. partnered with Road Theatre and EngAGE in the development, said the project was conceived with artists, actors, musicians and aspiring artists in mind. Forty-five tenants have signed leases so far, and the building is now about 30% occupied.

“This project has taken seven years,” Huskey said. “Unfortunately, zoning codes weren’t written to foster creativity.”

The first production, scheduled May 17, for the arts colony stage is “Cooperstown,” a drama about the intersection of baseball, love and race, said Taylor Gilbert, an artistic director for Road Theatre.

bob.pool@latimes.com