‘GIRLS’ PARTY’ MAKES PREMIERE TONIGHT

The three women in Judy Romberger’s comedy/drama “The Girls’ Party,” making its world premiere tonight at the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre, could be called her contemporaries: Pasadena housewives like her, who are at the age where “they’re . . . tired of being wife and mother.”

In 1981, Romberger, a third-generation Pasadenan with about 40 short stories to her credit, published her first novel, “Lolly,” (Doubleday) about a woman much like herself who was beginning the “perfect second marriage.” Today she, like the heroine of her novel, is living with Mr. Right on his ranch in Riverside County. But Romberger, who has had two one-act plays produced in the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s New Theatre Festival, still loves to write about her old crowd.

Who is Romberger’s crowd? In “The Girls’ Party,” it’s the chic set of Southern Californians--you can find them in parts of La Mesa, Coronado, La Jolla or Mission Hills--women who have much in common with the characters of Eudora Welty, Elizabeth Spencer or Flannery O’Connor.

“I like those strong Southern writers,” Romberger said of other authors. “Their characters are very strong.”

But so are hers. In “The Girls’ Party,” Romberger writes of friendship, particularly about three best friends who have been meeting annually at Christmastime. This time, though, “everything goes kind of haywire,” she said. “Kind of like all those skeletons in the closets, yet everyone keeps going on--proudly. They have to find the strength, which they do.”

Romberger has commuted to rehearsals daily from the J. R. Hoopes Ranch in Winchester, outside of Riverside.

In writing, she has a knack for dialogue and capturing the bizarre aspects of everyday life, much like her Southern literary counterparts. “Nobody would ever believe what really happens, so you have to conventionalize life,” she said. “I could tell you incredible stories, but nobody would believe that.”

When Jon Jory, artistic director of the Louisville Actors Theatre and a childhood friend, read her novel, he was impressed with her dialogue and suggested that she try a play. Since then she has “become seduced by the theater.”

“The Girls’ Party” came to San Diego after Romberger met Kit Goldman, the Gaslamp’s managing producer, through a mutual friend. When Goldman heard that the 45-year-old playwright had a full-length play, she quickly set up a reading last summer.

Now Goldman is appearing in the play, along with D’Ann Paton, Gail West and Bob Harland. Will Simpson is the director.

POP SINGLES: One of the few events not widely reported in connection with last month’s gala Symphony Hall inauguration was a monumentally successful singles open house at the former Fox Theatre--it grossed $23,000 for the orchestra. More than 2,000 single professionals ponied up $10 to $15 to mix and mingle, exchanging business cards and other vital data.

The Yuppie-esque throng included the orchestra’s top two singles: music director David Atherton and concertmaster Andres Cardenes. The chief organizer was Gary Laturno of the FBI, who acted as emcee.

After announcing the raffle, with its vacation trip-for-two prize, the musical lawman (Laturno once played the clarinet in college and loves attending symphony concerts) was confronted by an attractive young woman who suggested that she would have bought 100 tickets had Laturno been the prize. Not to worry, Laturno quickly assured her. That particular prize was still available, and the odds were considerably in her favor.

Another symphonic open house for singles is on tap Dec. 18 at the El Cortez Hotel’s Century Ballroom. A 5:30 p.m. no-host reception starts the mixer, followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. in the El Cortez Century Ballroom. Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert, also in the hotel ballroom, are $15; dinner and drinks are extra.

ALBEE OUTTAKES: Playwright Edward Albee, who has won two Pulitzer Prizes, will read from and discuss his works at 4 p.m. Thursday in the University Theatre at San Diego State University. Admission is free. The author of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, “A Delicate Balance” and “The Zoo Story” has a full schedule here for four days, teaching workshops with high school students enrolled in the California Young Playwrights Project. Founded by Deborah Salzer and modeled after New York’s Young Playwrights Festival, the Young Playwrights Project is administered by the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre. Albee will also hold workshops at SDSU for acting students.

ARTBEATS: The county’s Public Arts Advisory Council has $15,000 for grants to local arts groups, especially the small ones. The deadline is Sunday and the largest grants will be $1,000. Applications can be picked up at Room 273, County Administration Center, 1600 Pacific Highway. . . .

The Studio, a 28,000-square-foot complex at 2400 Kettner Blvd. that was formerly the home of furniture stores such as Huddle and Etc., now houses studios for 40 artists, designers, photographers, video artists and sculptors. Founded by artist Madelyn Engle, The Studio is also home to Anuska Galerie. Sunday’s black-tie-optional grand opening will benefit the Children’s Museum of San Diego. . . .

“Reach Out,” the anti-drunk-driving music video produced by local real estate developer and composer David Blanchard, won a rare Award of Distinction and received the Best of Show Award at last weekend’s International Television and Video Assn.’s local awards ceremony. . . . “Billy Bishop Goes to War,” the two-man musical at Solana Beach’s North Coast Repertory Theatre, has been extended through Dec. 22. . . . The costumes of harlequins, clowns, pretentious Spanish captains and other figures from commedia dell’arte (the street theater that flourished from the 16th to 18th centuries) are the inspiration for Brazilian artist Lito Cavalcante’s abstract canvases, which will be on exhibit at A.R.T./Beasley Gallery Tuesday through Jan. 15.