SPRING BUILDING START SEEN FOR IRVINE CITY FACILITY : THEATER’S NEW BOSS MEETS THE PEOPLE

Douglas Rankin, newly hired as the first general manager of the projected $9.5-million Irvine City Theatre, is used to developing municipal-backed arts programs.

For a decade, Rankin ran the performing and visual arts programs in Woodstock, Ill., that were housed in that city’s restored 450-seat, 19th-Century opera house. Rankin’s new post in Irvine makes him top staff administrator for the 750-seat performing arts theater to be built by the City of Irvine on a 2 1/2-acre site in UC Irvine’s Gateway Plaza.

Plans now call for a construction start in early spring, said Rankin, during an interview in his office at the Marketplace commercial complex across from Gateway Plaza. Construction is expected to take two years.

Until ground breaking, said Rankin, who formally assumed his $49,000-a-year post last week, he is familiarizing himself with the university and the local community’s social, corporate and political terrain.

“I’m the new guy on the block. I’m doing a lot of listening, meeting with a lot of people and getting a feel of the cultural goals and needs here,” said Rankin, 37, who has also been performing arts director for the 400-seat Civic Arts Theatre in Walnut Creek, Calif. Rankin earned a master’s degree in arts administration from UCLA.

The Irvine City Theatre is run by a nine-member board headed by Richard Sim, an Irvine Co. executive, and consists of city, university and community leaders. The board plans a cultural mini-festival in honor of the project Nov. 24.

Although the university offered to donate the Gateway Plaza site for a city-built theater in 1981, municipal financing of the entire $9.5-million construction cost did not win City Council approval until last year.

Final lease and facility-use documents were signed by the city and UCI last week. Organizations expected to use the theater include local symphony, dance and stage groups in affiliation with the city, plus touring and campus companies presented by UC Irvine.

Rankin said estimates of annual operating costs are in the $700,000-$800,000 range. The operating costs are to be shared by the city and university, although the theater board has plans to launch a private fund drive for an operating endowment.

Last year the Irvine Co. announced a $100,000 grant to help underwrite the first-year operating costs. Irvine Co. vice chairman Thomas Nielsen is head of the theater project’s endowment panel.

In Woodstock in 1976, Rankin became executive director of that city’s arts programs during a $1-million restoration of the Woodstock Opera House. (Woodstock is 50 miles northwest of Chicago.)

The opera house, built in the 1890s, was renovated to be the center of gallery activities as well as stage, dance and chamber-concert activities. While there, Rankin was also producer of the summer Woodfest theatrical company, which emphasized original plays.

While Woodstock and Irvine differ markedly in population diversity and other factors, there are strong arts similarities, said Rankin.

“There’s a driving force in both communities to build a full-scaled cultural center. There’s patience, too, since in both cases the supporters had to plan and persuade for a considerable time.”

As for the Irvine City Theatre’s niche in Orange County, Rankin echoed the views of university and city officials.

“Obviously, there’s a great need for this kind of (medium-size) community theater. The performing groups here have been waiting for years for this chance,” Rankin said.

“But this theater is not in competition with the (Orange County) Performing Arts Center. The scale of that complex and its bookings is far huger. All of us are a part of a growing cultural environment. There’s room for all of us.”