COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY : CHALLENGE IS UP CHARNEY’S ALLEY

If tortoises are still beating hares to the finish line, Actors Alley stands a good chance of doing the same with theater in the Valley. And much of that has to do with its artistic director, Jordan Charney.

“When I took over (in 1982), there were 22 members and, literally, $5 in the bank,” he recalled ruefully. “The turnaround started with ‘A Christmas Carol.’ I decided to adapt it from the Dickens novel, do it very simply. You don’t have to pay royalties if you do the adaptation. But people said, ‘ “Christmas Carol”? Everybody does “Christmas Carol.” ’ I said, ‘They do it for a very good reason: because audiences will come to see it.’ ”

Charney was right. “We took in $1,400,” he said, “which for us is an enormous amount of money. Then I started expanding the company. My dream has always been to create a regional theater in the San Fernando Valley, where actors and everyone would be paid for their work. Now we have an outside board of directors committed to that--and to the development of our new theater (in the planning stages: a three-house complex, budgeted at $6 million to $8 million).”

In terms of in-house production (a minimum of 15 shows annually), he sets an equally vigorous tone.

“Our goal is not simply to produce plays. We have our Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday free theater. (The current bill: “Queen of the One-Liners” and “There’s a Land That’s Fair and Bright.”) We have our mainstage show Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Stephen Sondheim’s “Marry Me a Little”)--and late night shows Friday (“The Holiday Show,” opening Dec. 5) and Saturday (their comedy improv troupe, the Alley Oops). And on Sunday afternoons we have staged readings of new works.

“That’s what we do for the public. For the company (70 dues-paying members: actors, directors, technicians and writers), we offer weekly classes. And often the decisions about what shows we do are based on who hasn’t gotten a chance to perform recently.”

Beyond that is the commitment to the community: one youth workshop geared towards “therapeutic expression,” another--at Van Nuys High School--which he plans to mesh with a performance workshop for senior citizens: “It’ll be a ‘teenior/senior’ presentation. And, someday, I’d like to get the curriculum of the local high schools and, if there’s a play most of them read, put it on at the theater.”

With such emphasis on social services, he agreed, “This company is not for everyone. There are some actors we would love to have because of their talent, but they are not interested in the other demands we make (of them) in terms of community work. We do what we do because we think it is correct. If I just wanted to be a producer, I could go out and raise money, rent a theater and put on shows.”

A mixture of artistic security and financial insecurity often sets the stage for what he feels have turned out to be the company’s most successful forays. But Charney (a co-writer/producer/performer of the 1966 Off Broadway musical “Viet Rock,” an offshoot of his early days in New York’s radical Open Theatre) knows such experimental work is not always welcomed.

“It’s true,” he nodded. “ ‘Night Breath’ (1986) got raves from all the papers, but nobody came to see it. Which is OK. Sure, I wish everyone would’ve come. But if I’d known going in that no one was going to see it, I would still produce the show--because it was worth doing, a wonderful piece of writing.

“On the other hand, ‘Gangster Lullaby’ (which opened in January on the free nights) was slammed by everyone, yet it was one of our biggest hits. Of course, we’ve even done free shows where people won’t show up. One critic wrote of ‘The Quick and the Dead’: ‘Sometimes, free theater is too high a price to pay.’ ”

Yet New York native Charney (schooled at the Lincoln Center Training Theatre and a veteran of 30 Off-Broadway plays) often relishes the free series’ license to go out on an artistic limb: “I think it’s the essence of a repertory company--where you have actor saying, ‘I want to write a play,’ and he’s given that opportunity. Now if, when I see it, I think it’s not worthy of being done, then we don’t do it. But it really has to be god-awful.”

Setting the standard for art, finance and charity, he added hastily, is not a one-man job. “I have a huge ego and I love being right. I love picking plays that do well, picking directors that do well with a project. But I function best as a collaborator.” Since each member is free to pursue outside work (Charney’s commercial credits include Dean Yeager in “Ghostbusters” and “the evil Morton Crane” on TV’s “Falcon Crest”), a balance of power is comfortably shared.

“This is not a quick process,” he reminded. “But I’m proud of the work we’ve done. And now we’re attracting a better class of playwright, actors--even critics. We have a bank account, we pay our bills. We’re as sound as could be.”