YOUNG COMPANY BETTING IT CAN MAKE ‘PETER PAN’ FLY

Regional Repertory Theatre is launching a new production of “Peter Pan” tonight at Knott’s Berry Farm and hoping it will fly--not only literally, but figuratively as well.

The ambitious production, which stars former Olympics gymnast Cathy Rigby, represents a major leap for the young Orange County theater company.

“Peter Pan,” which will play through May 17 in the Good Time Theatre at Knott’s in Buena Park, is Regional Repertory Theatre’s first production in the 2,100-seat facility.

That’s quite a stretch from its original home at the 315-seat Forum Theater in Yorba Linda, where the nonprofit corporation has staged musicals since 1984. But producers Denise Dell Reiss, Howard Mango and Bob Auletta are confident that there is an audience for professional musical theater in Orange County.

So confident, in fact, that they are footing the $160,000 cost of mounting the show out of their own pockets. During the 10-day run, they hope to lay the groundwork for Regional Repertory’s evolution into a professional Orange County musical theater company. Part of that groundwork includes building an audience, and they already are looking ahead to a four-show season at Knott’s starting next November aimed at family audiences and featuring well-known performers in leading roles.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Regional Repertory was born, largely out of frustration. Reiss, 30, and Mango, 35, were involved in a local community theater production plagued by budget and technical problems.

“We said, ‘We’ve got to be able to do things better than this ourselves,’ so we sat down and looked into forming a company and a corporation and all that went along with it,” Mango said.

Regional Repertory made its debut in June, 1984, with “West Side Story” in Yorba Linda. Initially, only the professional staff was paid; actors donated their services. That began to change in the third season when guest artists were paid for their work in “A Chorus Line.” At the same time, Reiss and Mango began scouting for a larger theater where the company could explore its potential.

Auletta, 35, who had conducted several shows for the company, came aboard as associate producer in December when the decision to mount an Equity production of “Peter Pan” was made.

“We realized that we were kind of outgrowing our potential up at the Forum,” Reiss said. “It’s a beautiful little theater, but it’s 315 seats, whereas Knott’s Berry Farm is 2,100. Also, at the same time, we began to watch something interesting happen and develop to the talent within Orange County and the Los Angeles area. People were taking their theater training more seriously and doing it less as a hobby, but they really didn’t have showcases where they could perform on a professional basis.

“We decided that Orange County needed a resident musical theater company that could work on a professional basis. Even at our (Yorba Linda) civic light opera company, we had begun paying performers because it was really important for us to keep the caliber of a semi-professional/professional company as opposed to a community theater company.

“But, still, with such a limited amount of seats, our budgets were so limited that to really reach the level of theater we thought the performers in this area were capable of, we needed to look for a new venue.”

Regional Repertory hopes to offer a pool of talented artists in Los Angeles and Orange County an opportunity to perform in legitimate musical theater, Reiss said, starting with “Peter Pan.” Half the 38-member cast consists of paid professionals under the provisions of the Actors Equity contract for the production.

Regional Repertory originally staged “Peter Pan” in Yorba Linda last February on a smaller scale; most of the original cast is making the move to Knott’s, with the addition of Rigby in the title role.

Rigby, who lives in Fullerton, logs plenty of flight time working as an ABC sports commentator, entertainer and as a guest artist in productions of “Peter Pan” across the country.

The addition of a well-known celebrity like Rigby is crucial at this point, Reiss said. “When you’re new and you don’t have a season subscription built up, you need to have something that validates your company,” she said.

With the production set to open today, the producers’ major concern is finding their audience--and hoping their audience finds them.

“Our biggest obstacle has been educating the people that you can come see a legitimate theater experience at Knott’s Berry Farm,” Reiss said.

That’s not always easy to do, added Auletta, former musical director for the amusement park. “We have to educate the public that the (Good Time) theater is a legitimate theater, which is very hard. They think they’re coming in to see a little park show, and that is not true.”

Regional Repertory is renting the facility from the amusement park for the 10-day run; the price of the show does not include admission to the amusement park, and admission to the amusement park does not include admission to the show.