PADUA HILLS PLAYWRIGHTS FEST CANCELED

The Padua Hills Playwrights Festival, scheduled to begin Monday at Chapman College in Orange, has been canceled, it was announced Thursday.

This year’s festival would have been the 10th annual edition of the avant-garde workshop. But it would have been the first time the festival was held at Chapman. The cancellation was attributed by artistic director Murray Mednick to “a misunderstanding” with Chapman authorities over how much housing the college would provide free of charge.

“We’re still confused over what happened,” Mednick said. He added that he “thought we had an agreement” that the festival would pay for the housing of 12 of its 35 staff members and that Chapman would pick up the other staff housing costs--until the final weekend of the six-week event, when the festival would have to make other arrangements. Instead, said Mednick, Chapman recently informed the festival that no housing would be provided gratis.

Chapman spokesman Jerry Derloshon said that Padua Hills was informed of the decision in writing on June 3. He called the cancellation “unfortunate and regrettable” and blamed “many misunderstandings” between the college and the festival organizers.

The festival was also suffering from under-enrollment, Mednick said. Only 12 students had signed up to pay $750 to study with the Padua Hills playwrights this summer. Last summer, when the festival was held at Loyola Marymount University, 32 students were enrolled. When Mednick realized that he wouldn’t get that many, “we had to cut our budget way down a couple of weeks ago.”

“It’s been a blow to everyone,” Mednick said. “I’ve been calling all over the country” notifying would-be participants, “but I haven’t been able to reach two students who are en route, driving here.”

Mednick hopes to salvage pieces of the festival by presenting four of the scheduled plays--by John Steppling, Susan Champagne, Kelly Feeney and Kathy Hemingway Jones--in August at the Boyd Street Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, “where we won’t have to depend on housing.”