A Better Way to Purchase Better Seats?; Lahti Takes Permanent Leave of ‘Smoke’

Try putting together a night at the theater. Choose your show and purchase tickets.

Do you have a couple of hours to go to the box office? If you don’t, you could be in trouble.

Distances and traffic make getting to a ticket counter mostly impractical. Letting your fingers do the walking would seem like a reasonable alternative-- if you could phone a box office (not always possible), if Teletron would give out seat locations (it won’t), if $2 and $3 service charges were not tacked on to credit card purchases.

The situation worsens when you live away from the city. Bernard Singer of Fresno is particularly dismayed.

“I have attempted to order decent seats for plays both at the Mark Taper and Ahmanson theaters,” he writes. “I cannot call the box office but am restricted to Teletron. It seems that the worst seats in the house are always offered to me. I go to London theater every year and have no problem talking directly with the box offices of the various theaters to order seats. I have given up on the Taper and Ahmanson . . . so have many of my friends who refuse to travel four hours for the worst seats in the house.”

Singer’s problem is aggravated by distance, but no one wants to buy a pig in a poke. Why won’t Teletron give out seat locations?

“A lot of our customers, especially the theaters, didn’t want our operators making what they felt was a judgment call,” said Teletron’s Linda Woerz. “We will tell them the area that the seat is in and direct them to one of our Ticketron counters, where they have seating chart books, if they want to see actual locations.”

Any other solutions?

“Well, they could subscribe,” quipped Robert Schlosser, director of audience development for the Mark Taper, quickly conceding that even a subscription is not a guarantee of good seats. “As new subscribers, they wouldn’t get the best seats; but they could improve their seat location in time.”

Until May, 1985, the Taper had its own in-house agency, called Teletix, which Schlosser explained, “was not viable. We couldn’t cover the costs and had to take the ticket service organizations that seemed to offer the best proposal. Teletron is a national service, a convenience we provide single-ticket buyers.”

Schlosser partly blames Singer’s troubles on the Taper’s recent spate of successes. “With 31,000 subscribers,” he said, “the leftovers aren’t so good. We’ve had to turn away hundreds from ‘Burn This,’ the Orton plays, ‘Roza,’ ‘A Lie of the Mind.’ ‘Mind’ (which grossed $94,117.79 in its closing week and $655,346.95 for its eight-week run) broke the house records.”

The situation points up the fact that Los Angeles theaters (despite the existence of the improperly funded Los Angeles Theatre Alliance and an abortive league of theatrical producers) have failed to create a strong central service organization. It might have provided an efficient and responsive central box office--perhaps with branches? Or a drive-in box office? Or one you could reach by phone to get a seat location? . . .

SMOKED OUT?: Christine Lahti will be leaving the cast of “Summer and Smoke” at the Ahmanson after Sunday’s matinee. The role of Miss Alma has proved “too exhausting, too taxing for her,” said a spokesman for the theater, citing Lahti’s pregnancy as the reason for her early departure, and dismissing rumors of rifts in the company.

Carol Potter Eastman, who stands in for Lahti at all Thursday and Saturday matinees, will take over the role through April 10, the show’s scheduled closing date.

CHANGES: Robert Arias has been appointed executive director of the Bilingual Foundation for the Arts, in a major restructuring of the organization. He replaces Sue Welsh who was offered a staff position at her alma mater, Immaculate Heart College Center. “I felt it was time to do other things,” Welsh said.

Founder Carmen Zapata’s title also has been changed from president to producing director, while co-founders Margarita Galban and Estella Scarlata retain their titles of artistic director and production manager, respectively.

“I had become a paper pusher,” Zapata said, “It was hurting my art. I want to focus more on production. We worked hard to create BFA. I don’t want it to die when I do.”

The restructuring of the 14-year-old nonprofit organization extends to its board of directors, which acquired new members in January, according to chairwoman Mary Duran. The foundation was denied an organizational grant last year by the California Arts Council--a rejection that Welsh still believes was unjust, but that may have been just the catalyst the foundation needed to reorganize.

“The board is taking a stronger role in the BFA’s financial determination,” said Duran. “We’ve established minimum salaries for principal actors ($100 weekly) and Arias is a highly qualified, vigorous man.” He also will report directly to the board.

AUDITIONS: Jerome Robbins, who has been away from the theater since “Fiddler on the Roof” (1964), is returning to Broadway with a project temporarily called “The New Jerome Robbins Broadway Project,” a 20-year retrospective of Robbins’ Broadway choreography, from “On the Town” (1944) to “Fiddler.” He’s scouring the country for 40 to 50 choice dancers.

Los Angeles auditions, supervised by Grover Dale, are at the Debbie Reynolds Studios in North Hollywood Monday (Equity women) and Tuesday (Equity men), followed by open calls Wednesday (women, A-L), next Thursday (women, M-Z), March 25 (men, A-L) and March 28 (men, M-Z).

Auditions start at 10 a.m. Be prepared to sing. Bring sneakers, ballet shoes, knee pads and, women only: high heels.