Garden Grove Passes Shakespeare Issue to Advisory Panel : Fate of Fall Season of More Recent Plays and Musicals at Gem Theatre Also in Doubt

Garden Grove city councilmen, some of whom have called the plays of William Shakespeare too sophisticated for their “hard-hat community,” voted Monday to turn the fate of the Grove Shakespeare Festival over to a new advisory committee that will be dominated by their own appointees.

For the first time in a decade, the City Council last month rejected the Grove Theatre Co.’s annual subsidy request, as councilmen jockeying for November re-election sought to portray themselves as budget-cutters opposed to expensive highbrow culture.

But the action brought the council a storm of protest from residents who asserted that the 10-year-old festival was one of the few worthwhile cultural endeavors in a city sometimes derisively called “Garbage Grove.”

The council majority, led by Raymond T. Littrell, were surprised by the controversy that erupted after their June vote to withhold the annual subsidy of $83,000. Mayor J. Tilman Williams, who had initially proposed evicting the nonprofit Grove company and leasing the city-owned Festival Amphitheatre and Gem Theatre to private entrepreneurs, retreated in the face of public criticism and moved last month to place the Shakespeare issue before Garden Grove voters.

The advisory committee is to consider Williams’ proposals, as well as the appropriate level of “professionalism” for Garden Grove cultural groups. Littrell and Williams have complained that the Grove company is too “professional” and should use unpaid amateurs instead of full-time actors for its productions.

After the festival appeared to be on the verge of closing two weeks ago, the council grudgingly voted to advance the troupe $20,000, and last-minute fund-raising appeals by the theater company have yielded nearly $30,000 from private sources, as of Monday.

Grove officials said those funds will keep the festival, currently featuring “Richard II,” running through the summer. But the fate of the fall schedule of more recent plays and musicals, which the Grove company stages at the Gem Theatre, remained in doubt.

In addition to arguing against Shakespeare in principle, Littrell, Williams and Councilman Robert F. Dinsen contend that the $83,000 subsidy takes too much from the city’s $47.7-million budget and that the money could be spent on law enforcement.

Councilmen Milton Krieger and Walter E. Donovan have countered that the cultural and educational benefits of the festival outweigh its cost to the city. The proposed subsidy represents about 15% of the troupe’s annual budget.

The council is expected to consider again the full subsidy request today, after which Grove officials plan to decide whether to stage their fall season as scheduled.

The 15-member committee established by a 4-1 vote Monday will include one member each from four arts groups, one school board member, four former council members and five public representatives appointed by the City Council, and one member chosen by the other 14.

Krieger accused the council of shirking its responsibility by turning the matter over to a committee, but predicted the committee would advise continued festival support.

Dinsen, the one nay vote, said he feared the same outcome.

“It looks to me that the arts are pretty apt to have a majority in that kind of setup,” he said disdainfully.