Two Cities Woo Odyssey in Hunt for Space; Another Chapter in Actors’ Waiver Lawsuit

On the move:

The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble must leave its quarters in West Los Angeles by the end of June. The new owner of the building at Santa Monica Boulevard and Bundy Drive reportedly plans to lease it to a tenant who will convert it into a video rental emporium.

A total triumph for canned entertainment over live theater?

Not quite. The Odyssey, moving into its 20th anniversary season, will relocate, although its next address is still unknown.

“We’re madly scampering about for an interim site,” said Odyssey artistic director Ron Sossi. The company has been looking for a new permanent site for some time, but now “we’ve got to get something locked in by March 15,” said Sossi. “We want to re-open in July, so we want to get in (to the new space) by May 1. That will give us two months to convert it.”

The conversion will be a big job, for none of the sites currently under consideration is an existing theater--and the Odyssey “will try to cram in three theaters (the number of spaces in the Odyssey’s present building) wherever we go.”

Sossi’s loyalties are divided between Santa Monica and Los Angeles. Santa Monica has been aggressively pursuing the Odyssey--to the extent that Dennis Zane, the city’s mayor, has personally driven around town, searching for a site. “The community and the Odyssey have a nice fit,” said Zane.

Los Angeles offers the lure of the new Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts as a potential funding source. “We require some sort of community subsidy,” said Odyssey board president Dan Attias. Several Los Angeles city council members are assisting the Odyssey’s search for a Los Angeles site.

Two possible sites are in each city. One of the Los Angeles sites--a warehouse at Westgate and Mississippi, just north of Olympic Blvd.--isn’t far from where the theater is now. It would require a rent increase (over the $6,000 the Odyssey pays now) “for considerably less space,” said Sossi--but at least it’s immediately available.

The other Los Angeles site, a garage at 2055 Sepulveda Blvd., would not be available until mid-summer--and would therefore necessitate the rental of a temporary home while conversion to a theater took place. But it’s a likelier permanent site than the warehouse. Because the garage is currently owned by the city, it would open up opportunities for a subsidy.

In Santa Monica, Sossi’s favorite site is the Santa Monica Airport, where an old hangar is a possibility. The city would arrange a low-rent deal for the airport site, if it becomes available.

Another possibility would be the incorporation of the theater into several of the new developments along the Santa Monica Mall. But these buildings aren’t large enough to accommodate three theaters plus support facilities, so the Odyssey operations would have to be split among several locations.

Sossi said the Odyssey will not leave the West Side, where most of its audience lives. However, Attias added that the theater might move to temporary quarters in Hollywood while a new permanent home is being arranged or converted.

--The Padua Hills Playwrights Festival has found a new home. The encampment of playwrights and students, who have recently migrated to a new venue each year, will dig in at Cal State Northridge this summer.

The base of operations will be Cal State Northridge’s Art and Design Center, on the north side of the campus, though the theater department facilities on the south side of the campus may be used for student readings. The university will provide “a minimal amount of housing, enough to accommodate the staff people from out of town,” said Padua Hills artistic director Murray Mednick. Several university students will study with the Padua Hills faculty and/or be hired as technical assistants.

The program will begin in late June, with alfresco public performances of six to eight plays in late July and early August. The Art and Design Center “has an interesting look, especially at night,” said Mednick. “Modernist but not concrete. It’s a tempting look.”

The Padua Hills faculty this year will include Jon Robin Baitz, Eduardo Machado, David Henry Hwang, John Steppling, John O’Keefe, Julie Hebert, Martin Epstein, Leon Martell and Lin Hixson.

--As previously reported, the Ensemble Studio Theatre is leaving its two-theater home, the former Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre near Santa Monica and Western Avenue. Part of the group now plans to reconstitute at another location, a former Equity Waiver theater on the West Side. Facing mounting debts, the group may have to declare bankruptcy and re-organize under a new name, but no definite decision has been made, said general manager Sean Orcutt.

RUMBLINGS: That lawsuit instigated against Actors’ Equity last year by 15 actor members dissatisfied with the manner in which the union went about modifying the Waiver won’t go away.

Plaintiffs George Ball, Barbara Beckley, Maria Gobetti, Adam Carl, Gary Grossman, Salome Jens, Valerie Landsburg, Dorothy Lyman, Amanda McBroom, Allan Miller, Greg Mullavey, Tom Ormeny, Linda Purl, Joseph Stern and Michael Wadler recently made an offer to settle out of court. They outlined conditions mostly designed to give some control over the new 99-Seat Theater Plan to local union members. According to Jerome Birn, the plaintiffs’ pro bono attorney, Equity found “virtually all” of the proposal unacceptable, but officials offered to “meet in person with the plaintiffs in the near future to discuss a settlement.”

“(What’s disturbing is that) the union can unilaterally do whatever (it wants to the plan) and never go back to the membership,” Birn said. “Its position is that the L.A. vote is informational and has no constitutional validity. Only (Equity council in) New York decides.”

Edward Weston, Equity’s Western Regional Director, refused to comment. Union attorney Leo Geffner is in Hawaii and could not be reached for comment.

In addition, “the union has taken the position that they want all (subpoenaed) documents to be subject to a confidentiality agreement,” Birn said. “I don’t see why.”

A hearing with a magistrate on the confidentiality issue has been set for the third week in March.

SUCH A DEAL: How much would you pay to see “Dutch Landscape” at the Mark Taper Forum if you could name your price? On the first night of the Taper’s new “pay-what-you-want” policy Tuesday, 23 people paid as little as three cents and as much as $10. Regular ticket prices are $20-$26.

Sylvie Drake also contributed to this column.