Looking for Spies in ‘Casablanca’

“Here’s looking at you, kid.”

There’s entertainment, intrigue, villainy, love affairs, food, champagne and audience participation at “A Night in Casablanca,” opening this weekend at the newly christened Rick’s Cafe, 157 N. La Cienega Blvd. in Beverly Hills.

The 8,000-square-foot, two-story space--formerly a carpet store--has been transformed into the legendary Moroccan nightspot, complete with plastered walls, plants, statues, wine casks, tables and chairs, a bar, dance floor and gambling area.

The show is “a spy thriller, a game of wits,” director Ben Swenson said. “Someone has a document that will change the fate of World War II--and the Nazis are looking for him.”

Don’t be surprised if those Nazis come looking at your table.

“There is no fourth wall,” noted Swenson. “You can dance, you can gamble with the characters. If you don’t get up and join them, they’ll come to you. We only ask that you not talk to them if there’s a real performance going on. The difference between our show and ‘Tamara’ is that there, you’re watching secretly; in this, you’re supposed to be there. It’s also a little like ‘Drood’: the audience is challenged to find out who the spy is before the show ends.

“The characters are people we’re all semi-familiar with,” he continued. Their names have been altered slightly, at Warner Brothers’ request. Seventeen actors (nine main characters, eight serving and running the gambling tables) will be on hand--in period costume, of course. The regulars include club owner Rick Lane, Rick’s love interest (and suspected spy) Inga Lind, Casablanca police chief Henry Renoir and two giant Bedouins: Prince Hassan and his mute bodyguard Abdul.

Participatory theatrics have been the hallmark of Port Royal Productions, made up of Swenson, writer Baron Mosely, technical director Janet Rathert and business manager Larry Cripe. They have staged eight such theater events in the past, including 1985’s “To Catch a Vampire” at Wattles Mansion in Hollywood.

The producers, who budgeted the show at $26,000, have a nine-month lease option on the space. (They say they will break even if the show runs at 50% capacity for four months.) Tickets for the production, which accommodates 100 theatergoers, are $55, including food. The pre-show spread offers domestic and imported cheeses, fresh fruit, vegetables and dip. In the dinner buffet: large sandwiches of ham, turkey, or roast beef, plus green salad, stuffed artichokes, stuffed mushrooms, pasta salad, crab puffs and rumaki. Dessert will feature assorted French pastries, coffee and tea. Champagne will be served all evening.

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In the more conventional theater department, there is a month of interesting upcoming work.

Opening today: Randy Dreyfuss’ “Symmes’ Hole,” set in the 19th Century, is a musical comedy about Lt. John Cleves Symmes, renowned in his time for his eccentricity. Featured in this world premiere at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles are Orson Bean, Tom Dugan, Albert Macklin, Thom McCleister, Lori Michael, Kevin Pariseau and Craig Zehms.

Opening Thursday: The LAPD (Los Angeles Poverty Department) brings its group-written “Jupiter 35” to Highways, in the new 18th Street Arts Complex in Santa Monica. . . . A revival of Peter Shaffer’s “Equus,” about a teen-age boy’s violent obsession with horses, opens at the Zephyr in West Hollywood. . . . Seven stars from the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” will appear in the drama “Guests of the Nation,” set in Ireland and mounted at the Court Theatre in West Hollywood.

Opening Friday: “Star Search” winner Sam Harris stars in a new musical, “Hard Copy,” at the Coast Playhouse in West Hollywood. . . . Bertolt Brecht’s “Baal,” a social drama set amid the degeneracy of 1930s Germany, comes to the Callboard Theatre in West Hollywood; producing is New York’s Project Theatre III Ensemble.

Opening May 16: David Mamet’s “Edmond,” a man’s nightmare odyssey through the underbelly of contemporary society, is revived at Santa Monica’s Powerhouse.

Opening May 21: TheatreWorker’s Project presents Rob Sullivan’s documentary performance piece “Steel Blue Water,” based on the lives and stories of shipbuilders Clyde L. Flowers, R. Moore, Henry Ascensio, Frank S. Contraras, Donald (Duck) Hardsen, Clinton Hayes, I.L. (Spanky) Sams and Victor Zuniga. The single performance will be held at Highways.