‘Jerome Robbins’ Broadway’ Is Postponed; Funding for Downtown Shakespeare Festival

The opening of “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway” at the Shubert Theatre, earlier announced for fall, has been postponed until sometime during the first six months of 1990, reports Gerald Schoenfeld, Shubert Organization chairman, citing conflicts with Robbins’ schedule as the reason for the delay.

Schoenfeld denied rumors that the production might be scrubbed. “Our goal is to open an engagement in Los Angeles as the first stop of what will be a many-city tour, including Japan,” he said. “I’m pleased with the way we’re moving toward that goal.” As of now, he added, nothing is slated for the Shubert prior to “Robbins’ “--”but that could change.”

FUND FUN: That $90,000 the Mark Taper Forum just won from the Fund for New American Plays, for next season’s production of Arthur Kopit’s “Discovery of America,” marks the second year in a row the Taper has received one of the awards. Last year the Taper won $55,000 for its staging earlier this year of Jon Robin Baitz’s “Dutch Landscape.”

For all three years of the fund’s existence, Taper artistic director Gordon Davidson has been on the panel of judges who select the award winners. His Center Theatre Group colleague, outgoing Ahmanson Theatre artistic director Robert Fryer, also has been one of the nine panelists.

“What can I say--we have terrific taste,” joked Davidson, when asked about his double roles as judge and beneficiary.

Actually, in accordance with the fund’s policy (modeled on guidelines used by the National Endowment for the Arts and many private foundations), Davidson left the room during discussion of the Taper submissions and voting on them, said Deborah Dixon, project director of the fund. Fryer has not attended recent meetings but has voted “telephonically,” she said. According to Dixon, Fryer didn’t disqualify himself from voting on the Taper submissions. (Fryer could not be reached for comment.)

Davidson also pointed out that the Taper’s first application, during the fund’s first year (and Davidson’s first year on the panel), was unsuccessful.

Still, Davidson won’t be on the panel next year. “I’ve asked to be rotated off,” he said. “I thought it best to make sure it doesn’t seem there is a lock on it.”

The awards are designed to supplement theaters’ own funds. Although the total costs of “Discovery of America” are not yet known, an average Taper production costs between $500,000 and $550,000.

“Dutch Landscape” was generally panned, and South Coast Repertory had even worse luck with the $64,000 it received from the fund last year for a production of “Infinity’s House.” After a dispute with playwright Ellen McLaughlin, South Coast canceled the production before it got off the ground--and returned the $64,000.

But some of the fund-supported projects have gone on to greater glory, most notably this year’s big prize winner, Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Heidi Chronicles.”

SUMMER SHAKESPEARE: Citicorp/Citibank has granted Shakespeare Festival/LA $30,000 for its fourth summer of alfresco Shakespeare in downtown Los Angeles. The company will perform “As You Like It,” set in the California Gold Rush era and directed by Kevin Kelley, for six performances at Citicorp Plaza, beginning Aug. 4 and ending Aug. 13. Then the production will move to the John Anson Ford Theatre for three performances Aug. 18-20.

The requested admission charge is a donation of food or clothing to the Salvation Army’s rehabilitation program at Harbor Light Center. Vons will match donations of canned food (up to 10,000 cans). Downtown show times are 6 p.m. Fridays and 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; Hollywood performances will be at 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Pacific Theatre Ensemble has selected “The Merry Wives of Windsor” as its first Equity production, to be presented on the Santa Monica Pier, opening Aug. 18. Performances will be at 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m., closing Sept. 10.

D. Paul Yeuell, who co-adapted and directed “June Second” and “The Long Christmas Dinner” for the ensemble, will direct.

Only 32 of the 133 applicants for theater grants from the California Arts Council this year were from Los Angeles and Orange County organizations--despite an often-cited impression (difficult to document) within Los Angeles theater circles that this area turns out a much higher proportion of the state’s total theatrical product.

In recent questionnaires, Theatre League Alliance (Theatre LA) asked its members about the under-representation of Los Angeles in the application process.

The results, said Theatre LA executive director Karen Rushfield, reveal that many Los Angeles theaters “don’t have the staff time or experience to do the applications” and don’t see “a high probability” of success. Asked why these factors would apply more to Los Angeles than to the rest of the state, Rushfield replied, “I don’t know.” But she ventured that it might be “because a greater proportion of our theaters are newer.”

Ray Tatar, theater grants administrator for the California Arts Council, had a more specific answer: “A number of the smaller Los Angeles theaters are not nonprofit” and are therefore ineligible for public money. Those which are eligible “have a hard time diversifying their income base” in Los Angeles--in contrast to San Francisco, for example, “which has been giving harder and longer to its arts organizations.”

Some of the smaller theaters are supported by their members’ dues “and the quality is graded lower because the work is chosen to serve the artists. There is no public accountability.” Even apart from these membership organizations, “the concept of (movie/TV) showcasing pervades the ethos of smaller theaters in Los Angeles,” Tatar continued. He cited examples of Arts Council monitors showing up at smaller theater shows soon after opening night, only to learn that the original cast members had already gone on to other jobs.

However, Tatar pointed out that some smaller theaters are improving their scores. This year, only six of the 31 applicants failed to reach “fundable” status; last year, eight of 29 applicants failed. “Fundable” status does not guarantee a grant, but it’s the most important step. The council will make its final funding decisions in August.

The recently revived Theatre LA (which replaced two moribund predecessors) may help Los Angeles theaters in their funding efforts, Tatar said. The organization plans to open a theater management library for its members and find consultants who will assist member theaters in their fund-raising “for reasonable fees,” Rushfield added.