Westwood Playhouse in New Lease Talks; Theatergoing ‘Scholarships’ Catching On

Owner Kirsten Combs is reluctant to call it a done deal yet, but after backing away from leasing her Westwood Playhouse to the New York-based Promenade Theatre Corp. last May, she is now in “serious negotiations” again for a similar lease to be given to Eric Krebs and Howard Pechet. Krebs is artistic director of Off Broadway’s Douglas Fairbanks and John Houseman Theatres and his partner, Pechet, is a Canadian hotel owner.

If the deal goes through--something we should know, Combs says, within the next two weeks--Krebs and Pechet would launch the Westwood under their aegis with a production of Tom Cole’s “The Eighties,” starring James Whitmore and Audra Lindley. The two-character play, focused on the life of an elderly long-married couple, would begin previews in early October and, according to Krebs, open “about Oct. 20.” Lamont Johnson would direct.

Combs said Monday that while the Promenade deal was technically still alive, she had a better feeling about working with Krebs.

“He is somebody with whom I think I can do business,” she said, “and who would be artistically and economically good for the theater,” but she stopped short of calling the Krebs-Pechet proposal a consummated deal, explaining that she was still examining its terms.

While Krebs was equally guarded Wednesday about calling the arrangement settled (“Nothing is signed yet”), he confirmed that his and Pechet’s proposal called for a five-year lease of the 499-seat Westwood (as opposed to the Promenade’s request for eight years) and made no attempt to conceal his very high hopes.

“She’s a nice lady,” he said of Combs. “We get on very well. I think that artistically we see eye to eye and that what goes into the theater really matters to her.”

Krebs founded the 368-seat George Street Theatre in New Brunswick, N.J., with John Herochik in 1974 and remained its producing director until 1987. Krebs and Pechet’s production of “The Eighties” was first staged at George Street in January, with the same director and cast.

Krebs also has an option on William Mastrosimone’s most recent play, “The Understanding,” which he says “could find its way to the Westwood.” And Philip Hayes Dean’s “Paul Robeson” with Avery Brooks (opening tonight at Philadelphia’s Walnut St. Theatre), another Krebs production, is a show he believes might be another candidate for the Westwood.

How does he propose to run a theater from 3,000 miles away?

“I would commute,” he said, “and I will have a full-time Los Angeles-based manager.”

There are no plans to change the Westwood Playhouse name.

A TAPER IDEA: Want to darken the sea of gray heads that increasingly whitens the theater? Want to make sure new generations get into the theatergoing habit?

Sponsor a student. It’s a notion framed up by the Mark Taper Forum’s Gordon Davidson that caught on beyond expectation. The plan, begun last year with 300 theatergoing “scholarships,” has jumped to 750 this year.

Here’s how it works: A student subscription is purchased by a “donor,” who has three choices: that of designating an individual student to receive it (a young relative or friend); that of designating a school as recipient rather than an individual; and--the most popular choice--that of allowing the Taper to decide where the scholarship goes. Each “scholarship” costs $40 ($35 for the subscription to five shows and $5 for the Taper’s administrative intern program).

“Theatergoing isn’t just the spending of money, but the act of going and of sharing the experience. It can engender lively discussion,” said Davidson, who explained that his initial suggestion, made to a group of longtime Santa Barbara subscribers, was that they commit to bringing two people younger than themselves when they renewed their own subscriptions. The idea took off from there.

“I think we’ve got a tiger by the tail,” added Robert Schlosser, the Taper’s director of audience development. “Our subscribers are responding beautifully. Some teachers are even using it to create activities in their classrooms (such as essay contests to see who gets the scholarships.)

“We’re working with 53 schools--colleges and some high schools. Our own efforts are to try to reach the inner-city population--getting many different faces of many different colors.”

There have been several scholarship “renewals” from last year, with some students who enjoyed the program but who could not afford to resubscribe, renewed by the Taper. There have also been disappointments: more “donors” than takers. Schools--what does this tell us?--have not always been swift to respond. But there’s no such thing as applying individually.

So if you’re a student in search of a scholarship, light a fire under your school administration. Agitate. See that your school applies.

ANOTHER TAPER IDEA: Fax ticket exchanges. The previous Taper policy meant exchanging tickets by mail or at the box-office up to 48 hours in advance of whatever performance you were attending.

Now you can do it in person or by fax (213-972-7690) up to 6 p.m. (1 p.m. for matinees) of the day of the show. Note, however, that the fax number cannot be used for exchanges made prior to those last 48 hours.

MOVING UP: What exactly does the recent promotion of Diane White at the Los Angeles Theatre Center from producer to “artistic producer” mean? White replies:

“That Bill (Bushnell, LATC artistic producing director) and I are going to have equal status in running the theater. This business of putting my name as producer on all the plays will now stop. I’ve been producing them all anyway. I will also have more to say about our choice of plays, directors, designers. I’ve always had a great deal to say about the actors.

“As with all new things, it will work itself out. If that involves more risk-taking (for me), then it does. That’s what I love anyway.”

MOVING OUT: Giving the example of his show, “Blessed Are All the Little Fishes,” as the sort of performance that would come under congressional fire for its sexual and scatological explicitness, John Fleck has decided to jump the gun and use it to protest the Helms amendment to the National Endowment for the Arts budget bill that would curtail government financing. So prior to his 10:30 p.m. un subsidized show Friday and Saturday, Fleck is planning a mock protest outside the Tiffany Theater, next to an effigy of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) with its hands tied and a sign that says “Jesse, keep your hands off my work.” Mild by Fleck standards, but to the point.

NEW YORK AD-LIBS: Wouldn’t you know it? A musical comedy thriller called “City of Angels” will have its opening Nov. 14 not in Los Angeles (where it is set) but at New York’s Virginia Theater. Music is by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel and book by Larry Gelbart. . . . Jude Narita, whose award-winning “Coming Into Passion/Song for a Sansei” closes Sunday at Theatre 6111, will be on her way with this one-woman exploration of the lives of Asian women to New York’s People’s Playhouse where “Passion” opens Oct. 5 for nine weeks. . . . And four years after playing the Mark Taper Forum to very mixed reviews, Marsha Norman’s “Traveler in the Dark” gets some Eastern exposure--at New York’s York Theater, in January.