Christmas Dinner With ‘Family’ of Theatre Ensemble

Although the title might imply otherwise, the emphasis is on nondenominational holiday cheer in Thornton Wilder’s “The Long Christmas Dinner,” making its second annual appearance Thursday at the Pacific Theatre Ensemble in Venice.

“It’s a participatory celebration,” explained Artistic Director Stephanie Shroyer, who’s recreating the evening that was developed last year by group members Anthony Grumbach and D. Paul Yeuell. “When you come in, there’s singing, mulled wine and cider, holiday goodies. Then you sit back and watch this beautiful tapestry of 90 years of family holiday dinners--of births and deaths, families getting along and not getting along, families doing well economically and not doing well. . . .”

In conjunction with the show, the theater is also reprising its annual food drive to benefit the Westside Food Bank; last year, it gathered more than 2,000 pounds of goods.

As an added incentive, theatergoers will get $1 off the $13 admission if they bring a can of food. “We have a definite commitment to the community--like the free Shakespeare on the pier,” said Shroyer, 31, referring to the company’s staging of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” on the Santa Monica Pier in August.

“We got a $15,000 grant from the city--and raised $25,000 ourselves in two months in order to produce that,” she added proudly. “We’re not here to say that Southern California needs PTE; there’s incredible art all around us. But we do have something to offer, and if the community wants to watch us do our work, that’s fine. Right now we’re planning a theater exchange of Steven Morris’ ‘Aliens’ that will take place in Moscow in 1991.”

Formed in 1984 by a small group of artists (many of them alums of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre and Santa Maria’s PCPA Theaterfest), the company has developed a sturdy reputation for imaginative, large-cast, original works.

It has produced Daniel O’Connor’s “Slaughterhouse at Tanner’s Close”; Jamie Baker’s “Don’t Go Back to Rockville” and “South Central Rain”; and “June Second,” Paul Yeuell’s adaptation of William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury.”

“Fund raising is an absolute priority for us now,” said Shroyer, who began her term as artistic director last January. “We’re looking for a permanent home, where we can begin to go after a subscription audience. At our place now there are things we just cannot do, basically because it’s a storefront space. With fire ordinances, we can only have 35 in the audience, 55 total. That’s why we’ve had to go to places like the Tamarind, the Court--so that we can have a larger house.”

In the meantime, the rectangular space at 705 1/2 Venice Blvd. serves a valuable purpose for the 60-member cooperative. “When people pay their $30-a-month dues,” Shroyer said, “what they get is a chance to work within that workshop space. If you’re a member of PTE and would like to play Hedda Gabler, all you do is schedule a time with the time scheduler--then go in and do it, with the full support of the company. Not financial support. But lighting design, house manager, publicity and actors will be completely supplied.”

Shroyer comes to the company via an undergraduate

degree in physical education/dance, a master’s of fine arts in theater, and theater studies at ACT--where her credits as a movement specialist include the choreography of Laird Williamson’s “Macbeth.” Explaining the transition from dance to theater, she said: “When I got involved in dance, I found I didn’t just relate through my body. My body worked because my brain was telling a story. I found that my dance, my movement, kept leading me over to the theater department.

“I also have a definite interest in teaching,” she said. “When I was a student, I not only listened to what the teachers said, but how they taught--so that I’d be able to do that. See, I love so much what I do, I can’t help but want others to come along, do it too. It was never a feeling that I needed to be the only one doing it. I always thought, ‘Maybe there’s someone who’d enjoy doing this with me.’ Theater is a communal art, you know. It usually takes more than one.”

When it comes to leadership, Shroyer applies the same standards. “I’ve been a company scheduler; I’ve worked on a lot of committees,” she said of the days before her present job. “I love to be in the middle of things. I also come from a military background. My father’s a full-career Marine, always very much a team player. I want that same democratic way to go on here. This company shouldn’t be my vision, but a vision that’s shared by the group.”