New Year Holds Promise of New Works at Starlight

Don and Bonnie Ward, co-artistic directors of Starlight Musical Theatre, got just the holiday present they wanted when James Dark, who was elected president of the Starlight Board on Dec. 18, restored the budget item for developing new work that had been slashed earlier that month.

“I think it will be a very good year,” said Dark on the phone from his home, where he was recovering from a bout with laryngitis. “I’m appointing a new works committee, and we’ve looked at quite a number of new shows that are commissioned. Hopefully, we will do one new show in 1991. And we will probably continue with producing standard Broadway-type musicals that are new to Starlight.”

That’s just the kind of endorsement for new work that the Wards wanted to hear.

“In this past year, Jim Dark has been the head of the production committee and because of that, he’s had more input to and from Don and Bonnie Ward than anyone else has on the board,” said Don Ward. “He is a man who shares our vision of ‘Let’s get a new production going.’ Although I don’t have any but good comments to make about Marshall (Lucas, the outgoing president), I think it’s a very positive thing.”

Dark, dean of the school of humanities and radio and television at San Diego City College and an active member of the Starlight Board since 1981, replaces Lucas, who left with one year to serve.

Lucas, who will remain a board member, said he stepped down to devote more time to his marketing business. In a way, one could say Lucas is stepping down because of the Wards or rather their son, Kelly Ward. On a trip to San Diego to see the Starlight production of “Dreamgirls” last year, Kelly Ward, who works on the Hanna Barbera cartoons “Mr. Fantastic” and “Super Ted,” introduced Lucas to his friend, the cartoons’ creator, Mike Young.

Young asked Lucas to handle the merchandising of his cartoon characters; Lucas just signed the deal this week.

One of Dark’s first projects for Starlight is to find a replacement for former executive producer Harris Goldman, who parted with Starlight after artistic differences among Goldman, the Wards and the board in 1989. One painful point of conflict centered on a new show Goldman wanted to premiere at the Spreckels Theatre, “A Change in the Heir,” that was shot down by the board.

Dark made it clear that the new appointment would be a business manager and not an artistic one.

Is that a relief to the Wards?

“In a word, ‘Yes,’ ” said Don Ward.

Along with an emphasis on new work for Starlight, Dark plans to explore new venues. Dark and the Wards say they will not abandon the Starlight Bowl, a favorite with their patrons despite the increasing air traffic, but they are considering for a winter season a number of indoor sites, from Kit Carson Park in Escondido to the East County Performing Arts Center in El Cajon. They would also consider a new outdoor amphitheater which, according to rumors, may be built next to the new Convention Center or Broadway.

In the meantime, the Wards, with Dark’s backing, have requested space at the Lyceum Stage for what they hope will be a two-play mini-season in March, 1991. The dates have not been confirmed; San Diego Repertory Theatre, which manages the space, said another group has requested the space for the same time. But the intent is clear. Starlight needs and wants a smaller space for new works and for more intimate, smaller-cast productions.

“Because of the unfortunate events of last year, people think the plans to do new work are going to seep back into the swamp,” said Don Ward. “I’m determined it’s not going to happen, and I’m sure that Jim shares that feeling.

“We have something cooking that we hope to see develop very shortly. I hate to talk about it because I’ve been close to this so many times, but there’s something about the atmosphere right now within the organization that I feel very good about. The seed money for the development is there, and so I think maybe it will happen quickly even though a full production won’t happen till 1991.”

PROGRAM NOTES: Lamb’s Players Theatre is already planning an extension of its October hit, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” The show, which will return to the Lamb’s Players stage Jan. 10-28, will continue its run at the Lyceum Space Feb. 1-25. . . .

Overlapping with the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s final play of the season, a musical about animal rights called “Animal Nation,” is, appropriately, an animal-rights, multimedia presentation called “Bless the Beasts” by the Unicorn Foundation at the Lyceum Stage Jan. 19 at 6 and 8 p.m. “Animal Nation,” a world premiere still undergoing revisions, closes Jan. 21. Also scheduled at the Lyceum Stage during the Rep’s dark months:

“The Dybbuk,” presented by the Travelling Jewish Theatre, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m.

“Bill Wright Sings Gershwin,” Jan. 20 at 8 p.m.

“A Salute to the Masters with Marshall Royal and Joe Wilder,” San Diego Jazz Society, Jan. 27 at 8 p.m.

Adrian Stewart, managing director of the San Diego Rep, speaking on “Managing Theatre: A Look from the Inside Out,” sponsored by UC San Diego Jan. 29 at 7 p.m.

“Hello, Dolly!,” produced by United States International University Feb. 14-March 11.

Meanwhile, the San Diego Rep’s Thursday night series, WordWorks, continues with a reading of “Down the Pike” by Bill Corbett, Jan. 25. The play was a co-winner of Actors Theatre of Louisville one-act competition last year. And Underground at the Lyceum is on hold while producer Judy Milstein waits to hear if she has landed a role in “China Beach.”. . .

Patricia Elmore, artistic director of the San Diego Actors Theatre, has a venue for A.R. Gurney’s “The Perfect Party,” and it’s The Elizabeth North Theatre. The show will run from Feb. 2-25.

Velina Hasu Houston, the author of “Tea” at the Cassius Carter Centre Stage, will return to the Cassius Carter for a reading of “Albatross,” a drama about a successful young woman whose efforts to aid a drifter end in disaster. “Albatross,” to be presented Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m., is the first of six Old Globe Play Discovery Program readings in 1990 and will be followed by a discussion including Houston, her director, Julianne Boyd, and the actors. . . . Amnesty International lobbied for the release of former dissident--and now president--of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel, in his hours of need. Now Olive Blakistone, artistic director of North Coast Repertory Theatre, will dedicate the proceeds from the Feb. 21 performance of Havel’s play, “The Memorandum,” to Amnesty International. The actors, too, are donating their time.