Work With ‘Cherry Orchard’ Puts Choreographer Isaacs on New Footing

Dance is arguably the least important artistic element in the La Jolla Playhouse production of “The Cherry Orchard.” Though the entire third act takes place at a dance, only a smattering of the action in this staging of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece focuses on dancing.

Nevertheless, for Three’s Company co-founder Jean Isaacs--the first local dance maker to choreograph a major La Jolla Playhouse production--working with the playhouse in this Russian saga of social change was a career high.

“How could I do any better than the La Jolla Playhouse?” she asked in a break from rehearsals at the Mandell Weiss Theatre. “It’s the most professional level I’ve ever worked at. The dancing is minimal, but the whole company is involved. And the Playhouse is just such a wonderful organization to be part of.”

Isaacs, whose musical theater credits include the long-running San Diego Rep hit show, “Working” and Starlight’s “Brigadoon,” noted that choreographing for a “straight” play has its own set of challenges. It is not dance for dance’s sake.

“It’s very structured and precise in what it’s supposed to do,” she pointed out. “I choreographed a little Russian folk dance, and actually, there’s a lot of dance going on. But, except for a few minutes, it all takes place behind a screen. Its purpose is to advance the action and give it flavor. That’s the important thing when you’re choreographing for a play.”

Alan Levey, managing director of the playhouse, views Isaacs’ role as choreographer “a natural evolution. We’ve had a relationship with Jean and Three’s Company for years now, so when (director) Tom Moore said he wanted a choreographer to work with, she was the first name that came up.

“Because of the nature of our work, we look nationally for talent,” Levey acknowledged, “but whenever we can, we’ll use local people. We firmly believe there’s (a pool of local talent) who can fill the bill. Jean’s work is a principal part of the third act party scene.”

Although teaching and creating concert dance is Isaacs’ priority now that she has retired from performing, she also works with theater majors at UC San Diego.

And one of her students--dancer Tracey Leigh, a second-year major in the university’s master of fine arts program who will intern with Three’s Company this summer, also found her way into “The Cherry Orchard.”

“I auditioned for Tom Moore, and I got the part of the maid. Every (student) has to have a residency in the second year, but you usually end up like a spear carrier--not doing very much. I’ve got a real speaking role. And I’m not treated like a child. I feel very welcome in the cast.”

Leigh does no more dancing than the rest of the cast, but she’s convinced that dance, her undergraduate major, helps her in acting.

“I’m more aware of my body, and (dance training) gives me a lot of stamina.”