‘Seduced’ Closes as Fire Officials Shut the Theater

The Progressive Stage Company’s theater in the Gaslamp Quarter was shut down by the fire department Tuesday for being in violation of fire codes.

Sledgehammer Theatre, which had leased the space to show its production of Sam Shepard’s “Seduced,” has suspended performances pending negotiations with the fire department.

The show was scheduled to run Thursdays to Sundays through Oct. 27 on the stage at 433 G St.

In addition, Jorge Huerta and William Virchis, the co-founders of Teatro Mascara Magica, a Latino theater troupe that had a simultaneous six-month lease at the Progressive, also were turned away from the space when they went there to work Wednesday.

Assistant Fire Marshal Sam Oates said the fire department shut the space down because it had been changed from an office to a theater without permits. He also cited non-treated detrital material and numerous electrical violations.

The space had been open and closed by the fire department in February of 1989, but Oates said he was unaware of that fact. Carlos X. Pena, founder and director of Progressive Stage, reported that the company was allowed to reopen under the conditions that it move from an upstairs space to a downstairs space and that it keep its occupancy at less than 50 people.

Pena said by phone Thursday that he believed he had complied with all of the fire department’s requirements in February of 1989.

But Pena said that he is “tired of being hassled” and plans to leave the space without a fight. The building is owned by Charles Tyson, and Pena has rented it on a month-to-month basis for the past 30 months.

However, the “No Admittance” sign posted by the fire department was totally unexpected by members of Sledgehammer Theatre who had already booked the space for their next show, Georg Buchner’s “Leonce and Lena.”

“We were acquainted with the Progressive Stage Company and were aware of their problems with the fire martial in 1989, but were assured when we booked the space for this show that everything had been cleared up,” said Ethan Feerst, executive director of Sledgehammer.

“At this point, Sledgehammer has been talking to the fire marshal directly and we have offered to pay to have a marshal on standby so that we might finish out the remaining eleven performances. We are willing to cooperate with them in any way we can and hope that they will give Sledgehammer some kind of temporary occupancy so we can continue through the 27th.”

Feerst said he is in “positive negotiations” with the Old Globe Theater about staging “Leonce and Lena,” in the Cassius Carter Centre Stage in November.

The news also came as a surprise to the co-founders of Teatro Mascara Magica.

According to Ginger Huerta, wife of artistic director Jorge Huerta, her husband and co-founder and producing director William Virchis threw up their hands when they walked up to the front door at the Progressive Wednesday and saw the sign.

“They were in shock,” she said.