San Diego Repertory Stands by Bilingual Plays : Theater: Despite disappointments and apparent audience indifference, the theater remains committed to producing plays in English and Spanish.

When the San Diego Repertory Theatre launched its first bilingual production more than two years ago, artistic director Douglas Jacobs seemed cautiously optimistic, whereas his co-director on the project, Jorge Huerta, appeared defiantly optimistic.

Today, as the Rep’s third bilingual production prepares to debut, that optimism has come head to head with reality. Spanish-speaking patrons are not storming the theater to buy out the house, but the Rep’s commitment to this program is stronger than it was Nov. 11, 1988, when “Burning Patience” launched Teatro Sin Fronteras (Theater Without Boundaries).

Jacobs seemed to be hoping as much as he was speculating during a lunchtime interview back then, that there might be an audience out there for such fare.

Huerta, a bilingual professor at UC San Diego whose parents were born in Mexico, seemed sure that the masses of Spanish-speaking people on both sides of the Mexican-American border were hungry for the proper programming.

“Man of the Flesh,” opening tonight at the Lyceum Space, was written and translated by Octavio Solis and is a contemporary version of the Don Juan story set on the Mexican holiday, the Day of the Dead. It is co-directed by Huerta and Sam Woodhouse, the Rep’s producing director.

In 1989, a far-less confident Huerta directed the Teatro Sin Fronteras’ second effort, the bilingual production of “Orinoco!” He confessed to anxiety lest a poor turnout translate into a cancellation of the program.

After all, there is a reason that no other mainstream theater in this country invests in bilingual productions. The Old Globe, which has earmarked at least one slot a year for a Latino play for the last three years, tried one production, “Fanlights,” in alternating English and Spanish performances, for the first and last time on the mainstage in 1983.

For one, the audience has to be built--slowly. And despite the remarkable critical and popular success of “Burning Patience,” the Spanish-speaking audiences were not as large as anyone had hoped. As Huerta will acknowledge now, Latino audiences are not in the theatergoing habit. They require wooing.

“I remember the nervousness of ‘Burning Patience,’ ” said the Rep’s managing director Adrian Stewart. “There’s always a one-by-one audience building. It’s no question it’s been tough.”

Then, too, the actors have to learn two scripts. If there isn’t a Spanish translation, one has to be commissioned, as one was commissioned from playwright Solis from his original English script. And, because the Spanish performances are not part of subscription ticket sales, the theater has to sell single tickets for all such performances with no guarantee of even a minimum audience.

So far, according to a spokeswoman, the theater has sold no more than “a handful” of tickets for the seven Spanish performances, which start Jan. 18. But sales do tend to increase later in the run, as word of mouth catches on, the spokeswoman added.

It may seem crazy for the San Diego Rep to pursue this project at a time of fiscal crisis, in which the production of this very show, along with the next one, “The Life and Life of Bumpy Johnson,” was declared in doubt a scant few weeks ago.

Might the program be vulnerable? As cuts are made, how close to the edge is Teatro Sin Fronteras?

Not close at all, insist Woodhouse and Stewart. In fact, they put Teatro Sin Fronteras right at the heart of San Diego Rep programming.

“This is not a satellite program,” Woodhouse said emphatically. “It is at the center of the artistic plan for the theater, and it will only be expanded.”

“It is part of where we believe the future lies,” Stewart added. “It represents hundreds of thousands of people who have been ignored.”

Certainly, the numbers are impressive.

In 1990, there were 623,000 Latinos in San Diego County, according to a population estimate by the Hispanic Policy Development Project, derived from the U.S. Bureau of the Census. That same study calculated that there would be 950,000 Latinos here by the year 2,000.

According to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, that translates into an annual buying power of $3.1 billion for Latinos in San Diego in 1990.

But all this represents a potential rather than an actual audience.

Last year’s attendance at the bilingual production of “Orinoco!” was 70% to 80% capacity for just six Spanish performances in a 250-seat house.

That was a drop from “Burning Patience” sales, which was about the same capacity but for nine shows. To help get the word out on “Man of the Flesh,” the Rep this summer created the Teatro Sin Fronteras Advisory Council, which acts as a bridge between the theater and the Latino community.

One of its members, Andrea Skorepa, is executive director of a social community service organization, Casa Familiar/Amanecer, based in San Ysidro.

For Skorepa, the theater’s program is important not only in reaching the Spanish-speaking community, but in sending a message to the larger community.

“We have a very large percentage of our community that feels more comfortable in Spanish than in English,” said Skorepa. “I know a lot of people who go to Tijuana to see plays. (The Rep) provides a service to them that they wouldn’t ordinarily have.

Although she expects a good turnout this year, Skorepa appreciates that the Rep’s commitment to the programming is not conditional on the numbers.

“You have to know it’s not going to start out like gangbusters, but if it’s worthy, it will prove you out in the end.”

The Rep has received some money for Teatro Sin Fronteras, mostly in the form of a $35,000 challenge grant from the California Arts Council. It needs to raise three times the amount of the grant to receive it, however. Given the current fiscal climate at the Rep, the organization requested and received an extension from the end of 1990 to end of February.

Not only isn’t the Rep thinking of cutting back on Teatro Sin Fronteras, the company is thinking of adding more Spanish performances, said both Woodhouse and Stewart. There is also a continuing commitment to include an English-language play with a Latino theme along with the bilingual offering each year. That would continue a series of plays like the Rep-produced “I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinkin’ Badges,” “Thin Air” and the popular “Latins Anonymous.”

Then there is also Woodhouse’s dream of producing a Latin American play, complete with a guest Latin American director, designer and composer. And, in the meantime, whatever happens with ticket sales, does the show go on?

“Por supuesto,” said Woodhouse, using what he calls his favorite Spanish expression. Of course.

The seven Spanish performances will be at 8 p.m Jan. 18, 2 p.m. Jan.19, 2 p.m. Jan. 26, 2 p.m. and 8p.m. Feb. 2, and 2p.m. and 7 p.m. Feb. 3. Tickets are the same price as English performances: $15 for previews, $18 for weekdays and $22 for Fridays and Saturdays.