Basehart Theatre Taking Root in Community : Stage: Cynthia Baer is a force behind the scenes as the Woodland Hills company begins its fifth season.

Cynthia Baer is not a one-woman band. But she comes close.

By day, Baer is artistic director of the Richard Basehart Theatre in Woodland Hills, overseeing all the production, administrative and business goings-on that accompany running a small theater. By night, she puts on her creative cap and becomes Madame Director.

Last weekend, her staging of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s romance musical “The Fantasticks” (which bowed on Broadway in 1960 and is still running) opened at the theater, launching its fifth season.

“Every morning when I come in, there are 25 or 30 calls to be answered,” she said ruefully. “I’d love to have a staff. But I believe if you have two nickels to rub together, they should be spent on the production.” Company dues and ticket sales support the theater--”and we work hard for our money,” Baer said. “We’re a corporation, though not nonprofit. Of course, we never do make a profit!”

The seeds of the theater were planted in the early ‘80s when Baer and longtime friend Richard Basehart began gathering with young actors in their respective living rooms, reading plays “and enjoying spending time together,” she said.

Their first official home was the Jockey Club in Marina del Rey; a year later, they were offered space at the West End Theatre in Van Nuys. Two years ago, they moved to their present site, a small shopping center on Victory Boulevard.

“It was a space--just a space,” emphasized the director-producer, who began her career as an actress on the New York stage. “It had been a machine shop: 4,000 square feet, a sprinkler system and three roughed-out restrooms.” Since, it has been lovingly remodeled and decorated and has begun to establish itself in the community.

“I just wish we were more well-known,” she lamented. “I can’t tell you how many people say to me, ‘I didn’t know you were here.’ ”

Basehart never lived to see this space (he died in 1984), but it was important to Baer that the theater be named for him. Over the course of 16 productions, she said, she is most proud of “Little Mary Sunshine,” “The Mousetrap,” “Veronica’s Room,” “The Sunshine Boys,” “Philadelphia, Here I Come” and--”I’m going to stick my neck out here”--”The Fantasticks.”

Speaking of their original vision for the company (60 rotating members, with 20 to 25 now active), she said: “We wanted the idea of old pros and young people working together. . . . We also wanted it to be a place of socializing.”

At the company’s Tuesday night actor-writer workshops, food is plentiful “and everyone works on whatever they choose, from ‘Medea’ to new work to ‘Barefoot in the Park,’ ” Baer said. “I don’t like rules. It’s a very nourishing, loving environment.”

“The Fantasticks,” too, is a labor of love. Baer saw it on its opening night 31 years ago in New York and has long cherished the idea of mounting it herself.

“It’s a wonderful show; I love the score,” she said. “It’s about illusion, the grass being greener, growing up--but it’s not at all sugary. I can see why it’s run so long in New York: It’s timeless.” The setting? “Vague. It’s not today. We’re not wearing old-fashioned clothes, but it’s like you’re seeing it from a distance.”

Actor Brian Mitchell (“Trapper John, M.D.”) plays El Gallo and is also a longtime fan of the show.

“It’s almost like the role was written for me,” he said half-jokingly. “The character has humor, mystery and a lot of darkness--all the things that appeal to me as an actor and that I’m able to do well.

“And Cynthia’s one of those directors that allows actors to play, gives them the freedom to create, come up with stuff of their own.” His only gripe? “ ‘Try to Remember’ is the hardest song to learn,” Mitchell said. “The lyrics are so interchangeable.”

“The Fantasticks” plays indefinitely at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays at the Richard Basehart Theatre, 21028-B Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills. Admission: $15 to $18. Call: (818) 704-1845.