Curtain Going Up on Center : Arts: After years of controversy, the $13-million Torrance complex is ready to open. The stage is set with a gala tonight, followed by a week of activities.

An aura of nervous anticipation and energy surrounded the gleaming new Torrance Cultural Arts Center early this week.

Workers hurried from room to room, testing telephones and connecting cables. The smell of fresh paint pervaded the dance studios and dressing rooms. Lighting experts sliced up sheets of colored gel, creating screens so stage lights will emit shades of blue, yellow and pink.

A worker patrolled the theater, inspecting the tiny louvers on the aisle seats. “Hey, Ray. This louver’s upside down,” he called out urgently. Another worker rushed to repair it.

Both onstage and off, the center exuded the tense activity that is common on a stage set just before opening night.

And this opening night is especially formidable.

After years of debate and revision, the city has completed its much-prized Cultural Arts Center. Tonight at 8, the curtain will go up on what city leaders hope will be a new cultural era in Torrance.

“It’s the completion of a circle for Torrance as a complete city,” said Mayor Katy Geissert, who helped spearhead the effort to create the center. “This has been a missing factor--facilities to develop people’s creative talents and to enjoy the arts.”

The collection of new facilities--including the 503-seat theater, the art studios and a Japanese garden--will go on official display this weekend, starting with a black-tie-optional gala dinner and performance tonight.

Opening festivities continue with a weeklong series of musical, dance and martial arts activities.

For Geissert and others who have fought for the center, this evening is a sweet victory.

Amid a recession, in an era when both public and private arts funding has been scant, city leaders have built a 64,000-square-foot arts complex. And the $13-million cost was paid for primarily with city funds, supplemented by corporate and private donations.

Planning for the center has been beset with challenges.

Even the $100-a-ticket opening night gala became engulfed in controversy when the city invited singer Susan Anton to be “special guest” for the premiere show, which will also feature pianist Robert Haag and the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay. Anton was recommended by her former agent, Alan M. Schwartz, a businessman and grandson of one of Torrance’s founding fathers.

Some called the choice of Anton inappropriate, saying the opening night should have showcased either a better-known artist or local talent. But the city stuck by its decision, saying that its budget is tight and that Anton had agreed to perform for only $3,000, all of which will go to her musicians.

The tempest over Anton was relatively mild compared to the years of debate that preceded it.

Twenty years ago, initial efforts to build an arts center were halted when voters turned down a bond measure that would have earmarked $1 million for a community theater.

In the early 1980s, the city tried again. A consultant recommended construction of a theater with 400 or 500 seats, along with exercise rooms, arts studios and a meeting hall.

That plan sparked long-winded debate over whether Torrance needed a cultural center at all. Some argued that any complex should be funded entirely with private donations.

Finally, the City Council in 1985 voted to issue more than $9 million in bonds for the project. But another snafu developed when architectural plans came in $7 million above budget. The city fired one architect, hired another and started the design process over again.

The city sought corporate support to complete the project. Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. gave $500,000; the Francis P. Torino Foundation and Watt Homes Inc. each gave $250,000.

Epson America Inc. contributed the $350,000 Japanese garden that is the center’s focal point. Named the Sho Fu En, or Pine Wind Garden, it was designed by Japanese landscape architect Takeo Uesugi and includes waterfalls and plantings of both Japanese and California pines.

The complex is not an imposing edifice; it sits away from major thoroughfares, tucked among other city offices. But city officials hope that residents of Torrance and other area cities will grow accustomed to coming to it for theater, music and other events.

These are not the best economic times for the arts, experts acknowledge.

“This is a tough time to be opening a facility,” said Vincent Beggs, executive director of the Palos Verdes Arts Center, which has seen a recent increase in students but a decline in contributions. He warned that Torrance will need to market its new center aggressively.

“Whether they can fill their theater and fill their classes remains to be seen,” he said.

The new Torrance theater is comparable in size to the 450-seat theater at the Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts in Rolling Hills Estates, where Director Peter Lesnik said he welcomes the competition.

The South Bay currently does not have an over-supply of theaters, he said.

“The more theaters you have in a given area, the more likely people will be drawn to those theaters. It’s like Restaurant Row. It’s like Theater Row in New York. . . . I see that as a very positive thing.”

Celebrating the Cultural Arts Center Torrance is celebrating the opening of its new Cultural Arts Center with a weeklong series of arts events at the center’s theater, plaza and other facilities.

The theater opens its doors tonight with an gala dinner and sold-out musical performance. The gala will kick off the week’s activities.

Most events are free. Tickets for other events are available from the center’s ticket office or by calling 781-7171.

SATURDAY

* 10 a.m. Formal dedication, Torino Plaza.

* Noon. Trachen Kapella Retzstaad, Bavarian band, Torino Plaza.

* 1 p.m. Witcher Brothers Band, bluegrass-country and Western group, Torino Plaza.

* 1 p.m. South Bay Conservatory, “Gerald McBoing Boing” and “Where the Wild Things Are,” Armstrong Theatre ($5).

* 2 p.m. Naginata demonstration, Japanese women’s martial arts, Dance Studio 1.

* 2 p.m. South Bay Area Square Dancers, Torino Plaza.

* 3 p.m. Zenshuji Zen De Ko, Japanese drums, Torino Plaza.

* 4 p.m. The Gold Ring, Featuring Cait Reed, Irish music, Torino Plaza.

* 5 p.m. America Indigena Cuica-Calli, music and dance, 5 p.m., Torino Plaza.

* 8 p.m. “A Look at the Arts in Torrance” with the Jane Hardester Singers, South Bay Ballet and South Bay Light Opera (with a condensed version of “H.M.S. Pinafore”), Armstrong Theatre ($25 for adults, $15 for children).

SUNDAY

* Noon. Laughing Coyote Readings, Joslyn Gallery.

* Noon. South Bay Area Square Dancers, Torino Plaza.

* 1 p.m. Crossroads, bluegrass band, Torino Plaza.

* 1 p.m. South Bay Ballet with “Peter and the Wolf” and “Circus Shostakovich,” Armstrong Theatre ($5).

* 2 p.m. Korean Classical Music and Dance Company, musicians and dancers, Torino Plaza.

* 3 p.m. Kendo Demonstration, Japanese men’s martial arts, Dance Studio 1.

* 3 p.m. Dancers, St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church, Torino Plaza.

* 4 p.m. Freeway Philharmonic, string-based quartet featuring a mix of classical, pop and jazz music, Torino Plaza.

* 5 p.m. Okinawa Dancing School, Torino Plaza.

* 8 p.m. Jazz Tap Ensemble and Friends, jazz musicians and dancers, Armstrong Theatre ($25 for adults, $15 for children).

MONDAY

* 8 p.m. Torrance Civic Chorale, Armstrong Theatre ($10).

WEDNESDAY

* 7:30 p.m. “Pops Opera Gala” with the Torrance Opera Company, Armstrong Theatre ($20 for adults, $10 for children).

FRIDAY

* 6 p.m. Evening of Dining and Dancing with the Esquires, Big Band dance music, Community Meeting Hall ($50 per person).

Center Facts * Facilities: 503-seat theater, eight art and dance studios, community meeting hall, children’s art wing, 14,000-square-foot plaza with open-air stage and Japanese garden.

* Location: 3330 Civic Center Drive, off Madrona Avenue north of Torrance Boulevard.

* History: Formal planning started in 1981. Groundbreaking was February, 1990.

* Architect: Liebhardt Botton & Associates.

* Cost: $13 million.