A Home for the Performing Arts : Lancaster’s high-tech center premieres next week, after years of planning, as the Antelope Valley’s only theater for live shows. Henry Mancini will headline the gala program on opening night

When the Lancaster Performing Arts Center opens next week it will be not only the first major theater in the Antelope Valley, it will be that area’s only theater.

Until now, the quarter of a million people in the valley have had to make do with makeshift stages in banquet halls, social clubs and classrooms. The Antelope Valley Symphony played its concerts in a gymnasium. The local branch of the Community Concert Assn. held its performances in a church.

But the Performing Arts Center--which officially opens Nov. 22 with a gala program headlined by Henry Mancini--is no amateur project. The theater, located in the middle of Lancaster’s down-at-the-heels downtown district, is a 758-seat, high-tech, African mahogany-paneled facility that would probably be the envy of any developing city.

The construction and land cost about $10 million, and that’s just to open the doors. Operating the theater for the first season alone will cost the city an estimated $680,000.

City officials say it is worth it.

“This is not just about entertainment,” said City Manager Jim Gilley, standing on the stage of the arts center while workers attended to final preparations for opening. “It’s not just about the arts. A facility like this says something about who we are in this city.

“It tells people that we’re not just the ‘land of low-cost housing’ anymore.”

It was low-cost housing in the 1980s that took Lancaster from a sleepy desert outpost to a boom town that could entertain thoughts of artistic endeavors. In 1987, for example, when the average price for a home in the San Fernando Valley hit $270,000, the average price in the Antelope Valley was $119,000.

With people heading north for these bargains, the population of Lancaster more than doubled in 10 years, going from 48,027 in the 1980 census to 97,291 in 1990.

Diversity in the arts did not grow on the same curve as the population. “Just about the only cultural attractions here, outside of local groups, were those presented at the Antelope Valley Fair,” said Susan Davis, the city’s cultural arts superintendent, “and those were mostly country-and-Western groups.”

In the mid-1980s, the city commissioned a group of theater consultants to develop a performing arts center plan. The proposal the group submitted was a fantasy that included an outdoor amphitheater and two indoor theaters--one with 2,000 seats and the other with 450. The projected cost: $27 million.

That was far more than twice what the city wanted to spend, but the quest for a realistic theater plan continued, fueled in part by the plans of Palmdale--Lancaster’s smaller neighbor and archrival to the south--to build its own theater complex.

Although smaller, Palmdale had been disproportionately successful in attracting new businesses to the area. That city was the site of the Antelope Valley’s first mall and its first auto plaza, and it was working on plans for the area’s first major theater.

Lancaster did not want to be left behind and, although there had been some talk about the two cities pooling resources to build a theater to share, there was too much bad blood between them for that to work.

By the late 1980s Lancaster had pared its plans down to a 758-seat theater and decided, after a bitter council battle, on the downtown site although other locations would have been less expensive. Downtown merchants, who had seen several businesses close or move to outlying areas, said they needed the boost.

Construction began on the site of a former movie theater in May, 1989.

In the meantime, Palmdale’s hoped-for theater has been bogged down in political and financial squabbles and is still in the planning stage.

At the time of groundbreaking in Lancaster, city officials said their theater would cost $7.5 million and would include state-of-the-art electronics to control scenery and lights, ample fly space to accommodate large backdrops and shower-equipped dressing rooms for visiting performers.

The theater was designed by the Rancho Cucamonga firm of Wolff/Lang/Christopher, which had done several community centers in Southern California, including Buena Park’s civic arts center. The theater consultant was John von Szeliski, who served in the same capacity for the Orange County Performing Arts Center and several other theaters.

For Von Szeliski, the biggest challenge presented by the Lancaster project was fitting it into the space the city had bought. “It was a very tight site,” he said from his office in Newport Beach, “so we twisted it 45 degrees to make the dimensions work better.”

The design included several upgrades--such as better seats, additional wood treatments and a movable orchestra shell--that would be implemented only if a private foundation created for this purpose could raise the needed funds. The goal set for the foundation was $420,000.

But after a 1 1/2 years of fund raising, the foundation far exceeded its goal.

“At this point we already have pledges for $583,000,” said Lou Bozigian of Mid-Valley Real Estate in Lancaster, who is foundation president. He added that the organization will probably continue until at least $1 million is raised.

“With this money we can underwrite special presentations at the theater,” he said. “We can get into endowment giving on an ongoing basis.”

The construction process did not go nearly as smoothly as the fund raising. Partway through the project the contractor declared bankruptcy, which delayed construction for several months until another contractor took over. In October, 1990, an 87-year-old woman on a group tour of the site died after falling 20 feet from a staircase into the orchestra pit.

The accident did not cause additional delays, but litigation is continuing.

And in addition to the final price tag of $10 million, the city spent about $3 million on nearby parking facilities.

Out of the $680,000 operating budget, $150,000 was earmarked for artist fees. Booking the artists was Davis’ responsibility.

“We went to the council and asked what they wanted to see in the theater, and what they wanted was an amazing variety,” she said.

The City Council “wanted not just theater, not just music, but a little something for everyone,” she said.

With that kind of mandate, Davis booked the inaugural season, which includes appearances by veteran entertainer Shirley Jones, the avant-garde Joe Goode Performance Group dance company, magician Harry Blackstone, the Oakland Ballet, the highly political San Francisco Mime Troupe, a touring company of “Nunsense” and such culturally diverse groups as Repertorio Espanol and A Traveling Jewish Theatre.

Davis expects that some of the groups will cause controversy and for some, including the San Francisco Mime Troupe, which will be presenting its updated version of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, she plans to include warnings in the ticket brochure that the show deals with controversial themes and language some might find objectionable.

Still, she is sure that even fairly benign presentations will stir up dissent. “I’ll probably get complaints about ‘Nunsense,’ ” she said of the popular comedy about a group of nuns who stage a talent show to raise money for their church.

“I think this is a warm, affectionate show, but there will always be those who think otherwise.”

But Davis feels that in programming it is vital that she does not stick to the tried and true. “We have an obligation as a civic center of exposing people to different things in the performing arts,” she said.

“Bringing in Broadway musicals and middle-of-the-road acts is fine. But the idea is not to just have a whole season of Shirley Jones.”

Only time will tell how the City Council, which controls the all-important purse strings, will react if constituents speak out against the programming. The council already bowed to pressure from conservative members of the community to ban all sales of alcohol at the theater, although it made an exception for the sold-out opening gala so that champagne and wine could be served at a reception.

The theater will generate income through ticket sales and rentals, but it will still need a hefty subsidy every year from the city if it is to continue at the pace set in the first season.

The city can’t rely on an increasing tax base to finance the theater operation. Because of the recession, the financial picture in Lancaster is considerably less rosy than when construction started. Shortly after groundbreaking, the average price of a single-family home in the Antelope Valley hit a high of $158,950. This fall that dropped to $137,900.

Some developers in the valley have gone out of business, others have greatly scaled down housing projects and sold off homes at far less than the original asking prices.

City Manager Gilley said he will continue to support ample funding for the arts center, even in this tight economic climate. “This can only be good for us,” he said, gesturing toward the outside of the theater. “If we bring in the president of some corporation that is considering putting in a plant here, imagine what it will do for us if we can bring him to a building like this and show him what is available in this city.

“Like I said, this building is not just for entertainment. It’s an investment for the future.”

Lancaster Performing Arts Center’s First Season

* Henry Mancini/Gloria Loring--Nov. 22 (sold out)

* Oakland Ballet’s “The Nutcracker”--Dec. 4-5

* Nebraska Theatre Caravan’s “A Christmas Carol”--Dec. 11

* Antelope Valley Dance Theatre--Dec. 12-13

* Parachute Express--Group performs songs for children. Dec. 14

* Shirley Jones--Dec. 21

* “The Boys of Autumn”--Jan. 5

* Harry Blackstone--Jan. 24-25

* “Nunsense”--Jan. 30

* A Traveling Jewish Theatre--Feb. 13-14

* Antelope Valley Symphony & Dance Theatre--Feb. 29, March 1

* Famous People Players--March 10

* Repertorio Espanol--March 22

* Theatre for Young Audiences--March 28-29, April 4-5

* San Francisco Mime Troupe--April 9-10

* Joe Goode Performance Group--April 11

* Antelope Valley Jazz Ensemble--April 24

* Antelope Valley Dance Theatre--June 5-6

The Lancaster Performing Arts Center is located at 750 W. Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster. Ticket prices vary from $5 to $30, depending on the show. Season subscriptions are available. Information: (805) 723-5950.