New Director Takes Reins at the Theatre in Old Town

Given the current recession, which has left so many theaters struggling for survival, 1992 does not seem like the most auspicious time to take the reins of a new company.

But Paula Kalustian has no qualms about becoming the new artistic director of the 240-seat Theatre in Old Town. She got the position March 15, during the final extension of “Beehive,” which she directed. The show played for 11 weeks to sellout crowds.

Kalustian, 40, who also directs the master’s program in musical theater at San Diego State University, said she has nurtured the dream of running a theater for a long time. She will work under the aegis of the Francis W. Parker school, which will also present school productions at the Theatre in Old Town, including “Our Town,” opening April 30.

Kalustian succeeds Gordon Cantiello, who was the Theatre in Old Town’s first artistic director, since the Francis W. Parker School reopened the facility last year. It had previously been managed by United States International University, but they suspended their productions there in January of 1991 for financial reasons. Cantiello, a drama teacher at Francis W. Parker School, predicted that the theater could become successful by specializing in small musicals and offering Parker students an opportunity to work with professionals.

But, with Cantiello’s first four musical productions, the company struck out. Then Kalustian was hired to direct “Beehive,” and its success was great enough to warrant a second run: “Beehive” will reopen June 4 and may run all summer if demand warrants--the hiatus comes because Kalustian is directing “Into the Woods” at SDSU, and some of its performers also are in “Beehive.”

Kalustian brought a strong SDSU presence to “Beehive,” hiring many faculty designers and acting students from the university. She treads cautiously, however, when asked whether the Theatre in Old Town will have a continuing professional relationship with SDSU.

“Francis Parker School is not interested in this being a San Diego State theater; they’re interested in me,” Kalustian said. “I’m hoping to involve my students in the musical-theater program, but I have to be very careful. What we envision is a marriage between an educational program for the Francis Parker School and the theater.”

She also envisions tapping into the talents of friends she made during her years working in New York. Kalustian, who was born and raised in Santa Monica, earned her master’s in New York University’s musical theater program and assisted on and off Broadway until 1989. While there, she got to know Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music and lyrics for “Godspell” and “Pippin,” and is working on a new musical based on the Book of Genesis, called “Children of Eden.”

Kalustian hopes someday to get a small professional theater contract for the Theatre in Old Town. But for now, she wants to band together a group of ensemble artists and continue to use Equity guest-artist contracts where needed. This summer she plans to produce a children’s show and a historical piece to play at the theater during the day, while “Beehive” uses the theater at night.

“We’re going to schedule musical theater fare that is new here, small new shows, stuff coming out of New York. I’m looking for some hot properties. We hope to put some major major talent on the stage.”

Ensemble Arts Theatre, which specializes in American premieres of new plays from other countries, late last year lost its producing home of two years when the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company gave up its lease on its small (90-seat) space.

The decision came during Ensemble Arts’ run of “I Can’t Get Started.” The run was completed as planned, but Ensemble Arts was left looking for a new venue. Now the company will co-produce its next show, the American premiere of “The Touch” by Welsh playwright Peter Lloyd, with the 49-seat Fritz Theater at 338 7th Ave. The play, which opens June 4, is about sexual harassment in the medical profession.

Daniels said he plans to produce his own season at the Fritz, but will make the space available to groups “on a percentage basis, with a guarantee.”

Daniels is directing “The Adding Machine” by Elmer Rice through May 10 and David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” through April 25, at alternating times on the same stage. He’s planning a production of “Lilies in the Field” in June.

“I want to keep the place really busy,”’ Daniels said. “I would like it to be a place for young playwrights to get a chance to see their work on stage and to workshop new plays, productions and things that reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of downtown.” For reservations, call 233-7505.

Fresh Dish, which recently concluded a successful winter season presenting gay and lesbian performance artists, has a new series in the works. Los Angeles actor Michael Kearns will draw on his affair with Rock Hudson in his solo performance piece, “Rock,” a work about Hollywood, homosexuality and homophobia, May 29-30. Comic Lea Delaria will present “Bulldyke-in-Chinashop,” a collection of satirical pieces, June 13-14; composer and vocalist Marla BB will perform her “Sassy Mama Blues,” a set of original tunes, June 26, and a revue of original work by local performers will be presented in July at a date to be announced. All performances will be at Sushi Performance Gallery. Tickets are available at Blue Door Bookstore and Paradigm Women’s Books. Call 296-0306 for more information.

PROGRAM NOTES: “Meet Me In St. Louis” may be coming to San Diego, but not the version that played the Orange County Performing Arts Center last year. The Troika Organization in Rockville, Md., which also produces “Ziegfeld: A Night at the Follies,” has a non-Equity version of “Meet Me in St. Louis” headed to San Diego at an unspecified date. . . .

Sterling Macer Jr., a graduate of the University of San Diego-Old Globe master’s program, who two years ago starred in Athol Fugard’s “My Children! My Africa!” at the La Jolla Playhouse, will star at the Old Globe as Jackie Robinson in “Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting.” The show opens May 9 at the Cassius Carter Centre Stage. . . .

CRITIC’S CHOICE

‘MIRANDOLINA’ AND ‘FAITH’ END THIS WEEKEND

Catch them before they close: two plays that show San Diego’s home-grown talent at its best. Ollie Nash and Leon Singer provide the comedy and Kim McCallum the danger in San Diego Repertory Theatre’s handsome updating of “Mirandolina,” which continues at 8 p.m. through Saturday, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Lyceum Space, 79 Horton Plaza. Call 235-8025.

B-Attitudes, finds eerily disturbing parallels between the Depression in pre-Nazi Germany and our own recession in “Faith, Hope and Charity,” at the Sixth Avenue Playhouse, 1620 6th Ave. Shows are at 8 p.m. through Sunday, with an additional Saturday performance at 11 p.m. Call 235-8025.