An ‘Essential Landmark’ . . . and Trying to Stay That Way

These are daunting times for all the arts, and each day demands rededication and commitment on the part of each of us working in that field. The pat, dismissive comment with which Don Shirley closed his “Stage Watch” report (Calendar, June 21) on the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts’ upcoming summer season helps no one, for this is not an era in which any theater benefits from having its problems and decisions treated flippantly.

We are all fighting for our lives. One need only look at the number of theaters across this nation that have ceased operating in recent months to know that we need support from every quarter imaginable if theater in America is to survive.

It is, in fact, only with the empathetic and enlightened support of the media, producers, boards of trustees and audiences (not to mention local, state and federal arts agencies) that the United States stands a chance of maintaining any of its cultural landmarks, theatrical or otherwise.

Like most regional theater companies in the United States, PCPA Theaterfest in Santa Maria and Solvang was affected by last summer’s recession. By fall, we found ourselves caught between the twin rocks of the diminished tourist economy in Solvang, and the California state budget crisis as it trickled down to Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, where PCPA’s operation is based.

Economic realities prompted changes at PCPA and Shirley reported them accurately: fewer productions with longer runs and, most drastically of all, dispensing with the rotating repertory system during our summer season. That decision saved us nearly $200,000 and interestingly enough provoked an “it’s about time!” response from many of our theatrical colleagues, rotating rep being the costliest way to schedule and run a theater company.

Any theater must decide its season months before the opening performances. Not knowing what was in store for the American economy, we planned a more “light-hearted” fare for our audiences this summer, anticipating their eagerness for escape and entertainment.

This entailed a regrettable decision to eliminate Shakespeare from the playbill (to the consternation of some of our audience). But in spite of our long-standing commitment to Shakespeare and other classical work, it is no secret that PCPA’s musical productions have always drawn our largest audiences, and our two-musicals/two-comedies lineup for summer, 1992, seemed a wise, if temporary, choice.

True enough, these changes have altered the face of PCPA this summer. But for Shirley to claim that his own appreciative designation of PCPA as “ . . . essential landmarks on the theatrical map” is no longer apt is not only unhelpful but misinformed, for no matter what we produce during the summer months, it is only part of what we do each year at PCPA.

PCPA is one of the few theater companies in the United States that mounts productions year-round. Our winter season included “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” “Two Rooms” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” all serious, thought-provoking work. In addition, PCPA supports two-year conservatory training programs for actors and theater technicians in which students are immersed in a rigorous curriculum of class and production work for nine months under the mentorship of the working professionals who comprise our resident company. Graduates of our training program work consistently in television, film and in the commercial and regional theater.

Last year, our Outreach program played to more than 35,000 Central Coast students, presenting original adaptations of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” “Great Expectations” and the third in a continuing series of bilingual plays commissioned for PCPA and written by Roy Conboy, “El Canto Del Roble/Song of the Oak.”

PCPA has nurtured an intensely successful relationship with the national Elderhostel program during the last three years, and has recently initiated community classes for young people to help fill the gap created by the depletion of drama activity in schools, along with “Terra Incognita,” a forum for staged readings of new works.

We are not just a regional theater company and training program based at a community college, we are a cultural resource for the entire Central Coast.

We feel we are an essential component of the network of regional theaters in this country (uniquely so, because so many artists begin their careers at PCPA), and we intend to remain an “essential landmark” on the map of American culture through prudent planning, informed decision-making and with the continued support of Allan Hancock College, the Solvang Festival Theatre board of directors and our audiences.

We all need to choose our words carefully. Flip remarks such as Shirley’s only serve to aggravate an already serious crisis in this country.