Pasadena Playhouse Decides to Forgo Artistic Director

Don’t bother applying for the position of artistic director at Pasadena Playhouse.

“We’re not going to have an artistic director per se,” said playhouse owner David Houk, referring to the Aug. 6 resignation of the theater’s last artistic leader, Paul Lazarus.

“We’re more interested in being project-oriented,” he began, by way of explanation. “I’m not sure that’s a good answer.” But he didn’t have another one.

The official announcement of Lazarus’ resignation said that playhouse programming will continue “under the supervision” of Deborah G. Dixon, director of creative services since March.

Said Dixon, “They’ve asked me to absorb many of Paul’s duties”--minus his title. But she’s “happy with” her current title.

The recent extension of playhouse subscription seasons to audiences in Santa Barbara and Poway created a special challenge, noted Dixon. “We’re trying to find plays that will please a wide range of communities . . . it’s difficult to tell if we’re catering to the same level of taste. You try to appeal to a common denominator to a certain degree.”

Perhaps the playhouse isn’t naming another artistic director because its mission is to cater to its audience, rather than to reflect the vision of a strong artistic director? After all, this is a theater that relies on its box office more than most nonprofit organizations, for Houk refuses to apply for grants.

That’s a “harsh” assessment, said Dixon. As someone who moved to California just last fall, Dixon said she “can’t pander to the audiences. I don’t know what the Pasadena audiences want,” let alone those in Santa Barbara and Poway. She said she’s not relying on marketing surveys as she winnows selections for the coming season. She simply hopes that “the ideal situation” will occur in which her tastes and those of her audiences coincide.

Dixon’s mentor was Kennedy Center founder and Broadway producer Roger Stevens, and “I can only hope” that Stevens will “throw (a play) my way,” she said.

Yet she also acknowledged that the one Stevens-initiated production that tried out at the Pasadena Playhouse, the murder-mystery “Double Cross,” was not a success. She said she’s capable of rejecting a Stevens offer if she doesn’t think it’s right for the playhouse.

Could the dropping of the artistic director title mean that Houk himself will make all decisions? Certainly his daily role at the playhouse is more visible; he recently moved his office there from downtown Los Angeles.

“David Houk is the owner and god of the Pasadena Playhouse,” responded Dixon. “But he says he’s not a theater expert. We as a staff understand his level of involvement. We only want to make him happy.”

On his way out, Lazarus mentioned a few frustrations that he felt during his tenure of little more than a year: that he was unable to hire a dramaturge or to start a season of plays in the smaller Balcony Theatre. He said these ideas weren’t opposed but were simply given a low priority in the budgeting process.

Dixon said she feels no need for a dramaturge, for that was her own area of expertise under Stevens. As for a Balcony Theatre season--which Lazarus admitted would require the theater to change its no-grants policy--Dixon said she’ll have her hands full with the mainstage and with the baby she expects to deliver next winter.

The chief frustration experienced by Lazarus was his inability to find time to direct any of the plays he was scheduling. “I couldn’t get my hands in the mud,” he said. “Being a creative support system for other artists is not how I see myself.

“Once the decision was made to send the plays to other theaters, the amount of administrative work expanded exponentially,” added Lazarus. The arrival of Dixon in March “balanced” but “didn’t lessen the load.”

He expects that Houk and executive director Lars Hansen will allow Dixon to make the artistic decisions. One such decision--endorsed by Houk, Dixon and Lazarus--might be to bring Lazarus back, but simply as a director.

LATC HEARING: What should the City Council do with the municipal theater center on Spring Street, former home of the Los Angeles Theatre Center company? The council’s Arts, Health and Humanities Committee will tackle this question at a hearing Monday at 2 p.m. in Room 238 of City Hall.

A SHORE THING?: “Twice Blessed,” Art Metrano’s new one-man show about his recovery from a near-fatal accident, will occupy the Hollywood Playhouse for eight weeks, opening Oct. 9.

Though most such solo efforts open at smaller theaters, co-producer Mike Merrick said he got a better deal from playhouse and Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore than he did from the 99-seat theaters he investigated, thanks to Shore’s interest in Metrano. Shore may become a partner in the show if it moves on.