THEATER NOTES : Change of Setting : Santa Susana Repertory Company moves from its Simi Valley home to a larger Thousand Oaks facility.

Tomorrow night, the Santa Susana Repertory Company opens its fourth annual production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” But the company won’t be opening in its longtime home base, Simi Valley.

The troupe has packed up its costumes and makeup mirrors and moved to Thousand Oaks, where it’ll be playing at the Conejo Community Park, weekends through Dec. 20.

“We feel that we needed more seats than the 95-seat Simi Valley Cultural Center,” explained the Santa Susana group’s artistic director, Lane Davies, “and it was too expensive for us to rent. We sold out 10 out of 12 ‘Christmas Carol’ performances in Simi Valley last year, and we’ve already sold out two matinees at the (160-seat) Community Park facility to groups.”

Debuting in 1988 with its first production of “A Christmas Carol,” the Santa Susana Repertory Company had mounted productions at an elementary school, a church, Moorpark College and two different tents before settling in at the former Simi Valley Courthouse, which was remodeled into a theater and art gallery.

“We were certainly disappointed that the Repertory Company decided to move to another facility,” said Wes Barkwill, treasurer of the Simi Valley Cultural Assn., which manages the city-owned Cultural Center.

“Every production they put on in the Cultural Center was excellent. I’m sure that our community will go to see them in Thousand Oaks.”

Santa Susana productions at the Cultural Center this year included “Wait Until Dark,” “The Foreigner” and “Driving Miss Daisy.”

Other theater companies have also used the Simi facility during 1992. Tour de Force Repertory Theatre group performed “Educating Rita” in January; Parcher-Gibson Productions’ did a revue of songs from the ‘20s and ‘30s in June; the Performing Artists Guild performed “Equus,” “Sea Marks” and “Twelfth Night” in repertory during the summer; and the S.A.V.E. Theatre (which has also given dinner theater shows at Tony Roma’s) performed Neil Simon’s “Rumors” in November.

Upcoming productions at the Simi Valley Cultural Center include this weekend’s children’s revue produced by theater instructor Bill Edwards and next weekend’s holiday show by the Simi Valley Conservatory for Children.

If Davies’ name sounds familiar even if you haven’t seen any of the Santa Susana Repertory Company’s shows, it’s probably because he’s an actor with numerous television credits, including one year on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” and five years as Mason Capwell on the soap “Santa Barbara.”

More recently, Davies has appeared on numerous series for Witt-Thomas Productions, including guest spots on “The Golden Girls” and “Empty Nest” and starring roles in “Good and Evil” (with Teri Garr) and this season’s “Woops!,” which ends its Fox network run Sunday night.

“I formed the Santa Susana Repertory when I moved to Simi Valley and wanted to work closer to home,” says Georgia-born and classically trained Davies, who had been moonlighting with companies including the Globe Playhouse in Hollywood and the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

“I like to direct, and I like to create an entity that will employ actors and entertain people for years down the road.”

Working under a special contract from Actors’ Equity, the Santa Susana Repertory mixes professional performers-- including a number of “Santa Barbara” alumni--with non-professionals.

The Santa Susana Repertory Theater box office can be reached at 374-8282.

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THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO VENTURA: A traditional Christmas legend gets a timely and local spin this weekend and next, with Ventura College’s production of “La Pastorella.”

“It’s based on the medieval shepherd’s play,” explains the department’s Jay Varela, “which comes from the biblical book of Luke, where the angel Gabriel comes to the shepherds and invites them to the birth of Jesus.

“In the Spanish version, there was an odd mix of a holy text and secular circumstances--when the devil comes to tempt the shepherds, he does it based on their weakness.”

For the Ventura College version, director Varela and his cast worked up an adaptation where the shepherds are a local garage band, “disenfranchised by the economy and a lot of other things,” and the devil is “a lead guitarist, who tempts them with sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.”

To charge tickets in advance through Visa and MasterCard, call 654-6459.