Amid Dark Clouds, ’92 Had Its Stars : Stage: Despite budget problems, San Diego theaters tuned into the different voices of the multifaceted city.

Theater is among the most ephemeral of the arts. After a show closes and its sets are struck, all that is left of a production is the chill of an empty stage, some newspaper clips, some bills and some bucks (in widely varying proportions), an extra line or two in a few resumes--and memories.

But what memories.

Despite hard times at San Diego theaters, 1992 has seen some marvelous productions. Theaters seem to be attuned as never before to the different voices in our multifaceted city: voices of African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, Jews, the mentally disabled, the young and the fortysomething generation.

These new shows have been mixed with the classics, works of sheer entertainment and, yes, the usual round of turkeys. And while most San Diego theaters have been hard pressed by falling ticket sales and contributed income, most have continued to push past the crises and survive.

It seems quaint to consider that a few years ago, one of the Big Topics in art circles was the question of whether theaters should look past the classic Anglo-European tradition and start developing and producing shows with a multiethnic sensibility. If they did, would anyone go?

In 1992, not only were some of the best shows of the year multiethnic, many of them proved the biggest draws of the year for the theaters that produced them.

The Old Globe’s biggest single ticket seller (not counting the cumulative madness of “Forever Plaid”) was the eloquent, inspirational “From the Mississippi Delta,” Dr. Endesha Ida Mae Holland’s tale of her journey from prostitute to professor to playwright. There were no costume changes, not much scenery--just three actresses portraying Holland, her mother and a variety of men, women and children in her life. And that was enough.

Also highly successful was the Old Globe’s “Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting,” which recalled the tension surrounding the signing of the first black player in Major League Baseball, and Lamb’s Players Theatre’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee’s story of a falsely accused Southern black man.

Both shows overlapped with the Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of the police officers in the Rodney King beating. Both provided insight--and a chance for catharsis. The interest in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which sold better than any other show in the Lamb’s season, also gave insight into what people wanted to see. The rest of the company’s season was safe and conventional.

Similarly, the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s joyous, exuberant gospel version of “A Christmas Carol,” at the Lyceum Stage through Dec. 27, is the most popular version of “A Christmas Carol” that it has staged in the past two years.

Other fine productions featuring multiethnic voices include:

“The Puppetmaster of Lodz” at Blackfriars Theatre, a haunting story of a Holocaust survivor unable to accept the end of the war, because that would mean accepting the loss of loved ones.

“Lips Together, Teeth Apart,” the San Diego premiere of Terrence McNally’s latest, still playing at the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre, is the story of a woman whose gay brother died of AIDS, and how she and her husband, her sister-in-law and her sister-in-law’s husband deal with issues of day-to-die life struggles, prejudices and confusions.

“Marisol,” the La Jolla Playhouse’s venture into FutureFest, a series of new works, created the burned-out world of a futuristic Bronx and the young Latina who struggles to find her way as the angels literally go to war with God.

David Cale, a truly magical storyteller, took Sushi Performance Gallery patrons into the world of several lonely people--gays and straights, women and men--in his supremely touching new work, “Somebody Else’s House.”

And while “Playland,” the latest work by Athol Fugard, did not click in its La Jolla Playhouse production, the questions it raised of forgiveness between blacks and whites in South Africa have been warmly received in Johannesburg and Atlanta.

Kudos, too, go to Brenda Wong Aoki’s recent solo shows at the San Diego Repertory Theater; Pasadena Playhouse’s “Closer Than Ever,” a witty look at what it means to be fortysomething by David Maltby Jr. and David Shire at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts; the passionate “Once on This Island,” Graciela Daniele’s direction of a Caribbean fairy tale for the San Diego Playgoers series; and “Memory Tricks,” Marga Gomez’s one-woman show about growing up Latina at the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company.

Also, ‘Sholem Aleichem,” a collection of the master’s tales of the shtetl, playing at the Gaslamp through Sunday; the Playwrights Project, whose works by California writers 18 and younger are playing at the Old Globe’s Cassius Carter Centre Stage through Sunday; “The Boys Next Door” from Lamb’s Players for a sensitive depiction of the lives of mentally disabled adults; San Diego Civic Light Opera for its authentically flavored “Fiddler on the Roof,” and Southeast Community Theatre for both its “Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery,” a look at strong African-American women, and “Black Nativity,” a vibrant retelling of the Christmas story with African-American gospel singers, at the Lyceum Space through Sunday.

PROGRAM NOTES: The Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company is substituting three book-in shows for the rest of the plays in its 1992-1993 season, all of which will be offered to subscribers: “Faustarama,” written and directed by local performer John Maxwell Taylor, runs Feb. 25-March 28; Kathy Fitzgerald stars in “The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe” March 30-May 2, and Will Roberson directs the San Diego premiere of the off-Broadway show “Ruthless,” a musical parody of the play “The Bad Seed,” May 11-June 13.

Dan Halleck, managing director of Blackfriars Theatre, will star in the company’s upcoming show, the San Diego premiere of Sam Shepard’s “The Unseen Hand.” The show will preview Feb. 4, but no opening date is set. Call (619) 232-4088. . . .

James Raitt, who created the arrangements, continuity and musical direction for “Forever Plaid,” returned this week to the Old Globe to play accompaniment in the show through its Jan. 3 closing date. Call (619) 239-2255. . . . Also on the Plaid beat, reduced-price tickets for $10.50 are available for seniors 60 and older for the Wednesday matinee. These are available only at the Senior Center, City Administration Building, 202 C St., or the Clairemont Friendship Center, 4425 Bonnock St. . . .

The San Diego Repertory Theatre didn’t have to go far to find a replacement for Brian Evaret Chandler as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Future in the company’s final week of the show at the Lyceum Stage. Antonio (T. J.) Johnson, a former Ghost of Christmas Present who played the reverend in “Black Nativity” next-door in the Lyceum Space, replaces Chandler. “Black Nativity” ends its run Sunday. Call (619) 235-8025. . . .

The reason Rick Najera, one of the co-creators of “Latins Anonymous,” is not coming to the San Diego Repertory Theatre to do the “Latins Anonymous” sequel at the Rep in January is that Najera, who used to live in La Mesa, became a full-time staff writer for the television show “In Living Color” five months ago. The first week of January, Najera also will do an entertainment report on who’s who in the Latino world of Hollywood for “McNeil-Lehrer” . . . .

Andrew J. Traister is slated to direct the Old Globe’s world premiere of Jim Geoghan’s “Light Sensitive” Jan. 16-Feb. 28 at the Cassius Carter Centre Stage. The three-person cast features Joel Anderson, Matt Landers and Victoria Ann-Lewis. Call (619) 239-2255. . . .

The Fern Street Circus, a one-ring community circus that gave a delightful, children-friendly presentation in Golden Hill this year, plans a 1993 production. The company is teaching circus skills at Golden Hill Recreation Center and is available to perform in neighborhoods. Call John Highkin at (619) 235-9756 for information.