The Latest on the Pasadena Playhouse’s Expanding Empire

Where are the next outposts of the Pasadena Playhouse empire?

Last year saw the creation of a touring circuit that brought Playhouse productions to the Poway Performing Arts Center in San Diego County and the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara. Now it looks likely that more venues will be added, possibly with a new set of programming for larger-capacity houses, by 1994.

Though no deal has been signed yet, the Alex Theatre in downtown Glendale is one of the likeliest venues. The new set of programming, specifically designed for larger theaters, might very well originate there.

The 1,460-seat former movie palace, which dates from 1925, is currently being renovated withredevelopment money, a process that should be completed by Nov. 1, said the chairman of the Alex Regional Theatre board, Laurence R. Clarke. He’s “hopeful” that the Pasadena Playhouse management, Theatre Corp. of America, will also manage the Alex. The two organizations have been in exclusive negotiations for several months.

The fare at the Alex would differ from the Playhouse shows for two reasons: The Alex will seat twice as many people, and the two theaters are relatively close to each other. “We would tap the same base (of subscribers) for another genre of product,” said Theatre Corp. senior vice president Jim Bardwil. Larger-scale musicals and concert attractions are under consideration; professional musicals might fill a void in the area that was created by the demise of Pasadena-based California Music Theatre last year.

The “sensitivities” of Glendale residents about possible cultural colonization by the neighboring city must be considered, acknowledged Clarke. “It would not be a second-run house for the Pasadena Playhouse. The word Pasadena would not be in it in any way, shape or form.”

The Alex shows could then be exported to other theaters of similar size, just as Playhouse shows are exported to Poway and Santa Barbara. A dozen communities are being considered for participation in one of the Theatre Corp. networks, said Bardwil, who declined to name names.

One of the venues that might come on line as early as the Alex is the new performing arts center at Cal State Long Beach. Rich Kerlin, executive director of the center, acknowledged that the Theatre Corp. is the only organization that is currently being considered as an “anchor tenant” for the new facility, expected to open in October. So far, talks have focused on the Playhouse-originated programming, not the shows for larger theaters, said Kerlin. Although the center will seat 1,200, a curtain could reduce the capacity to 750.

The Theatre Corp. is also talking to officials at the 2,163-seat Warnors Theatre in Fresno, as well as with city agencies in Culver City and Riverside. As previously reported, the Culver Theatre would be the site in Culver City, and the Fox Theatre is the focus of the Riverside talks.

The first sign of out-of-state scouting by the Theatre Corp. has surfaced in Phoenix, where a spokeswoman for the city’s Community and Economic Development Department confirmed that the 1,600-seat Orpheum, a 1929 movie palace, is under discussion as a possible Theatre Corp. venue after it’s renovated.

How can the Theatre Corp. afford expansion plans in the current economic crunch? Bardwil cited “a hard look at demography across the board” with “constant research” demonstrating which communities are “underserved” by which kinds of theater. And the managers of the Poway and the Lobero theaters confirmed that the Pasadena programming has been a box office boon, attracting at least 6,000 subscribers in each market.

Furthermore, noted Bardwil, bringing the same shows to many theaters “extends their shelf life,” generating additional revenue without much of an extra investment beyond the initial production costs. (The directors’ union, on strike against the Playhouse, contends that the directors deserve a greater share of those proceeds from the other cities).

But Bardwil also said that the Theatre Corp. wouldn’t add any particular theater to the network “if we didn’t feel it could stand on its own as an independent profit center.”

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LABOR WATCH: The directors and choreographers on strike against the Pasadena Playhouse plan to picket tonight’s opening of “The Twilight of the Golds.”

But don’t expect any picketers at Tuesday’s opening of “Meet Me in St. Louis” at the new Cerritos Performing Arts Center, despite the fact that non-union actors and musicians will perform.

Officers of the actors’ and musicians’ unions said they’re taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the Cerritos center. Actors’ Equity’s George Ives said the union usually pickets if a non-union show is included in a season or at a theater that otherwise uses union actors, but “in this case, they’re just doing second-class shows all year”--with no union-cast musicals in the season. “If that’s what they want to put up with in their supposed first-class facility . . . we’ll see.”

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TAJ MAHAL AT THE TAPER: Taj Mahal’s name is on the list of “Artistic Associates” in recent Taper programs. What’s he doing?

The folk and blues artist said he’s developing a theater piece about Satchel Paige with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and others and serving as a musical consultant on several Taper projects. A $6,300 National Endowment for the Arts grant is paying for his work, said a Taper spokeswoman.