High Octane Finds ‘Christmas’ Setting : Stage: The Laguna Beach company will produce the Yuletide play at the Rolling Hills Estates theater in December.

High Octane Productions, the entertainment company in Laguna Beach that recently grabbed the rights to “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” away from GroveShakespeare, has landed a Dec. 6-13 engagement for its production at the 450-seat Norris Theatre in Rolling Hills Estates.

Meanwhile, the former managing director of the Grove, Barbara G. Hammerman, has turned down an invitation from High Octane president Bradford C. Moseley to co-produce the show.

“We’ve inked the Norris,” Moseley said. “But Hammerman will not be a co-producer.”

The Grove, however, just may be.

Moseley said he has discussed a joint venture with company officials. Grove board president David Krebs on Thursday confirmed talking to Moseley, but said “nothing has been finalized.”

Moseley said he had asked Hammerman to co-produce “A Child’s Christmas” under the aegis of the Shakespeare Guild, a fledgling organization of which she became executive director about six weeks ago. He said the guild’s nonprofit status would have enabled him to accept grants to help underwrite the show’s estimated budget of between $125,000 and $175,000.

Hammerman, whose three-year tenure as managing director of the Grove was marked by controversy, resigned in December shortly after extending the financially beleaguered Garden Grove troupe a no-interest personal loan of $80,000.

Hammerman said last week she was first approached by High Octane on March 24, after it acquired the rights. On Tuesday, Hammerman met with several Moseley associates to consider participating in his project.

But the irony of the Grove’s former top executive helping a rival organization stage a highly profitable Grove staple was not lost on her. Hammerman said she had “no intention of undermining” the Grove. “I want to see it thrive and survive,” she said.

She said she decided against participating in the production to avoid any appearance of working against the Grove’s best interests. “I can understand somebody putting that bizarre scenario together but only out of ill will,” she said.

Krebs said the Grove has used $60,000 of the loan from Hammerman so far. Her agreement with the board asks for repayment by November, 1994, she said.

In the meantime, the Grove “is working with (Moseley) on renting him the props and costumes for the show,” Krebs added. “We are looking at ways of making the production a business venture that is beneficial for us.”