THEATER : Producer completes ‘symbiotic circle’ by bringing home light opera.

As a gangly high school teen-ager, Redondo Beach native James Blackman performed musical theater on the stage at Aviation Park Auditorium. Twenty years and scores of productions later, he has come back home.

Blackman is co-founder of the 2-year-old Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, which is housed in the auditorium, now renamed the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. He says he has traveled a “symbiotic circle.”

“Coming back to this just makes perfect sense,” said Blackman, who is the company’s managing director. “It’s like I’m saying to these audiences ‘You made me who I am, now let’s come back here and make this what it could be.’ ”

Blackman and Irv Kimber, the group’s artistic director, founded the company in 1991. With a populist, business-minded approach and $1.4 million in capital improvement money from the city, they hope to create a new home for music theater in the South Bay.

“We both had worked other places where we weren’t in charge of the art,” Blackman said. “We used to sit and talk about how we would improve things.”

One of the ways to improve things is to take the stuffiness and mystery out of light opera, he said.

“I don’t want (audiences) to think theater is some strange food,” he said. “Theater has been very haughty and Joe Six-pack is going to say ‘I don’t want to do that.’ ”

Because Blackman believes it is important to “put a face on the company,” every evening he dons a tuxedo and greets audiences at the door before giving his “curtain speech” to thank them for coming. He also believes in giving audiences what they want.

In fact, audience members this season will decide what the theater group will perform next year. The company passes out cards to audience members so they can list their favorite shows. The titles are tallied and the most-named musicals go on the bill the following season.

Involving the audience in this way could be a key to the company’s success. While it almost guarantees the group will shy away from esoteric and perhaps more artistically challenging works, it also means the company will not gamble on alienating the audience it is struggling to build.

“I think as a really young company, we have to pay the bills,” Blackman said. “It’s an all-request station.”

So far, the company’s put-the-customer-first approach seems to be working. Its subscriber base has grown from about 1,700 to 5,300 in the middle of its second season. Blackman estimates that 10,000 subscribers would put the company on solid ground.

Between auditions and rehearsals Blackman and his team have been giving the auditorium a face lift. When their first season opened, the lights ran on generators because there was no electricity. New seats, air conditioning, fresh paint and carpeting are giving the 1,464 seat theater a more professional atmosphere.

Although productions have had mixed reviews from Times critics who note uneven performances and sometimes wobbly production values, artistic director Irv Kimber has won consistent praise for his solid musical leadership.

The Civic Light Opera’s third production of the season “Evita” runs through Oct. 3, followed by “Fiddler on the Roof” in December. Next season, audiences have selected “Oklahoma,” “My Fair Lady,” “Hello Dolly” and “Annie.”

Show time for “Evita” is 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday with 2 p.m. shows Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $18.50 to $27.50.

The Performing Arts Center is at Aviation and Manhattan Beach boulevards in Redondo Beach. Information: (310)372-4477.