A Revival at the Old Gnu : Actor-director pair start repertory company at the shuttered theater. The Odessa will open in December with “Wrecks.”

The old Gnu Theatre in North Hollywood has new owners.

Jim Kennedy and Reese Howard, who have directed and acted in Los Angeles theater for the last two decades, have opened a theater and repertory company in the Magnolia Boulevard location formerly used by Jeff Seymour. Seymour closed the theater in June to build a sound stage for film projects.

“I fell in love with this place years ago,” Kennedy said. “When I heard it was available, I drove right over here.”

The first production of the new theater--named the Odessa Theatre, after the Russian port--will be “Wrecks,” a piece Kennedy wrote about people who patronize a San Francisco bar two days before Christmas. It will open in early December. In February, the company plans to present Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge.”

Kennedy, a former playwright for the Los Angeles Actors Theatre, which later became the Los Angeles Theatre Center, said the new 48-seat theater presents an opportunity he has always desired.

“When I’ve worked for theaters before, it wasn’t complete freedom, and it took forever to make decisions,” he said. “This time, there will be no boards or committees.”

Howard said he and Kennedy have spent weeks on renovation, bringing workers in to paint the walls and install new lights and seats.

Next year, the theater will hold acting classes and workshops for company and non-company members.

ON THE MOVE--The Cobalt Cafe, an intimate Woodland Hills hangout for San Fernando Valley poets and musicians, is leaving its Ventura Boulevard location at the end of the month.

“Our lease was up, and the landlord told us we had 30 days to move,” said owner Dave Politi. “I wish we could have had more time.”

In his best-case scenario, Politi hopes to open again by late November. He said he is close to renting a recently closed restaurant on Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana.

“This place, if we get it, would be bigger, and would have room for books and a separate area where people could sit and not have to listen to music,” he said. “In many ways, it would be better.”

Cobalt opened in January, 1991, and has hosted many poetry readings and musical events.

“We have had a following, and I think people will come with us wherever we go,” Politi added, “but it will take time to set things up.”

MACK IS BACK--For the second year in a row, Ronnie Mack, host of the weekly Tuesday night Barn Dance concerts at the Palomino in North Hollywood, has been named Male Entertainer of the Year by the Los Angeles chapter of the California Country Music Assn. Barn Dance features traditional roots music.

“It’s a great honor,” said Mack, 39, who grew up in Baltimore. “I have accomplished much more than I ever imagined. I remember being 14 years old in the late ‘60s and dreaming of playing music. One day, I was singing and playing guitar when my dad walked in and said, ‘You can’t sing. You’ll never get anywhere.’ ”

The association is composed of singers and songwriters in Southern California.

IT’S A START--Frustrated over poor attendance, the West End Playhouse in Van Nuys is offering free tickets to its new musical, “Starting Here, Starting Now.” Ed Gaynes, the playhouse’s artistic director, said people can make any donation they choose. This weekend’s special allotment of tickets is sold out, but starting the weekend of Oct. 30, about 40 tickets--the theater seats 83--will be available for each Saturday- and Sunday-night performance.

“We need business,” Gaynes said. “When you have a situation where no one is coming to see you, you have to do things.”

The musical, which opened earlier this month, focuses on relationships between the sexes. Another production of the same material is being presented by the East West Players in Los Angeles.

For ticket information, call (818) 904-0444.