Artists Find Cozy Room for Their Talents : My Secret Place ‘rekindles the creative spirit’ for those who want to perform but fear facing an audience.

Reciting your poetry in front of strangers can feel a lot like wandering through a crowded mall in your underwear.

Unless someone’s there to cheer you on, the impulse to show off may be stifled by the urge to flee, especially from an audience of your competitors.

The key to fighting performer’s panic is to try reading in a supportive spot--one where hipness is not confused with talent, and credit is given to anyone with the guts to get onstage.

Such encouragement and tolerance are the hallmarks of My Secret Place, in a North Hollywood theater where artists of all persuasions--writers, actors, painters and musicians--mix it up in a roomful of friends. The time is 7:30 on Tuesday nights, the scene is the Second Stage at the American Renegade Theater, a cozy enclave with plush seats and almost no distance between artists and their audience.

The resulting intimacy suggests a cultural salon, which was just what Valley Village actress Catherine Curry had in mind when she created My Secret Place. “I have so many talented friends,” she says, “but they won’t all fit into my living room.”

Since August, when she began inviting them--along with the general artistic public--to perform at the theater where she herself is a member--the crowd has grown to unforeseen proportions. On some nights, it overflows the 50 or so seats and spills into standing room--which is impressive for an event that’s known largely through word of mouth.

The evening begins with Curry and her Maltese puppy Blossom welcoming their guests: “Come into My Secret Place, where there are no rules,” Curry intones, “where we try to rekindle that creative spirit you had when you were 5.”

After she reads a literary passage by someone she calls “an enlightened being”--the poet Walt Whitman, say, or Longfellow--she introduces the night’s talent. Among these five scheduled “guest stars,” there are usually a couple of poets, a musician, a short-story writer and an artist, each of whom takes the stage for 10 minutes. Afterward, during the open-mike portion of the show, anyone from the audience who has signed up in advance may perform, in virtually any art medium, for five minutes.

This creative free-for-all sets My Secret Place apart from many clubs and coffee bars, where poetry nights--and the crowds they attract--are generally distinct from those for musical or comic shows. Her approach, Curry feels, not only encourages more “closet artists” to air their gifts, but it prompts writers to sing and pianists to recite their epic poems.

These closet artists have run the gamut, from a chiropractor who doubles as a rockabilly guitarist to a paralegal who moonlights as an a cappella minstrel. Whether receiving the offerings of the secretly gifted or the earnest creator with little talent, the audience is warm and receptive.

“It’s OK to fail here,” says Allan Katzman, a Valley Village writer who cites the support he’s gotten at My Secret Place as instrumental to his development of a new performance piece.

Other regulars include Lisa Catherine Cohen, a lyricist whose song, “Tears of the Earth,” has been adopted as a theme by Greenpeace; Dawn Mari, a painter and writer of inspirational prose, and Quent Garrett, a singer-songwriter whose country ballad about a lovable loser and his dog brings down the house.

And then there are those who return week after week just to listen.

“It pulls at my heartstrings to be with all these talented people,” admits Beverly Hills homemaker Susan Heyman.

Curry’s dream is to take her show eventually to television, where she imagines it becoming “the Ed Sullivan (show) of the ‘90s.” In the meantime, she injects an element of political consciousness into the evenings by donating her $1 profit from every $5 admission fee to charity.

“Artists are the visionaries and messengers of our society,” she believes, “reflecting the trends and ideas of this greatly changing world.”

Where and When Location: The American Renegade Theater, 11305 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Hours: My Secret Place, 7:45-10:30 p.m. Tuesdays, with sign-ups for open mike at 7:30. There will be a hiatus for the holidays, from Dec. 14 to Jan. 12. Price: $5 Call: (310) 588-5529