HUNTINGTON BEACH : Community Theater to Open in December

It is uncharacteristic of a city better known for surfing than soliloquies, but one of the most dramatic aspects of the newly expanded Central Library promises to be a plush, 320-seat community theater.

“It is unusual to have a theater in a library,” noted Ron Hayden, library director.

Hayden said the library, at Talbert Avenue and Golden West Street, was the perfect place for a cultural arts center because the lower level of the two-level structure was unoccupied.

“We significantly redesigned the lower level to accommodate it,” he said.

Hayden also said there was a drastic need for a place in the city to spotlight local theatrical and dance performances, children’s theater, puppet shows and other live entertainment.

The only places currently available to put on community performances are at local high school or college auditoriums, he said.

The “Library Theater,” which is part of the $9-million library expansion, has all the right stuff to stage sophisticated theater, Hayden said.

It will be equipped with 120 theatrical lights, a high-tech sound system, cable wiring to broadcast productions and events, a green room, dressing rooms with make-up mirrors and lights, and a theater office.

“The general idea is we wanted to create an exemplary facility for performances,” Hayden said.

He also noted that residents will no longer have to drive to Los Angeles or elsewhere in Orange County to find live entertainment of a literary nature.

After six years in the works, and two years under construction, the Library Theater is now undergoing finishing touches. Hayden said the facility will be ready for a Christmas production planned Dec. 17, 18 and 19. A grand opening of the theater is scheduled for Jan. 8, Hayden said.

Hayden said the theater will be available to community groups for fund-raisers, lectures, ballets, piano recitals and other events.

The new theater will also become a permanent home to Huntington Beach Playhouse, the theater group that started 30 years ago staging productions in an old barn on Main Street across from City Hall.

“Now we have a real theater--complete with curtains. It’s been a long-awaited dream,”said Lana Campbell, president of the community theater troupe, which is completely staffed--from the actors to the stage hands--by people who volunteer their time and talents.

Over the years, the group has mounted productions in a storefront. Currently, it leases an abandoned school auditorium that has been turned into a 110-seat place for stage plays.

The community theater group will lease the new facility from the city and plans to stage nine productions next year in the complex.

The first production will be Neil Simon’s “Rumors,” opening Jan. 14. Other shows will include “Prelude to a Kiss,” the “Music Man” next summer and “Amadeus.” Campbell also said the group will revive “Stalag 17,” one of its productions in its first season in 1963.

While the new theater is expected to bring in more subscribers, operating costs and other expenses will also increase, Campbell said.

“It’s very scary because all of our costs are going to triple,” she said. Fund-raisers have been held to help cover the added expenses, which include lease payments of $24,000 a year to the city.

In addition, Campbell said, “We have a wish list of things we would like to do” to improve the theater even more.

Some of those wishes include buying a spotlight that can follow the action of performers and adding equipment for the hearing-impaired, she said.

Money worries aside, Campbell said, the group is looking forward to the curtain going up at the new theater.

“Our aim is to keep performing arts alive,” she said.