ENTERTAINMENT NEWS : Looking for a Good Neighbor : Canoga Park effort is under way to convert a closed X-rated theater into a community performing arts center.

When the Madrid Theater opened in what is now Canoga Park in 1926, the owners boasted about its beautiful Spanish decor and modern equipment. The Glad ‘n Nell Sweet Shoppe in the storefront next door provided refreshments for patrons of film, stage and vaudeville attractions.

The owners also promised that only the best films, like the opening feature, “Across the Pacific,” starring Monte Blue, would be shown.

The theater at 21622 Sherman Way hasn’t always lived up to those great expectations. For decades, it has been the Park Pussycat Theatre, showing only X-rated films.

But a community effort is under way to convert the earthquake-damaged building with a checkered past into a multipurpose performing arts center.

James Domine, music director of the West Valley Symphony Orchestra, is among those spearheading an effort to acquire the theater, which would be run by a nonprofit organization.

“Our strongest asset is that the people in the community really want it,” Domine said. “Everybody likes the idea. If I had a million bucks, I’d just buy it.”

“Certainly this is a win-win situation,” said Karen Constine, chief of staff for City Councilwoman Laura Chick. “This would return a legitimate art house to the community and remove an undesirable one. No one wants an X-rated theater in a commercial shopping area.”

Barry Hartsfield of Walnut Properties, which owns the location, said the company would like to sell the property but, “we haven’t gotten into any heavy dialogue. We gave them a price, and they haven’t come back yet.”

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to set aside $30,000 in next year’s budget to study the possibility of converting the facility into a performing arts center.

The theater, one of the oldest buildings in Canoga Park, has been closed since being severely damaged in the Jan. 17 earthquake. Cost for repair and seismic upgrade work alone has been put at about $500,000, Domine said.

The San Fernando Valley greatly needs a theater of this size and type, he said. The 400-seat theater could be expanded because it originally had 600 seats. The only indoor venues in the Valley of comparable size are the Mainstage Theater at Pierce College, which seats 375, and the Campus Theatre at CSUN, which can accommodate 400. Domine said many ensembles vie for performance dates at the Pierce facility.

The theater/community center project and other ideas will be on the agenda at a revitalization planning workshop for the Canoga Park and Reseda communities that Chick’s office is sponsoring June 3 and 4, Constine said.

Constine estimated that it would cost between $700,000 and $1 million to buy and convert the theater into a multipurpose community arts center.

“The great thing about it is that it would be multipurpose, used by a variety of different groups,” Constine said, adding that the theater might serve as the centerpiece for the revitalization of the entire commercial area.

The Pussycat Theatre has been perceived as a lightning rod for criminal activity. In 1991, after police had made 96 arrests in the theater for lewd conduct during the previous two years, the city filed a lawsuit under the California Red Light Abatement Act to force the theater owners to cooperate with police to reduce crime at the site.

Sgt. Gene Leary of the West Valley Vice Unit said the theater reached an agreement with the city attorney’s office to increase lighting, hire an on-site security guard and have regular police inspections. The agreement resulted in a reduction in lewd conduct arrests, but also reduced business.

“TRIAL” RUN: When Woodland Hills Community Theatre’s production of Saul Levitt’s “The Andersonville Trial” opens tonight, it will be the company’s first show under an Actors’ Equity contract.

Artistic director Jon Berry said the move to Equity production is being made to gain credibility for the company as a “professional” entity rather than to upgrade the quality of the company’s work. It is the only way for the company to get noticed in the crowded Los Angeles theater scene, he said.

“I want to get reviewed. I want to have more people know that we have a theater out here. People in the area know about us. I’d like to have people Downtown know about us. I’d like to be one of the premiere theaters in Los Angeles,” Berry said.

The Equity contract requires that a bond be posted and that union work rules be followed for the cast, Berry said. Additionally, at least one acting union member must be paid union wages for the performances.

Woodland Hills Community Theatre staged its first production in 1986 and incorporated as a nonprofit house in 1989. The company rents theater space from the Canoga Park Methodist Church and has almost 200 season ticket-holders.

For its first Equity production, Berry chose an ambitious project, a period costume piece with a cast of 30.

When the play was first produced on Broadway in 1959 it starred George C. Scott and was directed by Jose Ferrer. Years later, Scott directed an award-winning production of the play for PBS.

The story deals with the 1865 trial of Henry Wirz, who was the commander of a Confederate prison for Northern soldiers during the Civil War.

“The Andersonville Trial” opens at 8 tonight, with regular performances at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through June 18. Matinee performances will be at 2:30 p.m. May 29 and June 12. Tickets are $15 general, $13 seniors and students. Call (818) 884-1907.