NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Show Goes On for Quake-Hit Theater Group

The last time tents were pitched in North Hollywood, the Northridge earthquake had rattled the laughter and tears out of many residents.

But now, a small group of actors is using a tent to uncover those feelings again in an impromptu playhouse pitched to replace a quake-ravaged theater across the street.

“Here we are, sticking our stakes in the ground and saying, ‘We’re here for good,’ ” said Bob Caine, managing director of Actors Alley.

With the opening of “Light Sensitive” last week, the theater group has been performing in a $13,000, green-and-white tent raised in an empty lot on Lankershim Boulevard, across the street from the El Portal Theatre.

The group, which has a 30-year lease on the vintage theater, was expected to begin performing there in February, after finishing $250,000 worth of restoration work.

But the Northridge earthquake changed the plans.

“There’s at least a million and a half dollars worth of repairs,” Caine said. “The theater won’t be reopened until June of next year.”

While repairs are being executed, the actors wanted to find a way to stage shows. The first two performances scheduled for the El Portal were held at Los Angeles Valley College during the spring, but there were no plans for the summer.

Along came the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which offered the use of the land for the group. The tent, originally pitched during June’s NoHo Arts Festival, was modified to house 99 audience members and a sound system.

And while staging a tent show may seem old-fashioned, most of the problems are modern.

“It’s not cheap today,” Caine confessed. “You don’t just stick in a pole and get going. We’ve had costs we wouldn’t have had if we were in the theater.”

In addition to the start-up cost of the tent, production costs run about $2,000 per month. But sound problems are the worst, forcing the actors to switch to an amplified sound system, complete with body microphones.

“The play has some very sensitive, subtle moments,” said Carl Strano, 52, of Valley Village, one of the three actors in the play. “Outside the tent, there’s traffic, police sirens, fire trucks, boom boxes, a bar down the street that gets rowdy and airplanes that come down so low the ground shakes.

“Those all tend to drown you out, and the body mikes keep you in balance.”

So far, no one has seemed to mind. Caine said the show, which is performed on Wednesdays through Sundays until Aug. 21, has been doing well, including sell-outs. And the Actors Alley Tent is slated to house two more plays through November.

By then, the group will have a new challenge: finding a new location or braving the wet weather.

Strano does not fear either. During his 30 years as a professional actor, he has played under far more hostile conditions than a tent.

“This is really a nice place to perform,” he said of the tent. “In Florida, the offshore breezes would blow your voice out to sea. Nobody would understand a word you were saying.”