Laguna Theater Gets $150,000 Grant Pledge

The Laguna Playhouse received a $150,000 matching grant Monday from the James Irvine Foundation to help equip a planned second venue in South Laguna.

The grant, requiring a dollar-for-dollar match from other funds to be raised by the playhouse, will go toward stage lighting and sound equipment for a 225-seat theater in a former Bank of America branch building on Coast Highway.

The playhouse bought the property for $880,000 in February and in May received City Council approval to use the building as a theater. Architectural plans will go before the city’s design review board Thursday for final approval.

The cost of converting the building is expected to run between $500,000 and $1 million, according to playhouse executive director Richard Stein.

“We still don’t have a hard figure,” Stein said. “But we’ve selected Shea Business Properties to do the renovation work, and they’ll be coming up with one soon. I hope by July we will be in the throes of construction. It’s our understanding that once the remodeling begins, it shouldn’t take longer than six months to accomplish.”

The architectural plans have been drawn up by John von Szeliski and Associates, a Newport Beach firm that specializes in theater design. Szeliski helped create the design for the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Shea, based in Walnut, is a major building contractor for residential and commercial property development.

The playhouse has completed the first phase in a capital campaign to finance the building conversion. “We’ve successfully solicited all the members of our board of directors,” Stein said. “I’m not at liberty to divulge how much they gave, but it was substantial.”

In the second phase, the company will apply for grants from corporations and private foundations. The last phase will target individual contributors from the public through telephone solicitations, benefit performances and other marketing efforts.

“The board has decided it wants all the funds pledged before we start construction,” Stein said. “We still have a ways to go.”

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Founded in 1920, the playhouse is the county’s oldest theater company. It also is the largest community theater, with 8,000 subscribers, and one of the largest in that category nationwide. This year the nonprofit company has an annual budget of $1.4 million, which underwrites its five-play season at the 419-seat Moulton Theater and a youth troupe.

The Moulton, built in 1968, will continue as the playhouse’s major venue for revivals and musicals. These are largely cast with paid amateur actors. A limited number of union professionals represented by the Actors’ Equity Assn. are allowed to appear under an Equity guest contract.

The second theater would enable the playhouse to expand its offerings to new or current plays. It would be operated under an Equity agreement requiring a specific number of union actors per season (to be negotiated) and union stage managers for all productions.