GLENDALE : Alex Theatre Hires Executive Director

Heralding the “beginning of a new management style,” directors of the Alex Theatre and city officials announced Friday the appointment of Martin I. Kagan, a 20-year professional in the entertainment business, as executive director of the troubled performing arts venue.

Ironically, Kagan, who will assume the duties of the newly created position on May 1, is married to Deborah Dixon, a former employee of Theater Corp. of America, the firm that last year pulled out of a five-year deal to run the theater after only six months, taking about $1 million in ticket-holders’ money with it.

The city has brought suit against TCA, which left before producing its full roster of promised musicals at the theater. TCA has since declared bankruptcy.

“Obviously we have a problem with (TCA),” said Bruce Hinckley, chairman of the Alex Regional Theater Board’s financial subcommittee. “But we sat down with Deborah and Martin, and determined that her position as director of creative services there was not involved in any of the Alex Theatre productions.”

Kagan’s appointment ends a search that the theater board, a nonprofit group that oversees the city-owned theater’s operations, began last September. The board hired a New York consulting firm to help attract an entertainment executive with a range of financial and administrative skills; experience dealing with government agencies and nonprofit groups, and fund-raising expertise, said John Hedlund, president of the board.

Theater officials decided that instead of again bringing in a management firm to run the theater, they wanted to hire an individual whose sole job would be to run the theater.

“We felt we would have more total control over the operation of the theater by having our own employee as executive director,” Hedlund said.

The 1,462-seat theater currently has just two employees, a technical director and box-office manager, but it may replace its outside accountant with an employed financial officer, Kagan said. Kagan’s offices will be located in the theater building.

Kagan’s experience includes 10 years as executive director of OPERA America in Washington, D.C. Since moving to California in 1990, he has been a consultant to the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and other performing arts organizations, officials said. Kagan’s salary was not made public but theater officials said that the new executive director post was advertised in the $70,000 to $90,000 per year range, and that Kagan will be paid at the high end of the scale.

Kagan said his first priorities will be to restore the theater’s sullied reputation and woo back patrons, and to increase awareness of the Alex. He said he wants to increase fund-raising efforts and minimize the need for city subsidies, which officials have estimated will remain at $350,000 to $500,000 per year into the next decade. The Glendale Redevelopment Agency bought the Art Deco theater from Mann Theatres in 1991 after a community drive to turn it into a performing arts house, then spent $6.5 million to restore it.