The Last Act in La Mirada : As Debt-Plagued Playhouse Seeks Funds, Longtime Director Retires

Yolanda Robinson is winding down a 32-year career at the La Mirada Playhouse that has taken her from designing sets and doing a little acting to running the entire show.

Robinson, described as the backbone of the theater, retires next month as the playhouse--in debt and homeless after 18 years at the city-owned La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts--faces an uncertain future.

With the playhouse $45,000 behind in rent payments, the city halted the current season after the February show, canceling the summer production of “Anatomy of a Murder.” Playhouse patrons will be able to use their tickets for other attractions at the theater.

The City Council has since forgiven the debt “to help the playhouse get back on its feet,” City Manager Gary Sloan said.

Playhouse leaders are searching for a new theater and attempting to raise money to keep the group afloat. A fund-raiser is scheduled June 16 at the Gotham Club in La Mirada.

“I feel sorrow about the way I’m leaving,” said Robinson, 61, a compact woman with owl glasses and short, graying hair. With theater duties behind her, she plans to write and illustrate children’s stories and try her hand at short stories.

*

Robinson says her retirement as producer and general manager isn’t related to the theater’s problems. “I’ve been thinking about it for two years,” she said. “I’m tired. It’s time for a change. I’ve put in my dues.”

She doesn’t hide her disgust, however, with city officials.

“The playhouse is part of the reason the theater was built,” she said. “They’ve said they want the playhouse for sure, but in another venue. They’re telling me we don’t belong here after 18 years? Give me a break.”

La Mirada officials hope to reduce the $700,000 the city spends each year to operate the performing arts center. Officials want to fill dates formerly used by the playhouse with events that would draw larger audiences.

The city contends that the 1,300-seat theater is no longer financially viable for the playhouse, which has been losing patrons for five years and was averaging audiences of 415 a show. Playhouse revenues declined from $200,000 a year to $131,000 during those years. Last year, Robinson reduced her salary from $18,000 to $12,000 a year and cut other costs to help save money.

Robinson and other playhouse veterans say the city has healthy reserves and could have helped the playhouse.

For its part, the city has offered financial support to the playhouse if it finds a location more in keeping with its size. “The council wants the playhouse to continue,” said City Manager Sloan.

The playhouse was a much simpler operation when Robinson signed on in 1963 as a set designer. In those days, the shows were put on in a small, converted barn at Neff Park.

The playhouse moved to the La Mirada theater in 1977, prompting higher budgets, more ambitious productions and a decision to hire someone full time to oversee the operation. Robinson got the job of planning productions, seeking out actors, handling backstage mishaps and keeping the theater’s books.

“I put the show together,” she said, “making sure all do their jobs. It’s being a trouble-shooter. If someone drops the ball, I have to decide who to give it to.”

Michael Ross, a veteran playhouse director and actor and current president of the Garden Grove Community Theatre, said actors enjoy working at the playhouse because they are treated like professionals.

“In a lot of community theaters, you have to act, find props, paint sets and find costumes. There’s none of that in La Mirada,” he said.

*

Some observers say that the playhouse’s strengths also have led to its financial problems. The group spends $50,000 per show--$15,000 of that for rent--a tougher financial nut to crack than typical community theaters, which consider 200-seat venues huge, have production costs in the low thousands and can charge about half the $20 tab that the playhouse charges.

The group also has been tightly bound to audience tastes, meaning more English mysteries and sex comedies than challenging dramas. Shakespeare has been only a passing thought.

Robinson acknowledges that box office receipts and audience surveys have influenced the choice of plays, adding that she always has tried for a “well-balanced season.”

She said she is proudest of the serious productions, such as “Inherit the Wind,” about the famous Scopes evolution trial. But she acknowledges that audiences love comedies.

*

She recalled a number of mishaps over the years. An actor ran into a door backstage during one performance, suffering a gash that required 11 stitches. An actress once failed to show up until the last act, forcing the director, script in hand, to fill in. But at least the actress got there in time to do her big scene.

But the accident that Robinson may remember most vividly occurred in February. On the opening night of “Two and Two Make Sex,” actor Ric Watson broke his leg on stage during the first act. Robinson appeared in front of the curtain to announce the performance had been canceled.

After a quick search, she found another actor to take over the role--the next night.

“I’ll never say, ‘Break a leg’ again,” she vowed, referring to the theatrical phrase for good luck.