THE BIZ : STARS OF DAVID

If you’re going to start a theater in Los Angeles, it doesn’t hurt to get some support from Hollywood. So when 27-year-old actor Gordon Greenberg and 25-year-old writer Robin Jacobson decided to launch the Jewish Theatre of Los Angeles, they turned to some industry contemporaries for help.

With their eye on their first full production in the fall, Green berg and Jacobson set up a series of three staged readings and fund-raisers with such performers as Jonathon Silverman, Gabrielle Carteris, Julie Warner, Carol Cane, Valerie Harper, Jerry Stiller, and Estelle. They also set up an advisory board with members that include Norman Mailer and Neil Simon.

With the fund-raisers and small grants, they have more than $10,000 so far, and are examining several plays and locations for JTLA’s full-fledged fall rollout. “We hope to become as reputable and as established as Jewish Rep,” says actor Ron Ostrow, referring to New York’s venerable Jewish Repertory Theatre. They aren’t considered an ethnic theater; they deal with Jewish themes, but their reputation is as a top-notch off-Broadway theater.

Over the decades, there have been several attempts, but Greenberg, Jacobson and artistic directir Phil Cates are determined to succeed. “Cities all over the country have Jewish theaters--Boston, New York, Chicago--but L.A., which has the second-largest Jewish population in the country, doesn’t,” says Cates. “We ought to have one. Theater is a terrific way to draw in Jews of all denominations, including, quote unquote, cultural Jews.”