THEATER : Making All the Right Moves

Daniel Henning likes to think of his 5-year-old Blank Theatre Company as “The Little Theatre That Could.”

“We don’t collect membership dues. We have hardly any corporate donations. We got just one tiny grant this year from the California Arts Council,” says Henning, the group’s founder and artistic director who seeded it with settlement money from an assault he suffered in New York.

“Because we’re not an ensemble, we’re not tied to anyone’s style or form, a group of actors or designers--or a theater,” he says.

That independent spirit (and lack of a permanent home) has taken Henning & Company to a string of local theaters, including the Off-Ramp, the Playbox, the Hollywood Court, the Zephyr, the Canon, Club 20/20, the Attic, the Powerhouse, the Egyptian Arena and the Gardner Stage.

Currently, the company is represented on two fronts: Its third annual Young Playwrights Festival is midway through a four-week run at the Lost Studio and its production of the musical “Chess” (music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of the Swedish band ABBA, lyrics by Tim Rice) plays at the Hudson Theatre through July 9.

The Playwrights Festival is presenting 13 works this year--10 winners and three finalists--by writers ages 13 to 19. “We sent flyers to every junior high, high school and college in L.A. County,” Henning says. Sixty submissions were received, and a committee of 12 narrowed down the finalists.

“It’s been quite an experience for the playwrights, getting to see their scripts presented,” says Henning, who matched each winner with a mentor, either a professional writer or a dramatist.

Lin-Ann Ching, 17, a student at MIT, has been a winner all three years, although Henning stresses that each entry is considered on its own merits. “And though we don’t plan it, it always turns out to be a nice mix: 50/50 male and female, with a lot of ethnic diversity.”

The production of “Chess” (which evolved from a January workshop staging in the group’s monthly Living Room Series) represents another immense undertaking.

“There are two things we do as the Blank Theatre Company,” says Henning, 29. “We do premieres--L.A., West Coast, world premieres--and we do reinventions of old pieces.”

Two of their most recent efforts, “The Fantasticks” and “The Cradle Will Rock,” definitely fall into the latter category. Both also were extremely successful: “Fantasticks” won the 1994 Ovation Award for Best Musical in a Smaller Theatre; “Cradle” won 1995’s L.A. Weekly Award for Musical of the Year--and spawned a CD of the production.

“Chess” falls into both categories: Although it’s a decade old, it has never been done in Los Angeles.

“I’d seen several productions and always been haunted by the music,” Henning says of the piece, which focuses on a love triangle against the backdrop of an international chess competition.

Henning, who designed and directed the piece, has scaled back the size of the production to fit a modest vision--plus a tight budget and a small stage. “It’s a big, rocky, techno-pop thing,” he says. “There were 30 vocal scores [originally]. I’ve got 10 people in my version.”

Henning says he wanted the musical to be intimate. “I wanted audiences to be able to hear the lyrics.”

Show producer April Dawn, 22, who joined the theater four years ago as a ticket-taker, also credits the music for the show’s appeal. “This music has always spoken to me,” says Dawn, who also produces the Playwrights Festival. “The show definitely has a cult following.”

The Blank Theatre’s third annual Young Playwrights Festival plays at 8 p.m. Monday and June 26 at the Lost Studio, 130 N. La Brea Ave. in Hollywood. Tickets: $8. (213) 660-8587. “Chess” plays at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and at 7 p.m. Sundays at the Hudson Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood. Closes July 9. Tickets: $24. (213) 660-8587.