Behind Closed Doors : At the O.C. Performing Arts Center, Membership Has Its Privileges

While most arts lovers stream through the main doors of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, major donors to the center can breeze through a private entrance.

In seconds, they are sitting on overstuffed sofas and sipping wine from sparkling Zweisel crystal in a private chamber where Third-Century Syrian mosaics--on loan from the J. Paul Getty Museum--grace the walls.

Members of the Center Room, a posh sanctum for donors who have contributed or pledged $100,000 or more, can arrive at the facility up to an hour before a performance, enter discreetly on the Plaza Level, and relax in the room’s cocoa-mauve atmosphere.

Tom and Barbara Peckenpaugh are among those who enjoy the convenience.

“When we arrive early, we go there, sip a little tea or wine, and a hostess tells us about the show, its reviews, how many intermissions and acts there are,” she said.

Here, complimentary coffee is served in Hutschenreuther china, tea in Wedgwood. Salted nuts and foil-wrapped mints--the only snacks served at the center--are available. Full bar service, with drinks charged to your account and billed monthly, is another perk.

And parking is a snap. Members have access to valet service at The Spa, half a block away. Show tickets are extra, of course. But the Center Room is equipped with a patrons’ desk, which offers program information and ticketing assistance.

Privately, members tell you the room’s marble-paved and mirrored bathrooms are a wonderful convenience. There is no waiting in line.

The room is also near the First Tier seats, the area reserved for major donors in 3,500-seat Segerstrom Hall. “We can enjoy intermission until the second bell because we don’t have far to walk,” Barbara Peckenpaugh said.

It takes a pledge of $100,000 to qualify for Center Room membership ($50,000 through the end of 1985) but $26,000 gets you in the door.

Required for admittance: $25,000 down and $1,000 in annual dues. Payment schedules can be worked out over a period of four years, says center spokesman Gregory Patterson.

Center President Tom Tomlinson was among guests in the Center Room on a recent opening night. “We need to use every device at our command to attract and retain donors,” he explained. “The Center Room . . . represents just one of the ways this center, and most others . . . acknowledge donors and provide them with a unique benefit.

“It is a way to say thank you to those individuals and businesses without whom the center could not exist.”

Visiting the room adds a dimension to theater-going, said Mark Johnson, the center’s chairman-designate. “There’s a lot to enjoy here,” he said, sipping a glass of sparkling water during a recent intermission. “Donors share their passion for what they’ve seen, compare notes. The room gives center founders and donors a place to come together.”

Ben Harris, who visited the room during a recent intermission at “Stage Door Charley,” chatted with friends as he sipped from a steaming cup: “Best coffee in the theater,” he said.

Also on the scene that night was former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who would leave Orange County a few days later to attend a special showing of “Apollo 13” in Washington.

“The thing I love about the room is the exercise you get when you scurry up the stairs because you’re in a big hurry to get to the restroom,” he joked.

Said Aldrin’s wife, Lois: “I love the room because it gives us the chance to have a little fun with friends. Part of the joy of theater is enjoying and discussing a performance with friends.”

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For the first time in its nine-year history, the center has produced a brochure on the 2,500-square-foot room, which was designed by Armin Trattman of Los Angeles.

“We developed the brochure to send to prospective donors who may want to be members,” Patterson said.

The room was recently refurbished, given “cosmetic enhancement,” Patterson said. “New carpet has been installed, new upholstery, chairs.”

But the subdued hues originally dictated by Trattman--who also designed the interior of the Center Club across the street--remain the same. “We want to keep it fresh, but we saw no reason to change the original design concept,” Patterson said.

Like the Founder’s Room at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles--where 3,800 members have donated a minimum of $25,000 to use the facility, and dues are $250 per year--the Center Room exists to help ensure the future of the arts establishment it serves.

“It is only with a strong donor base that this center and similar facilities throughout the country continue to exist,” Tomlinson said.

“I would imagine that the Center Room members value different things about it. Some enjoy the quiet atmosphere, others the easy access to restrooms and parking.”

Any way they cut it, those with access to the Center Room enjoy a world apart. But, with 136 members, a small one.

“Not that many people have $100,000 to give away,” Patterson said.