Glaxa Studios Teeters on the Artistic Edge

First you had the Vienna Secessionists. Then there was Rive Gauche Paris in the ‘20s. And finally--could it be--Silver Lake in the ‘90s? It sure can, judging by the talk you hear around Glaxa Studios.

We’re not talking just some simple theater-type space here. Nope, Glaxa is a veritable multipurpose, free-form locus of aesthetic energy where the avant edge of theater, performance, poetry, dance and music meet and do their thing.

“The idea behind this place is to have spiritual happenings,” says Glaxa director Richard Kaye. “It means to break down barriers, to bring people back together, to re-create the excitement of feeling like you’re in a generation where meaning is coalescing and things are happening.”

The physical layout of this launch pad of aesthetic epiphanies is a cozy, tastefully decorated, candlelit lounge with comfy sofas and a still playable 1910 Ferrard Votey pedal organ. This room will soon open as a full-service cafe.

Adjacent is an up-to-snuff Equity-waiver theater and professional-quality dance floor. Mid-weeks are devoted to theatrical and dance performances. Weekends usually have the same followed by impromptu jam sessions featuring local musicians.

But the programs on Sundays are where the action is really at. Each Sunday is devoted to performance (way out), poetry (“a quasi-speaking-in-tongues night”), music (experimental “sonic excursions”) and whatever else happens to come Glaxa’s way.

“What unifies it all is the fact that it’s unpredigested, you know?” Kaye says. “I like to see people who want to do things get a chance.”

In its first half year of operation, Glaxa has staged a production of Genet’s “The Maids” as well as contemporary original pieces, and hosted such performance artists as Ron Athey and Johanna Went.

Experimental music nights usually feature a series of short aural tapestries such as the recent performance by local musicians Josey Roth and Z’ev, who presented such pieces as “Newfangled Waltz” and “Ode to Feminine Protection” using violins, electrified castanets and Roth’s own vocalizations played through effects processors while a prerecorded tape loop kept announcing things like, “Womanhood: what a concept.”

But more important, this setup gives artists a chance to meet others and share ideas. Thus, not only is the fourth wall routinely broken here at Glaxa, the third one proves pretty porous, as well. The crowd, many of whom are involved in aesthetic endeavors of their own, often cruises back and forth from the theater to the lounge, checking out the acts on one side and passing out flyers for their own on the other.

“I’m here to further Angeleno musical culture and culture in general,” says musician and poet Nate Scoble. Scoble, a Glaxa regular, says he believes attracting an audience for the arts in L.A. is a battle against entropy.

“This place represents one more success and, hopefully, a long-lasting one in the constant battle to reach critical mass in a very culturally dispersed urban situation,” he says. “And it promotes cool art in all media.”

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Where: Glaxa Studios, 3707 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake. (213) 663-5295

When: Open daily, times vary.

Cost: Cover varies. Beverages are complimentary until the Glaxa cafe is officially opened.