Ventura County Weekend : CENTERPIECE : Bright Lights, Little City : Ticket Sales, Not Government, Fund the Flourishing Arts in Moorpark

The Moorpark Melodrama jokingly refers to its hometown as “the entertainment capital of the world.” That may seem like a preposterous claim for a city of 27,000 people--a small town where everybody seems to be tucked inside their homes by 8 p.m.

But consider this: Moorpark is home to a semiprofessional theater that produces original musical comedies year-round; the consistently best Shakespeare in the county; and a community college whose music department produces two operettas a year.

If that isn’t enough to qualify Moorpark as the entertainment capital of something, both the local two-year college and one of the local high schools have brand-new auditoriums that are state-of-the art facilities equal or superior to any venues of that size--and where the audience doesn’t have to pay for parking.

Want more? What other high school’s faculty includes a professional Elvis impersonator?

And yet, Moorpark’s rich supply of unusual entertainment seems unappreciated, even within the city’s 12 square miles. Paul Lawrason, Moorpark’s mayor, in a recent interview said that while he’s been to Moorpark College and the California Shakespeare Company, he and his wife hold season tickets to the Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera and Thousand Oaks’ Conejo Players, “and are looking forward to performances in the new facility in Simi.”

In the meantime, there’s no public money available to support the arts within Moorpark’s city limits.

In 1989, City Councilwoman Eloise Brown helped form a Civic Arts Committee, which was greeted with indifference by the general population.

“We are essentially a community of aging jocks,” said Brown, “and it was very hard for us to convince people that bringing arts to the community meant something more than just entertaining their children.”

With seed money from the city but no support from civic groups such as the chamber of commerce, Brown’s committee sponsored “a couple of piano recitals, a swing concert and a couple of Shakespeare in the Park things during the summer,” Brown said.

“I’d like more professional people involved in what we’re doing, but because of the character of the city, it’s hard to get people to come” to the events. Brown is now out of office, and the committee is virtually dormant.

There’s no formal relationship connecting the Moorpark Melodrama, the California Shakespeare Company and Marilyn Anderson’s operettas for Moorpark College’s music department.

But what they hold in common, besides a cultural identity, is that the city and county government ignores them equally. All three depend entirely on ticket sales to meet their budgets.

“For a while,” said Anderson, “we did get some money from the school. Then, when Proposition 13 passed (in 1978), we had to make our money at the door.” One of the reasons she produces operettas, Anderson said, is that she doesn’t have to pay royalties for their use, adding that a typical costume budget alone is about $1,000.

“We’ve always paid our bills,” she said, proudly, “and have never been in the red.”

William Fisher, who played football for teams including the Houston Oilers and the Denver Broncos before embarking on a career of teaching, began his California Shakespeare Company in a tiny warehouse where passing trains would add an anachronistic, atmospheric touch to his productions.

Three years ago the company moved to its present location, a storefront in a mini-mall whose landlord, George Shakiban, is, according to Fisher, “very supportive of the arts.” Nevertheless, Fisher and his longtime producer, Monika Copeland, have expenses, including rent, to cover.

Linda and Harvey Bredemann took over the Moorpark Melodrama in 1984. They spent so much money on costumes that they began creating their own. For the past three years, they have run a subsidiary business in a separate building, renting the Melodrama’s costumes and props to the public.

Still, Linda Bredemann said, their monthly expenses amount to $30,000--a good deal of which goes to payroll. The actors receive a token sum for performing plus minimum wage for their ancillary duties ranging from the snack bar to janitorial service. The Melodrama is the only one of the three companies (and one of very few in Ventura County) to pay its actors anything at all.

Tickets at all three facilities cost under $15. So what do audiences get for their money?

A Melodrama production is usually a broad parody of a film or fairy tale, with the cast singing and dancing popular songs selected by Linda Bredemann (her husband, from whom she’s separated, co-produces the shows, builds the sets and supervises the snack bar).

“It’s not Broadway,” said actor-singer Gabriel Vega. “It’s just entertainment. The shows have a lot of energy, and the audiences are a lot of fun.”

The California Shakespeare Company pairs young actors with some of the Southland’s best and most experienced talent. Fisher said he has worked with 300 actors in the past six years, with about 50% of them lured from outside Ventura County by the opportunity to perform in works seldom done at the community theater level. These plays include “Richard III,” “A Winter’s Tale” and “Henry IV.”

He also produces the Bard’s more frequently staged plays, with “Romeo and Juliet” and “Twelfth Night” among his more recent presentations, and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” the company’s current effort.

Anderson’s class in the Moorpark College music program gives students a rare opportunity to perform in operettas. They range from Gilbert & Sullivan to, a few years back, the West Coast premiere production of Johann Strauss II’s “A Night in Venice,” written in 1883.

“You get to do some beautiful, classic pieces that the community theaters will not touch,” said Vega, who has acted throughout the county, including for all three Moorpark companies. “Marilyn is fearless in putting on these productions.”

She has also directed a few more traditional Broadway-styled musical comedies, including her all-time best-seller, “South Pacific,” and an excellent version of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

Anderson’s alumni have gone on to the Los Angeles Music Center Opera Company, various four-year college music programs, and have won scholarships to the prestigious Juilliard School in New York.

Raymond Hebel, who has appeared in seven of her productions, teaches choral music at Moorpark High School and the community’s two middle schools--and has been performing his Elvis Presley tribute for the last 23 years. One of Hebel’s former pupils is enrolled in the Boston Conservatory of Music.

The Moorpark Melodrama has its own impressive list of alumni. A former Melodrama actor, who calls himself Kevin-Anthony, has sung in the touring companies of “Miss Saigon” and “Grease.”

Erin Appling, who joined the Melodrama straight out of high school, has toured nationally in the leading role in “The Pirates of Penzance.” She also played the leading role in the Conejo Players’ “Carnival” last year; co-starred last month with Broadway’s Dale Kristien in “The King and I” production at the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center; and is now in Rome, performing as Pocahontas for the Walt Disney Co.

In addition to Anderson’s musical shows, Moorpark College has a strong drama department, if not a particularly adventuresome one: Its $13-million theater building opens in January with a production of “Our Town.”

Vega aims to develop a traditional community theater within the Moorpark limits. “We’re trying to establish community funding through performances in Moorpark, to gather support from the people of the city,” he said. “There’s a lot of room left in the entertainment capital of the world.”

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DETAILS

* UP NEXT: The Moorpark Melodrama’s show, “Camarillo Jones and the Search for Santa’s Sleigh,”’ runs weekends from Nov. 24-Dec. 23; call 529-1212 for further information. Moorpark College’s production of “The Desert Song” closed last week; Marilyn Anderson’s next operetta will be “The Merry Widow,” scheduled for March.

(The California Shakespeare Company’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is reviewed elsewhere in this issue.)