VALLEY WEEKEND : Readings Allow Stage Groups to Test the Theatrical Waters : Interact holds the development sessions every Monday night. Special performances of ‘She Loves Me’ this weekend will benefit the company.

Once upon a time, not long ago, a playwright would write a play, a producer would option it, hire a director and designers, and it was quickly produced. It was a dangerous financial game to play.

As money in theater became tight, a phenomenon called “development” came into existence. The idea was to start with a reading of the play, with actors sitting in a room, scripts in their hands, and an audience of sorts to provide a response something like the work might eventually get as a full production.

More readings are given today than full productions of plays, and they vary in fullness and purpose.

One theater company that was originally formed for the sole purpose of doing readings is Interact Theatre Company, in residence for the last few years at Theatre Exchange in North Hollywood.

Each Monday night they have readings of plays old and new, and frequently take those readings to the next step, which is a staged reading.

This weekend, Interact is presenting a staged reading of the Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick musical, “She Loves Me,” as a special “concert” reading to benefit the company.

The director is John Rubinstein, actor, composer, musician and for the past three years a member of Interact.

He starred in Interact’s production of Elmer Rice’s “Counsellor-at-Law,” the multiple-award-winning 1994 local theater hit.

Interact started, Rubinstein said, because of the collective desire of Los Angeles actors to get together and go through the process of just reading plays.

“When they got this theater,” he said, “they made it more of a regular, formal thing. It’s a very satisfactory way, in fact, of performing a play without having to get a job, without having to hire a director and a scenic artist, and get an audience to pay for tickets, and walk out there and have your opening night and get past the critics.

“It’s just, ‘Let’s do it tonight.’ Almost with no rehearsal at all, accomplished actors can put forward a play in a very, very strong and fulfilled way. So that’s why you do them.”

But readings frequently are more than that. If the audience reaction is strong at a first reading, the company goes to the next step, with a bit of costume, maybe a hint of props. A director shapes the show, which is now fuller and richer.

If the audience reactions are still strong, the possibility of a full production looms on the theatrical horizon.

“A couple of years ago,” Rubinstein explained, “the readings were solely for their own sake, just for the actors, the members of the company. Then, when we got the theater, and the audiences started to attend, it became a little bit more of a performance. Then we started doing productions and having that joy, that special joy of really putting on a whole play.”

Rubinstein estimated that as an Interact member, he has played roles in, and/or directed about 30 or 40 plays in readings--great plays, little plays, big plays, new plays, experimental plays.

“If I didn’t belong to this theater, that wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “I would have done my TV and movie stuff, and maybe could have done this play or that play professionally. But I wouldn’t have had the experience of acting and watching.

“I’ve been steeped in theater for the past three years in a way that has been tremendously beneficial to me in every possible way. It’s made me happy. It’s taught me stuff. I’ve developed my craft.”

* “She Loves Me,” a staged reading to benefit Interact Theatre Company at the Theatre Exchange, 11855 Hart St., North Hollywood. The show is at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday only; 3 p.m. Sunday only. The price is $25. For more information, call (213) 466-1767 or (818) 953-9993.

*

Five theater groups in the NoHo Arts District--Actors Alley at the El Portal, American Renegade Theatre, The Raven Playhouse, The Road Theatre and Synthaxis Theatre--are spreading holiday cheer with a NoHo Holiday Theatre Festival.

Theater members hope the festival becomes an annual celebration, with readings, short plays, Celtic music and dance, storytelling, comedy and general merrymaking. The holiday events will be performed at and around each theater at scheduled times.

* NoHo Holiday Theatre Festival, 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For information and times of specific events, call the individual theaters: Actors Alley, (818) 508-4200; American Renegade Theatre, (818) 763-4430; Raven Playhouse, (818) 509-9519; Road Theatre, (818) 761-8838; and Synthaxis Theatre, (818) 752-2253.