THEATER NOTES : Long Beach Theater Eyes Center Stage

The Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center’s 862-seat Center Theater--which was created to be an improved version of the Mark Taper Forum (with a larger backstage and lobby)--has seldom presented plays in recent years.

International City Theatre’s artistic director/producer Shashin Desai, who runs his company out of a 99-seat space on the campus of Long Beach City College, has never become reconciled to this. In 1989-90, he tried to create a resident company for the theater, dubbed Long Beach Repertory Theatre, but funding fell through.

Now he wants another crack at it. He has announced that International City’s production of “Tapestry,” a revue of Carole King songs that played to sold-out houses in the campus theater last summer, will occupy Center Theater for six performances, March 1-10.

If it’s successful, Desai hopes it will be the harbinger of a time when his company presents three productions in the larger theater each season, as well as three at its home base.

Desai said he understands that trying to move from a 99-seater to an 862-seater is “like going to the top of the building and jumping off.” A parachute would come in handy--and he advocates a plan in which the seating area of the larger house would become more flexible by installing a mobile electronic wall or curtain, similar to the one at the remodeled Ahmanson Theatre. A 399-seat capacity, for example, would cut union costs and encourage a feeling of intimacy.

No such device will be used for the revival of “Tapestry,” but Actors’ Equity and Desai are negotiating a Periodic Performance Contract, which calls for payment per rehearsal or performance instead of by the week. Because the show already was mounted, only five half-day rehearsals are necessary, Desai said.

Selling as few as 1,900 of the 5,172 available seats for “Tapestry” will allow the production to break even, Desai said. Because it was previously presented in a thrust-stage configuration similar to the one at the Center Theater, adapting the set is not a major undertaking, he said. His estimated cost of the move: about $40,000.

Brand-new productions at the Center Theater would cost more. But Desai said that regardless of the costs, using the Center Theater is cheaper than trying to build a new theater and then raising more money to program it. That’s the strategy currently being followed by CalRep, another Long Beach company that normally operates on Equity’s 99-Seat Theater Plan. But Desai noted that CalRep’s host university, Cal State Long Beach, is assisting its fund-raising efforts.

Is it smart for any Long Beach theater to try to expand right now? Long Beach Civic Light Opera, the city’s largest theater company, recently declared bankruptcy. “Their problem,” Desai said, “was that they were top-heavy in administration. And they were too interested in bringing in stars.”

Generally speaking, Desai is bullish on Long Beach theater. He noted that the convention center has expanded, a new aquarium is being built nearby and local employer McDonnell Douglas has a new, $18-billion Pentagon contract. Also, he said, Mayor Beverly O’Neill is very supportive of the arts. “The only thing I need is grass-roots support,” he said, adding that he’s planning an extensive marketing campaign--including flyers in city employee paychecks--to generate the buzz he needs for “Tapestry.”

CAPITAL NEWS: Stephen Rothman, director at many venues around town and former artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse, has been named artistic director of Sacramento Theatre Company. The 54-year-old group, in its 13th year as a professional company, presents eight shows a year on a budget of $1.6 million, in 300- and 90-seat spaces.