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Summer in Fullerton: 2 Comedies Scheduled

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The fourth summer season for Theatre on the Green at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center will feature a comedy thriller and a comedy, center officials have announced.

The outdoor season--to be mounted by a new producer for the first time in three years--will consist of “Murder Among Friends” by Bob Barry (July 12-Aug. 4) and “Move Over Mrs. Markham” by Ray Cooney and John Chapman (Aug. 9-Sept. 1).

The previous three seasons were produced by the Fullerton Civic Light Opera, which had intended to do a fourth. But the Muckenthaler chose West End Artists Theatre Co., headed by Edmund Gaynes. West End operates the Two Roads and Ovation theaters, both in Studio City.

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Gaynes won the contract, awarded by the Muckenthaler’s Performing Arts Committee, over three other finalists, Muckenthaler acting director Betty Tesman said Wednesday.

“We thought it was time to make a change in terms of what is cost-effective for us,” Tesman said. FCLO producer Griff Duncan confirmed that the change was “simply business.” The Muckenthaler “wanted more revenue than I felt was there,” he said. “The contract they wanted was more than I was willing to pay. So they went shopping for another producer.”

Tesman said that the Muckenthaler’s theater revenues had declined because of increasingly poor attendance and that the FCLO “was nonnegotiable for an increase in the percentage of what the Muckenthaler gets.”

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She said the Muckenthaler received $1 on every ticket sold by the FCLO. West End will pay the Muckenthaler $2 for each ticket sold, up to 200 tickets per show, and $3 for every additional ticket sold for the 246-seat venue.

Tesman said moreover that the Muckenthaler will run the theater’s food and drink concessions itself and thus earn that revenue as well. FCLO was “unwilling to let us do that,” she said.

Ticket prices will be slightly lower, which should help attendance, she noted. The lowest priced tickets will be $19.50; last season they were $22. The top tickets will be $32.50 with dinner on weekends. (714) 738-6595.

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