New Theater Co. Plans Spring at Lobero

A new professional theater company will begin producing at the 680-seat Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara next year, presenting four plays from March through June.

Peter Hunt and William Stewart, formerly artistic director and managing director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, will take the same jobs with the new Lobero Stage Company.

Hunt said the Lobero programming will resemble that of Williamstown--which emphasizes “star-driven” revivals on its 521-seat stage while presenting new plays in a 99-seat space. The Lobero company doesn’t have a smaller space yet, but Hunt said he hopes his new company will expand to other Santa Barbara theaters “to become more of a festival.”

Four years ago Hunt proposed making the Lobero the winter home of the summertime Williamstown festival, but the Lobero board chose instead to present touring productions from the Pasadena Playhouse--most of them new plays or unfamiliar old ones. That arrangement ended in 1994 when the producer, Theatre Corp. of America, went bankrupt.

Last summer a delegation from the Lobero board visited the Williamstown festival, and last fall they asked Hunt--who left Williamstown in September after what he described as “internal friction”--to revive his proposal.

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“I wasn’t sure I wanted to go from the frying pan into the fire,” Hunt said. But Santa Barbara’s “great talent pool” and “extraordinarily committed community support” convinced him, he said.

A campaign to raise $450,000 for the first season has begun. The first season’s budget will be approximately $1.3 million. Hunt said he’s “anxious to do fairly large works, with a certain scenic scale and cast size.” The theater will use one of the Actors’ Equity contracts designed for League of Resident Theaters members--such as the Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse and South Coast Repertory.

Hunt is also staging a musical intended for Broadway, “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” but it won’t go to the Lobero first--”I don’t think I should do a musical right away there. Santa Barbara has a wonderful Civic Light Opera, and I don’t want to step on toes.”

Hunt has a home in West L.A. and many West Coast ties. He often directs TV movies and series episodes here. His niece, Helen Hunt (“Mad About You,” “Twister”), is among the stellar names who have expressed a desire to work at the Lobero, he said.