A Cast of Hundreds

The Valley Theatre League announced the nominees for its annual awards Monday during a brunch at the Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood.

The nominees for the ADAs--Artistic Director Achievement Awards--are picked by the heads of all 38 member organizations. They didn’t narrow the field much: Many categories have eight or nine nominees. The complete list of nominations fills nearly 10 pages.

Granted, these are local awards and it’s best to err on the side of spreading goodwill around. But the ADAs have 42 categories, compared to 21 for the Tonys. Even the unwieldy Ovations put on by Theatre L.A. have only 26 categories. The Valley Theatre League will hand out separate awards for original comedy, original drama, revival comedy, revival drama, musical, one-person play and evening of one-acts. All the acting awards--lead and supporting actor and actress--are also subdivided by comedy, drama and musical.

“If we limit it to five entries and one best play category, there are a lot of people who don’t get recognition,” said Valley Theatre League president Edmund Gaynes.

There is, fortunately, only one special presentation. Betty Garrett of Theatre West will get the Juanin Clay Lifetime Achievement Award.

Garrett got her start on Broadway in musicals like “Call Me Mister” and then came to Hollywood to work for MGM in such films as “On the Town” (1949) with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly.

She’s best known to TV audiences as Archie Bunker’s nemesis neighbor Irene on “All in the Family,” and as the landlady on “Laverne and Shirley.” In the early 1960s, though, she became one of the founders of Theatre West and remains its longest-standing member. She still teaches a musical comedy workshop there on Thursday nights and is chairperson emeritus of its board of directors.

The fourth annual awards ceremony will be at the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Good thing they’re starting early. It’s going to be a long night.

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Renegade Cash: The American Renegade Theatre Company is in home stretch for moving into the new building it bought with help from Highland Federal Bank. But like all new homeowners, the group is a little cash-poor.

A recent mailing to individuals, production companies and studios asks for donations (tax-deductible, of course) before the end of the year. Dawn Mari, chairman of American Renegade’s board of directors, said the CRA loan and grant only covers building renovation costs. The $150,000 the theater needs to raise will pay for stage equipment, painting and that oh-so-critical element for Valley theaters: air conditioning.

The new building, at 11136 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood, will have a 48-seat and a 99-seat theater. Mari says one of those has to be fully operational before January or February, when American Renegade is supposed to move in. “We can’t be in there for six months not making any money,” she said.

The company, which generally presents world or West Coast premieres of American plays, has been working out of The Bitter Truth’s Stage II space. (Its outreach program, Theater of Hope for Abused Women, will premiere “Once Upon a Family” by J.D. Ferrantino and Sonia Darmei Lopes there Sunday at 2 p.m.) The Renegade’s old building--a former mortuary--was damaged in the 1994 earthquake and torn down.

When the dust clears, American Renegade will have about $1 million invested in the new building. Not surprisingly, then, Mari says donations large and small are welcome. “If you have 500 people who give $200 apiece, that would be $100,000,” she said. Got change to spare? Call (818) 763-4430.

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New Jewel? The Jewel Box Theatre in North Hollywood, which has been a lease-only house for the last year, is getting its own company. New owner Walter Olkewicz and partner John Lant are putting together a group of writers, actors and directors under the name Gemstone Players, with an adjacent improv troupe called Diamonds in the Rough.

Olkewicz, who’s a regular on TV’s “Grace Under Fire” in addition to his other film and TV jobs, leased the building about a year ago and has been holding acting classes there. The sale became final a few weeks ago.

Olkewicz first worked in the space in 1989--when Jeff Seymour ran it as the Gnu Theatre. He was acting in Barbara Bishop’s play “Siblings” when he was taken with its charm.

“I think it’s always an actor’s dream to have your own place where you can do your own thing,” Olkewicz said.

Plans are to put on a one-act festival in two months and have a full-length play ready by early 1998.

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CSUN’s Ringer: “Quilters,” the first production from the Cal State Northridge theater department this fall, opened last weekend with a ringer in the cast.

Maryellen Clemons, a CSUN drama professor for 24 years, started acting at age 5. She’ll play Sarah Bonham, the mother who is making the legacy quilt that structures the musical by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek.

“To have a mother who is old enough, that really gives great depth to it,” said director Mia Truxaw. “She has, by her presence, created this family.” Clemons isn’t taking opportunities away from any of the students, added Truxaw, a part-time faculty member. She expanded the cast from six to 10, and each student actress has at least five parts. Clemons said the process has been fun for her, and “I think they’ve learned by watching. We all get along very, very well--and when you put 11 women in one room, that’s quite an accomplishment.”

For Melissa Karpel, a sophomore drama major, having Clemons in the cast has been exciting and educational. “She came into the first rehearsal and told us how she was researching her part to give us ideas,” said Karpel, 19. “Really, she’s been the perfect model.”

Because each actress plays multiple roles, Karpel said, the students needed broad knowledge about the frontier and the women who pioneered it. They also had to work up a “prairie” accent, which she described as a little bit country, a little bit Southern.

“We tried to get the Valley girl out of all of our voices.”

* “Quilters” continues at the Little Theater, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge; Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 5 p.m. $5-$9. (818) 677-2488.

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Robin Rauzi covers theater in the San Fernando Valley. She may be reached at (818) 772-3163, or at Robin.Rauzi@LATimes.com.