They’re Holding Their Breath

The creative forces behind the L.A. premiere of Pearl Cleage’s “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” opening Saturday at downtown’s Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), knew that entering L.A.’s challenging theater scene was, at some point, going to require jumping off a very steep cliff.

They just didn’t know they were going to get pushed--and so soon.

So it was with a blend of excitement and apprehension that two among those forces--Adleane Hunter, co-founder of Black Artists Network Development (BAND), and actress Loretta Devine, who stars in “Blues”--surveyed the stage from inside the darkened house before a recent rehearsal at LATC’s Theatre 3.

Since 1993, BAND has existed only in the form of workshops, symposiums and readings, Hunter said. Eventually, the group plans to develop new works by black playwrights (that’s their working definition of “black theater,” written by black artists, performed by a cast appropriate to the material) and had planned to spend more time establishing itself as that sort of think tank before presenting anything onstage.

But “it was the right time, the director was in the right place, all the elements were in place,” said Hunter, former director of the now-defunct Orange County Black Actors Theatre. “It was not necessarily the next step we wanted to take, but all the elements were in place, so we said: ‘Let’s do this.’ In order to establish some visibility, we decided to take a big leap, and do this.”

Hunter says the need for more performing outlets for black actors became evident at the auditions: More than 200 actors showed up, hoping to become part of the cast of five, which includes Devine, James Avery (“Sparks,” “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) and T.C. Carson (“Living Single,” “Livin’ Large”) in the lead roles.

Devine, a theater, film and TV veteran probably best known for her role as sensible single mom Gloria in the 1995 movie “Waiting to Exhale,” or in Broadway’s “Dreamgirls” in the mid-1980s, does not need this play to establish her career. But she is as dedicated as Hunter is to nurturing a black theater company in Los Angeles.

“A black theater is important, because I think that’s what gives longevity to the careers of actors who go on and on--Samuel Jackson, Denzel Washington, all of those people came from very strong theater backgrounds,” says Devine in a breathy, little-girl voice that belies her statuesque physique.

In producing “Blues for an Alabama Sky” in conjunction with the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, which runs LATC for the city of Los Angeles, BAND earns the distinction of being the first home-grown African American theater company in years to use an Actors’ Equity contract, covering the entire cast. Equity records do not provide any absolutes, but the best guess on the last time that happened dates back as many as 20 years ago, to the busiest days of the local Ebony Showcase.

This puts “Blues” at a higher-stakes, higher-budget level than a sub-100-seat production--where Actors’ Equity members usually receive token fees for performing--or a non-Equity show.

“Blues” is part of a three-show event honoring Langston Hughes. Entitled “Three Plays Running,” the event is sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Department. The other two shows are Hughes’ gospel musical “Tambourines to Glory” and “Caderas,” an adaptation of Hughes’ “Rejuvenation Through Joy.” While not written by Hughes, “Blues,” set in 1930s Harlem, weaves historical characters with fictional ones and includes Hughes in a central, unseen role.

The collaboration with Cultural Affairs provides “Blues’ ” producers with reasonably priced rehearsal and performing space, as well as free box-office and marketing services. Still, producer Hunter says, the show’s budget totals a daunting $90,000.

“We wanted to pay actors more money, and the way to do that is put it in a bigger house and set certain production values and standards,” Hunter says. “It all starts by taking this big risk, financially.”

Hunter has wanted to work with Devine ever since she saw Devine in “Dreamgirls”; it was the first time Hunter had seen a Broadway show. She went to the show because she’d heard so much about star Jennifer Holliday. Instead, she fell in love with Devine. “Jennifer was good, she was powerful,” Hunter said, “but Loretta had it all.”

Devine agreed to do a show for BAND, and Hunter gave her the leeway to choose one. As it happened, Devine had met playwright Cleage at a benefit performance of “Blues,” where Cleage expressed a desire to write something for Devine. Devine said she wanted to do “Blues,” and Cleage agreed.

On Saturday night, Devine’s fans will have to choose between seeing her onstage at LATC or on the Disney Channel in “One Day,” a children’s special celebrating Martin Luther King, directed and executive-produced by Debbie Allen. “It’s going to be an exciting night!” she says. For Devine, however, a chance to be onstage is always worth missing herself on TV.

Devine, who comes from a “large, poor” Houston family, laughingly says she’s the only one in her family who ever left Houston. A graduate of the University of Houston, Devine received her master’s degree in fine arts from Brandeis University, working as a teacher and a dorm supervisor to help pay for her studies. After Brandeis, she headed for Rhode Island, where she worked in repertory theater before taking on New York.

Devine flew her mother in from Houston to see “Dreamgirls.” “I think it was the first time she ever got on a plane!” she says. “And I brought her to London to see ‘Colored Museum,’ I think those are the highlights of her life. . . . The biggest portion of my dream is to do things for my mom.”

Devine was performing in a production of “The Colored Museum” in London when she was tapped for a role in the sitcom “A Different World,” which brought her to Los Angeles. She lives in Culver City, where she moved after her Sherman Oaks home was damaged in the Northridge quake and maintains a long-distance relationship with a man who lives in Alabama. He’s flying in to see the show.

Since the move, Devine has had numerous parts in other TV shows, including “Sugar and Spice,” and movie parts (“Little Nikita” and “Class Act”), along with winning over audiences as Gloria, the “nice one” among the four best friends in “Waiting to Exhale.” (She gained 30 pounds for the role of a woman who struggled with weight along with her relationships with men. She has since lost it.)

Devine has completed work on the yet-to-be-released Melvin Van Peebles film “Love Kills,” in which she portrays a psychotic nurse, the opposite of the down-to-earth Gloria. “There are actually sex scenes and everything; people are going to be shocked!” she says, giggling. “But that’s what it’s all about, trying new things.

“A lot of times, people think this is an easy career. There is a lot of fun, and there are rewards, but there are a lot of ups and downs to it.

“For a young person interested in doing it, I would advise them to try to become as well trained as possible, and to be as family oriented as possible, or have some emotional center. . . . When you are older, you can usually depend on yourself more. And get as much training as you can, because that can help you make the choices and do whatever it is you want to do.

“And--never give up, I guess.”

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“BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY,” Los Angeles Theater Center, 514 S. Spring St. Dates: Thursdays to Sundays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Feb. 28. Prices: $15-$25. Phone: (213) 485-1681.