Planning Ahead in Pasadena

Sheldon Epps is directing two of the three plays in the current winter/spring season at the Pasadena Playhouse, including the recently opened “The Real Thing” and, in May, “The Old Settler.” But he won’t direct any of the three shows next season--his first full-fledged fling as the theater’s artistic director.

Although the winter/spring and summer/fall seasons are sold as separate packages, Epps prefers to think of them as one annual season, in which case he’s staging one-third of the year’s shows, he pointed out. “That’s enough for any one person. I would hope to never do more than that. It’s important to have other sensibilities at the helm,” Epps said.

He is also prevented from directing during the first part of the summer/fall season by another commitment: He’s staging “Play On!”--the musical version of “Twelfth Night” that he previously directed at the Old Globe--in Chicago, with a June 19 opening.

As artistic director, however, Epps did have the final say in picking the next round of titles: Noel Coward’s “Present Laughter,” Jonathan Tolins’ “If Memory Serves” and Judith Shobow Steir’s new musical, “Only a Kingdom.”

Regarding “Present Laughter,” Epps said he wants the playhouse to be “a home for great writers and great plays, and there’s no doubt that Noel Coward is a great writer.” While directing Coward’s “Private Lives” at the Old Globe, he says, he discovered how contemporary the playwright really is. A revival of “Present Laughter” with Frank Langella “reminded me what a good play it is, and I have a really interesting casting idea for the lead.” He won’t disclose it, though: “I know the interest is there, but he’s not able to make a firm commitment yet.” (At the very least, the use of he means no gender-bending is planned.)

Tolins’ new play, “If Memory Serves,” “deals with a serious issue--child abuse--in an unexpectedly entertaining way,” Epps said. “But it’s not an issue play. It’s character-driven, as was ‘The Twilight of the Golds’ [Tolins’ previous Pasadena Playhouse hit]. Jonathan has the strong voice of a dramatist, and I want the theater to sustain relationships with artists.” Epps will look for another theater to co-produce “If Memory Serves,” because “in truth, what is most important is not the first production but the second. I hope we can offer Jonathan that advantage.”

“Only a Kingdom,” about the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson, was seen by Epps and playhouse executive director Lars Hansen in a North Carolina presentation of an earlier Virginia production. “This is a great subject,” Epps said, “with all the passion and musicality you look for. Many of the elements are in place, but I felt the author was in need of a strong directorial partner.” Epps asked a previous playhouse artistic director, Paul Lazarus, to play that role.

Epps plans to be “a third eye” for the directors of playhouse projects. “Free-lance directors feel lonely without someone to talk to,” he said. Soon after he was appointed, he served in that capacity for David Saint, who staged last fall’s “After-Play.”

Selecting plays is “always done in consultation” with others at the theater, Epps emphasized. Indeed, Epps was consulted in choosing the current season: “By the time the choices were solidified, it was pretty clear I was going to come to the theater, but it was prior to the official announcement.”

Epps’ first season picks aren’t radically different from what one might have expected from the playhouse before his appointment, but Epps again advised examining the entire annual package, not just its second half. Taken as a package of six, the year reflects “different spices, different cultural and ethnic influences,” he said, and that sort of balanced menu is his goal.

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LORETTA UPDATE: A year ago, the new Loretta Theatre announced plans to build 99-seat and 65-seat theaters at the Edgemar complex on Main Street in Santa Monica, with hopes of an opening last October. As usual with theater openings, it was delayed. The theater first had to obtain permits from the Santa Monica City Council, which was accomplished in August. And on Tuesday, the California Coastal Commission will weigh in with its opinion of the project.

Executive director Corbett Barklie expects no problems with the commission. Because the Loretta plans evening performances, it shouldn’t add a lot of daytime traffic to beach congestion, she said. As far as parking goes, the theater will have access to 102 spaces below the Edgemar and another 100 on a city lot nearby.

The hoped-for opening now is slated for September, with a Beth Henley play, perhaps a new one. Henley (“Crimes of the Heart”) is one of the theater’s founders, as are such formidable names as Holly Hunter, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. Construction costs for turning the former museum space into a theater are $773,000, and Barklie hopes to drum up an equal amount to pay for the first season of shows, management costs and reserve funds. Since September, $360,000 has been raised, Barklie said.

In the meantime, today is the final day of the “Winterlude 1998” readings that make up the first Loretta program featuring members of the company. There are separate shows at 4 and 8 p.m. at the Ivy Substation in Culver City. Richard Dreyfuss is among the readers scheduled for the afternoon; Hunter and Henley are lined up for the evening show. Information: (310) 399-5929.