Will Audience Follow Noise to Cal State L.A.?

A Noise Within has often been called “Glendale’s classical repertory company.” But that possessive noun is history. From now on, said company board president John McPherson, the designation will be “California’s classical repertory company.”

His comment was prompted by the company’s imminent move from its only previous home, a 144-seat space within a former Masonic temple in Glendale, to a 252-seat configuration of the 6-year-old, 1,150-seat Luckman Theatre at Cal State L.A.

The troupe outgrew its Glendale space, often selling out in recent years, and couldn’t obtain a long-term lease that would have permitted expansion there.

But the big question that now looms for the company is whether the audience will follow--and then grow. Eventually A Noise Within would like to fill all 642 seats on the orchestra level of the Luckman.

A look at the audience demographics reveals the group is moving to the southeastern boundary of its previous territory.

About 20% of the audience (subscribers plus single-ticket buyers who identify their address) comes from Glendale and La Crescenta. Roughly a third of the total travels from the ZIP Code districts that go west from the new Luckman location (just northeast of downtown L.A.) to the beaches. Around 18% lives in Pasadena and other San Gabriel Valley communities, with another 2% coming from as far east as Claremont. About 27% is from the San Fernando Valley.

“It’s not all centered in Glendale,” said artistic co-director Art Manke. That applies to the board as well. Of 18 current board members, only one both lives and works in Glendale, Manke said. Four other members of the board--including Manke and his fellow artistic directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez Elliott--work in Glendale but don’t live there.

For board president McPherson, who lives in Hancock Park, and most of the other A Noise Within fans who reside in the area from downtown L.A. to the beaches, the new home should be at least as close, or maybe even closer, than Glendale. Anyone who travels Interstate 10 to Cal State L.A. will find the Luckman about two minutes north of the freeway.

Of course, many Westsiders seldom venture east of downtown L.A. Manke and McPherson themselves acknowledged that they had never been to the Luckman before the recent turn of events, which was initiated by Charles Redmond, a member of the board of directors of A Noise Within, as well as a member of the Luckman Fine Arts Council for Advancement.

San Gabriel Valley residents should find the new location just about as convenient as Glendale. The contingents from Glendale and the San Fernando Valley will have to travel farther, of course, but Manke estimated that for many, the new location will require only an extra five or 10 minutes, if traffic is flowing.

Beyond the geographic distance, another consideration is whether the audience will adjust to the move from a busy Glendale streetto a commuter campus after hours. Manke said A Noise Within will host a couple of open houses at the Luckman this summer, so subscribers can see during weekend daytime hours how plentiful and handy the parking is, and how comfortable the theater seats are, compared to the pews that the company uses in Glendale.

That’s not the only creature comfort that will improve at the Luckman. The Glendale building had no heating or air-conditioning, and no hot water backstage. When Robertson Dean’s Oedipus had to wash off the “blood” backstage during the recent run of “Oedipus Rex,” interns poured buckets of water over him while he stood in a kiddie pool. At the Luckman, Oedipus could just take a shower.

A Noise Within will pay no rent at the Luckman but will incur all production costs, which will rise because of more expensive sets on the larger stage and higher wages for actors under whatever Actors’ Equity contract is required. The nature of that contract hasn’t been determined, as the company seeks to gauge what its other expenses and income may be.

Meanwhile, Robert De Pietro, whose family firm owns the Glendale building, said several other theater companies have inquired about moving in when A Noise Within moves out. Joseph Stachura of the Knightsbridge Theatre in Pasadena confirmed that he was one of the interested parties. But any company that’s on Actors’ Equity’s 99-seat Theater Plan would have to move to a more expensive Equity contract because of the facility’s 144 seats. Also under consideration, De Pietro said, are commercial uses or even demolition, if the building’s parking problems aren’t resolved.