Santa Monica Idea Has a Starry Backer

The first signs of a possible new mid-size theater company in Santa Monica have emerged, with at least one big name attached to the idea: Dustin Hoffman.

If all goes as planned, the company will operate out of a new 500-seat theater on Santa Monica College’s Madison campus, the site of a former elementary school that will be converted into a performing arts center for the college, on the north side of Santa Monica Boulevard between 10th and 11th Streets.

Hoffman, a graduate of the college, is honorary chairman of the fund-raising campaign for the $10.5-million facility. The campaign has raised $3.2 million so far.

The actor brought up the idea of a resident company in the new theater, said project director Dale Franzen, and then enlisted the aid of New York producer Ron Kastner, whose Tony-winning co-production credits include “Angels in America,” “Side Man” and the recent revival of “The Real Thing,” as well as last year’s off-Broadway revival of “True West.” Kastner’s Goldheart Pictures and Hoffman’s Punch Productions are developing a couple of film projects together, Kastner said.

Few details of the theater company have been set yet, Kastner said. The building, to be designed by Santa Monica-based Renzo Zecchetto, won’t be completed before 2004 at the earliest. However, Kastner said the company might begin operations before then, with productions in other facilities or even in other cities.

The company plans to produce two shows a year in the Santa Monica space, each six to eight weeks long. Franzen said one production would be classical, the other a new play. Kastner said the company would initiate its own productions, not simply import them.

The Madison project is spearheaded by the Santa Monica College Foundation, the fund-raising support group for the community college.

Other plans for the facility include concerts, a Los Angeles Opera youth opera camp, an art gallery and classrooms. NEW WORK NEWS: The Mark Taper Forum’s annual New Work Festival will move to the Evidence Room this fall, after two years at the Actors’ Gang.

The Actors’ Gang was unavailable, occupied instead by two productions in repertory that mark the return of the Gang’s co-founder and chief benefactor, Tim Robbins, as artistic director.

The Evidence Room was an obvious alternative, said Taper producing director Robert Egan. Located just west of downtown L.A., at 2220 Beverly Blvd., it’s convenient for Taper personnel, Egan said, and “theater people in L.A. are very much aware of it,” because of several heralded productions since the Evidence Room company opened the space in May 2000.

The Evidence Room was available because the group’s fall production, “Delirium Palace,” will be at [Inside] the Ford, launching the 2001-02 Hot Properties series sponsored by Los Angeles County Arts Commission and A.S.K. Theater Projects.

The Taper festival will consist of rehearsals of 14 developing works, open to the public for free, Oct. 31-Nov. 18. Eleven of the works are by L.A. writers, a much higher proportion than in recent years.

Two of the works will receive two performances each: “Nowhere to Run,” by Chris Wells and Fred Cassidy, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1; and “Chavez Ravine,” by Culture Clash, Nov. 14 and Nov. 18. All performances are at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

The other works will appear only once: Hilly Hicks Jr.’s’ “The Home Life of Polar Bears,” Nov. 2; David Greenspan’s “She Stoops to Comedy,” Nov. 3 at 5 p.m.; Lisa Loomer’s “Living Out,” Nov. 3; Robyn Peterson’s “Catwalk Confidential ... Memoirs of a Model,” Nov. 4; Bridget Carpenter’s “The Faculty Room,” Nov. 9; Robert Glaudini’s “Dutch Heart of Man,” Nov. 10 at 5 p.m.; Kia Corthron’s “Slide Glide--Slippery Slope,” Nov. 10; Ain Gordon’s “93 Acres of Barley,” Nov. 11; Michael Sargent’s “Torn Between 2 Bitches,” Nov. 13; Sandra Tsing Loh’s “A Year in Van Nuys,” Nov. 16; Lynn Manning’s “Middle Passage,” Nov. 17 at 5 p.m.; and Luis Alfaro’s “Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner,” Nov. 17. The pieces by Hicks, Manning and Glaudini also were in last year’s festival.

Some production values have been trimmed this year, Egan said. But the time allotted to non-public developmental work has been extended; in some cases, writers have been working with the Taper since August.

Tickets are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, starting one hour before curtain.