Bond Effort Revives Valley Theater Plan

For decades, Cal State Northridge has kept a plan in the wings to build a premier performing arts center for the San Fernando Valley. Now, those plans are moving toward center stage.

Last week’s decision by the county Board of Supervisors to put a $250-million bond measure on the November ballot has resurrected the long-dormant proposal to open a 1,600-seat center on campus that would rival other Southern California performing arts venues, such as those in Thousands Oaks and Cerritos.

The bond is intended to pay for earthquake and fire safety improvements to museums and arts facilities, and includes $15 million for the proposed center. University officials said the money would jump-start an aggressive fund-raising drive to build the $75-million facility.

If the measure passes, Cal State Northridge and other recipients would be required to find matching funds from non-government sources.

Campus officials said they would seek higher-education bond money in future ballot measures to cover most, if not all, of the rest of the center’s cost.

“We have a geographic entity of 1.6 million people, and there is no major performing arts facility here. I think we need that,” said William Toutant, dean of the arts college at Cal State Northridge.

While there are no blueprints yet, the university envisions a center that includes not only a theater, but a recording studio, a lighting lab and design studio, a 130-seat lecture hall, facilities for the campus radio station and a smaller, 250-seat theater.

Cultural arts advocates are excited by the prospect of a Valley venue capable of accommodating large-scale musicals, Broadway plays, national dance companies and symphonic recitals.

But they also caution about potential pitfalls of marketing and programming.

“It’s not like in baseball--’If you build it, they will come,’ ” said Edmund Gaynes, president of the Valley Theatre League and a former Broadway actor. “Someone’s got to know what they’re doing to get them to come.”

Because of its size, the center will likely be able to attract shows like “Riverdance” or “Tap Dogs” that depend on larger audiences, Gaynes said, adding that such a venue would not compete with existing Valley sites, including three small theaters he owns.

“Theaters don’t put other theaters out of business,” Gaynes said. “We welcome theaters large and small.”

Nancy Bianconi, a consultant who does marketing and fund-raising for commercial theater companies, agreed. “The more people attend theater and love it, the more they’re going to attend other theaters,” she said.

The largest performing arts venue in the Valley is already on the campus, which has a nationally ranked music program and a highly regarded theater curriculum. But the market has outgrown it.

“Even now, with our 500-seat theater, our five major attractions last year were all sold out,” Toutant said.

To attend large productions, Valley residents must travel to places like Royce Hall at UCLA, the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts or the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, each of which contains 1,800 seats.

Although the 6,000-seat Universal Amphitheatre is in the Valley, it is viewed by theater and classical music fans as a pop concert and public events stage, rather than a performing arts venue.

“I couldn’t fill that house,” Bianconi said. “It’s a different market.”

Cal State Northridge’s master plan has long envisioned a large performing arts center. “This is my 28th year at the university, and this has been on the discussion block since I came here,” Toutant said.

The university’s goal, Toutant said, is to bring national and high-caliber productions to the Valley, to serve the community and enrich students’ education.

He has opened discussions with the dean of the business college to develop an arts management program that would teach marketing and promotion.

He sees the performing arts center as a laboratory for the program.

And, officials hope that the touring groups that pass through campus will open doors for performing arts students. Alumni who have made it in show business include opera singer Michelle DeYoung and Grammy winner Daryl Dragon (of the Captain and Tennille).

“The university serves as one of the major forces for nurturing the cultural life in the San Fernando Valley,” said university President Jolene Koester. “This performing arts center would be a gift to the university and to the community.”