A Skirball-Kenis stage at Geffen

The planned 125-seat second theater at the Geffen Playhouse will be named the Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater in honor of a $5-million grant from the Skirball Foundation, Geffen producing director Gilbert Cates announced Thursday.

Skirball-Kenis, a philanthropist who died in June, “loved the idea of developing a theater for developing theater,” said her husband, Charles Kenis, referring to the Geffen’s plans to use the small theater as a developmental laboratory.

The grant is part of a $15-million Geffen Playhouse capital campaign for the second theater and an endowment. The campaign was launched last spring with the announcement of a $5-million gift by the playhouse’s naming donor, David Geffen.

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Don Shirley