Stars Shine on Theater Troupe

It started out with a budget of zero, high hopes and the help of friends like Ted Neely and Carl Anderson, stars of the original “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Five years and 100,000 tickets later, the Rubicon Theatre Company boasts a budget of $1.6 million, visiting celebrities and a permanent home in downtown Ventura.

That’s quite a feat for a 207-seat company for which ticket sales account for only a third of the budget.

Sitting in her third-story office in the Laurel Theatre, with views of Ventura and the ocean beyond, Karyl Lynn Burns is surrounded by boxes of paperwork, posters, photographs and other reminders of productions past.

Burns, who founded and runs the group along with her husband, James O’Neill, describes her mission: “Indigenous theater, which has a tight relationship with the community, is really my soapbox.”

That local connection has been bolstered by celebrity glitter. The troupe was launched with a reprise of “Jesus Christ Superstar” featuring Neely and Anderson. Stephanie Zimbalist has appeared in both runs of “The Rainmaker,” and Linda Purl starred in “The Little Foxes.” More recently, John Ritter was in the world premiere of Jenny Sullivan’s autobiographical “J for J,” and last season also featured the likes of Joe Spano and Harold Gould.

This past weekend, Stacy Keach was part of a fund-raiser at a private home. And Tuesday, celebrated actors Robert Morse and Susan Clark will perform, for one night only, Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory.” It will be taped by Gold Coast Broadcasting for airing during the holidays.

Currently running is “Forever Plaid,” an easy-does-it musical for the holidays. The fifth season will also feature the more substantial “A Streetcar Named Desire,” starring Purl, and “Art,” with Richard Thomas.

O’Neill spoke on the phone recently from New York City, where he was holding auditions for the coming season.

“I think a lot of the artists who come to work really like [Ventura],” he said. “They appreciate the hometown atmosphere, the hospitality, the weather, the beach and the whole ambience.... At the same time, they appreciate the commitment to quality we hope we have.”

The group began in 1998 with Burns and O’Neill’s desire to fill a void. “There was a lot of good community theater here, but there had not been a professional theater company in Ventura’s 150-year history,” Burns said. Professional companies use Equity Union actors and usually pay higher salaries.

Burns had been an actress, publicist and executive director of the Ventura Chamber Music Festival for several years. O’Neill was in the touring production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” as Pontius Pilate.

After “Superstar,” staged in late 1998 at the Ventura Theatre, the company put on “Darrow” in the county courthouse and “Romeo and Juliet” at the Bella Maggiore Inn in downtown Ventura, before taking the play into the schools as part of an outreach program.

They had planned to do “Shirley Valentine,” featuring Burns herself, in someone’s kitchen. Suddenly, though, the search for a permanent home ended. Doug Halter and Joe Murray decided to buy a historic church and turn it into a theater. They extended an invitation to the then-itinerant Rubicon. As a result, Burns says, “Someone’s kitchen was spared.”

The Laurel, she says, has “been the ideal place for us to incubate and grow and develop an audience. We never would have made it in a bigger house. Doug and Joe have made this enormous commitment to making the building work, so we’ve been able to focus on the programming.”

A tour of the building, built in the 1920s, reveals a bustling compound mostly taken up by the Rubicon, along with other groups, including the Ventura County Master Chorale.

In one stairwell are posters from every production thus far. In the lobby are autographed glossies of assorted actors, including Jack Lemmon, Steve Allen, Larry Hagman and Amanda McBroom.

Burns remembers Lemmon’s role in a last-minute presentation of “Love Letters” early in 2000, which helped to “cement in people’s minds that we intended to be professional. We were probably at a stage where our vision outstripped our resources, but maybe they could see the potential if they supported it.”

Locally, the Rubicon has become a magnet for staff and volunteer forces. Down in the basement are Dotty Novatt and Shari Wolfe, president and vice president of the Grand Dames, a 300-member volunteer squad. “It’s very satisfying to be involved with this,” Novatt said. “It’s a great group of people.”

The operation has grown to include more and more staff, including a production manager and graphic designer, jobs done by O’Neill and Burns until recently.

Burns and O’Neill literally met onstage while playing villains in “Man of La Mancha” in the mid-1980s. O’Neill has continued to do occasional acting via the company, as in last year’s production of George Bernard Shaw’s “The Devil’s Disciple.” Burns put acting on a back burner for a time to take on behind-the-scenes duties and logistical wrangling.

“I stopped after ‘The Little Foxes,’ ” she said, “because I had a moment on stage when I was thinking about whether or not I sent out enough [funding] proposals that week. I love it too much not to be entirely present when I’m doing it. I made a pact with the board to take a couple of years to just work on this side of it.”

Burns is coming back to the stage occasionally now and will perform with O’Neill in “Dancing at Lughnasa,” opening Feb. 26.

“It’s so invigorating to be part of the process from all sides,” Burns says. “But there’s a little part of me that feels a little squelched. I need to [act] every so often so I remember what it’s about.”

One goal the founders share, funds permitting, is opening a second venue.

“It would serve a lot of purposes,” O’Neill said. “In one venue, you might end up doing things that are more mainstream, popular things that keep the company going. In the other, smaller venue, you might end up doing things that are more challenging and looking to the future.”

But even while looking to the future, O’Neill is quick to point out that he’s grateful for the present.

“We’re really encouraged that people are getting it, getting what it’s going to take and the process of how we’re going to get there,” he said. “They really want it, as they’ve shown, not only by showing up but by putting their money where their mouth is.

“It’s been a pretty quick rise, by any account.”