Finding a way to make a play pay

Theater used to be a big business. Almost by definition, theatrical producers tried to make profits.

The legend of the money-grubbing producer still exists, of course -- witness the characters in “The Producers,” not to mention the producers of “The Producers,” who charge $480 for a premium ticket on Broadway.

But nowadays, theatrical producers in Los Angeles and most other American cities are usually salaried employees of nonprofit institutions -- if they earn any money at all. Instead of profits, their goal is contributions -- enough to make up the difference between expenses and their box office take.

Broadway is the big exception. Commercial theater still reigns there and in Broadway offshoots, such as the current Hollywood run of “The Producers.”

Commercial productions that aren’t part of Broadway tours, however, have become rare in L.A. Most of them are extremely small-scale shows, such as the one-woman “Late Nite Catechism” or the three-woman reading “The Vagina Monologues.” And the most prominent venue for such fare, the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills (among its big hits: “Forever Plaid,” “Love Letters,” “Vagina Monologues”), will close next year -- on the heels of last year’s closing of the Sunset Strip’s Tiffany Theaters, which were the most prominent sub-100-seat theaters in L.A. that consistently offered for-profit productions.

Is local, for-profit theater an endangered species that should be saved? Does it bring something to our theatrical landscape that otherwise wouldn’t exist? Or is it merely an unnecessary relic in an era when mass audiences have moved on to electronic art forms -- and when even the theatrical audience has so many nonprofit productions begging for support?

The answer to the first two questions is yes, commercial theater can still play an important role. But its producers should think a little more creatively if they want to avoid relic status.

At most of the major nonprofit theaters, such as the Mark Taper Forum, subscribers usually buy season tickets long before the shows are assembled. Subscription revenue provides a base for the theater’s budget, eliminating much of the financial risk. By contrast, commercial productions usually start from scratch with each new show.

“If you don’t have a subscription audience, you’re going to Vegas and rolling the dice,” said Susan Dietz, operator of the Canon but also a veteran of nonprofit theaters, such as the Pasadena Playhouse. “Most of the time, you don’t win.”

Dietz isn’t optimistic about philanthropic conditions for nonprofit theaters either. “There just isn’t as much money out there. To start a nonprofit from scratch today would be dangerous.”

Still, in the past decade several prominent L.A. theater companies have emerged with seating capacities in the same ballpark as the Canon’s 382 -- and all are nonprofits: the Geffen, the Colony, East West Players, International City Theatre. They often obtain rights to modestly scaled new plays that once might have played commercial runs here.

The royalty holders of these shows are playing it safe, financially. They would rather have the assurance of a percentage of the gross from a theater with a subscription audience than run the risk that a commercial run won’t attract a crowd.

The security of subscription revenue enables the nonprofits to take greater risks, aesthetically. When the company isn’t in a sink-or-swim position at the box office with each individual show, producers can try out untested titles or plays that might appeal to specialized audiences. Next season the Geffen is presenting “War Music,” three interrelated one-acts about some composers who are probably little known by general audiences; the play was discovered in a 99-seat production last year. The Colony staged a world premiere of a play about Lewis and Clark last fall.

Because of their ability to ignore the lowest common denominators on occasion, nonprofits are ultimately more important to our theater scene. If we had to choose between a town with nothing but nonprofits or one that consisted only of would-be get-rich-quick productions, the nonprofits would get my vote.

However, theatrical productions that reach huge audiences also have their appeal. Although “The Phantom of the Opera” is hardly the world’s best musical, let’s not begrudge it the $3.3 billion it has earned at the box office. It made theater matter for the masses.

L.A.’s indigenous for-profit theater is nowhere near this league. And its offerings have diminished to such a weak trickle that it’s hard to claim that it matters much.

The average single-ticket buyer probably isn’t even aware if a show is for-profit or nonprofit. But the advantage of for-profit shows for the busy theatergoer is that if they’re hits, they often run longer than most other plays. Ticket buyers can be more flexible.

For-profit shows are also likelier to be star-driven, since celebrity helps sell tickets, before reviews and word of mouth. Sometimes commercial productions can be timed to fit a star’s schedule more easily than a show that’s part of a nonprofit season -- where the needs of many shows must be balanced against one another. On the other hand, many stars from the movies or TV balk at long runs in plays, so they sometimes prefer the more precisely defined runs at the major nonprofit theaters.

The local commercial theater scene may not be as bleak as it looks from the news about the Canon. Other venues of various sizes are still looking for commercial productions -- and occasionally finding them. Size matters, because it’s a significant variable in determining the profit potential.

The Falcon Theatre in Burbank resembles a nonprofit in that it offers subscription seasons, but it’s set up as a commercial theater, with decisions made by founder Garry Marshall, not a board of directors. Because it has only 130 seats, however, it’s really more of a no-profit theater than either a for-profit or a nonprofit.

“There is a place for commercial theater in Los Angeles, as long as you’re comfortable with losing a few dollars,” Marshall said. “However, the future looks brighter, especially if you add variety and mix in some children’s programming.”

The Coronet Theatre on La Cienega Boulevard continues to make money for its owner, Dee Gee Entertainment, said executive director Ted Rawlins, even with only 284 seats in its largest of three spaces. It will have a production of “Menopause -- the Musical” in October.

El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, with a capacity almost identical to the Canon’s and better sight lines, was the site of the musical “Cesar and Ruben” last spring and will present “Always Patsy Cline” in November, after a run of the show at the nonprofit Hermosa Beach Playhouse. A nonprofit company that was based at El Portal in 2000 and 2001 collapsed, and an ambitious plan to use El Portal as a private theater club that would develop properties for commercial tours and the screen never got off the ground. But the theater has been refurbished and its sound system improved, said its manager, Pegge Forrest; and its owners, Bernard Kaufman and Gary Goodgame, are committed to looking for commercial theater rentals, among other uses.

Martin Markinson and Richard Willis are renovating the 500-seat Brentwood Theatre, which they lease from the Veterans Administration, in West L.A. The nonprofit Geffen Playhouse’s season will move there in 2004-05 while the Geffen itself is being renovated. After accustoming Geffen theatergoers to the Brentwood for a year, Markinson and Willis hope they can keep them coming to the Brentwood for commercial productions.

The Brentwood menu might include extensions of Geffen hits and productions that Markinson develops for two theaters that he programs in Florida and for Broadway’s 500-seat Helen Hayes Theatre, which he co-owns.

Elsewhere in the city, the 284-seat Ivar Theatre in Hollywood, although operated by a nonprofit, will feature a return of the for-profit “Aga-Boom” this fall and is open to other commercial rentals. So is the adjacent Doolittle Theatre, though at 1,200 seats it’s considered hard to fill by many producers.

For-profit and nonprofit theaters are not necessarily opposites. “Vagina Monologues” producer James Freydberg calls them “fraternal twins.” The commercial theater lifts much of its material from nonprofit productions, he said, and then rewards the nonprofits with a piece of the profits. The current “Big River,” developed at two L.A. nonprofits, is now on Broadway.

In most cases, however, the local commercial producers rely on material that has succeeded off-Broadway, assuming the audience wants that New York imprimatur.

An enormous spawning ground for new material is L.A.’s own sub-100-seat theater scene, with its 1,000-plus productions every year. Commercial producers often shy away from taking small theater hits to larger venues in L.A., fearing that the local audience has already been exhausted. But if they moved more quickly, snapping up promising shows before they wear out their welcome, L.A. might be able to develop more of an off-Broadway-style scene.

L.A.’s home-grown commercial theater needs all the help it can get, from whatever source. How about making it more truly home-grown?