Kids stay in Beverly Hills picture

No, kids won’t be left out in the cold, but California will have to wait for its first legit large venue dedicated exclusively to professional children’s theater.

A year ago, the Beverly Hills Cultural Center Foundation sparked enthusiastic fundraising when its stated goal was to preserve the landmark Beverly Hills Post Office as a 500-seat theater and a studio theater space and conservatory devoted entirely to professional shows and theater arts training for children and teenagers.

Last month’s announcement of a $15-million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, however, came with an update. The newly named Wallis Annenberg Cultural Center of Beverly Hills, expected to begin construction in 2006, has expanded its reach to include theater, dance, music and lectures for adults.

Doesn’t that mean that the center’s plan to offer professional children’s theater has been marginalized? Not so, insists Lou Moore, the center’s executive director. “It will be a major component, and we will still have a season of approximately five family theater plays.

“If you operate this 52 weeks a year, which is our intention,” Moore says, “there are lots of opportunities for other arts series in the building.” Youth theater “is still very much an integral part of what we’re offering to the community.”