A film’s stages of development

The “Olympia” Theatre is actually the Odyssey. As well as the Tamarind and the Interact.

The Olympia is the fictional name of the L.A. theater where much of the action takes place in the new movie “Frankie and Johnny Are Married.” The movie is based on director Michael Pressman’s real-life experiences mounting a production of Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.”

Pressman’s first stab at the play took place at the Odyssey in West L.A. in 2001. But the production closed in previews there and didn’t open until later in the year at the Tamarind in Hollywood. In the movie, however, these events all take place at one theater, the Olympia.

For the movie, Pressman used the Odyssey for its “Frankie and Johnny” set and its dressing rooms. However, he preferred the red brick walls of the Interact, in North Hollywood, for the scenes involving the blocking of the play and the audience seating area.

In the movie, the budget for the play climbs to $75,000. This is high by 99-seat theater standards; Jillian Armenante, a 99-seat veteran who plays a producer in the movie, says the most expensive 99-seat production she ever directed had a budget of $20,000, “and that was with people working miracles. I drive very slowly past construction sites.”

Pressman says he did indeed spend that much -- but for two productions, at the Odyssey and the Tamarind, not one. In retrospect, he says, “I learned the hard way. I never should have financed this on my own. “

The movie is dotted with descriptions of the play production as part of “Equity Waiver,” and Armenante’s character refers to obtaining a waiver from Equity, the stage actors’ union. Pressman says he now realizes this was “technically incorrect” -- the Equity Waiver system, under which 99-seat theater actors didn’t have to be paid at all, was replaced in 1988 by rules that do require token payments.

For his part, Ron Sossi, artistic director of the Odyssey (the off-screen operator of the “Olympia” is named “Don”), says the movie does a good job of providing an artist’s perspective on “one particular disaster,” but he hopes audience don’t interpret it as the norm for 99-seat theater productions.

He’s not complaining, however -- a benefit screening of the movie raised more than $3,000 for the Odyssey.

-- Don Shirley