Writer regroups his acting troupe

Playwright Justin Tanner, whose work was a favorite of L.A.’s theater audiences during the ‘90s, is formally regrouping his troupe of actors as the Third Stage Company, which will produce a five-play season at Burbank’s 50-seat Third Stage.

“Michael Ritchie threw down the gauntlet,” Tanner says, referring to the new Center Theatre Group artistic director’s vow to create collaborations with smaller theater companies to help develop new plays. “That lit a fire under me. I asked myself, ‘How do I get this man’s attention?’ ”

It’s a good question. Reached through a spokeswoman, the new-to-L.A. Ritchie said he had never heard of Tanner.

Still, Tanner’s comedies at the Cast Theatre in Hollywood, such as “Pot Mom” and “Teen Girl,” often ran for months or even years. Since the Cast company fell apart, his plays have been seen sporadically at Third Stage and the Evidence Room.

He learned a thing or two about dramatic structure from his recent TV work, especially from a stint on “The Gilmore Girls,” he says.

At 40, he wants to reach a broader theater audience. “I don’t think I’m this marginal writer who can interest only this hipster crowd.”

During his hiatus from running his company, he didn’t stop writing -- “maybe 15 half-finished plays are circling the airport.” One of them, “Voice Lessons,” will open at Third Stage in September. It’s “a love story between two antisocial freaks,” he says. Laurie Metcalf is to portray an amateur actress who takes the titular lessons from a coach played by Tom Irwin.

That play will be preceded by a revival of Erskine Caldwell’s “Tobacco Road,” staged by Tanner, and followed by two holiday comedy revivals -- Tanner’s “Happytime Xmas,” starring Fred Willard, and the Rob Elk/Joe Keyes “Bob’s Holiday Office Party.”

But first will be “Oklahomo!” Opening July 14, the play revolves around a scruffy L.A. theater company trying to present an unauthorized version of “Oklahoma!” that is set in a gay bar.

Although “Oklahomo!” pokes fun at much of the L.A. theater scene, “the sharpest barbs are aimed directly at Justin himself,” says James Henriksen, the owner of Third Stage and a sometime Tanner actor.

Tanner wrote what he calls “a painful scene about my life” -- so painful that he cut it before director Lisa James insisted that it be included.

His willingness to listen to James, who previously staged a revival of his “Bitter Women,” reflects a new attitude. Previously known as a writer who seldom let anyone else direct his work, he now regrets that “I had such a tight fist around my plays.”

He says “it’s stupid for me to direct too” -- although he is planning on doing so with “Voice Lessons” unless he finds another director to whom Metcalf will give her approval.

His style, as writer and director, usually was marked by unrelentingly rapid-fire dialogue. “I had this fear that if it wasn’t a rocket, I’d lose the audience,” he says. “Now I know that all you need is a director with a good mind, who can slow it down and fill those moments.”

The new Tanner is also reflected in his hair, which he has grown “incredibly long” for his role in “Oklahomo!”

“When I move, it flips,” he says with a touch of pride.