Prime 99-seat venue sought by 14 troupes

Fourteen stage companies, including Cornerstone Theater and the Actors’ Gang, have applied to become the resident troupe at a renovated power facility that Culver City officials hope will become a prominent part of a planned theater district in their downtown.

The Ivy Substation, dating from 1907, was occupied from 2002 to 2004 by the downtown L.A.-based Center Theatre Group, which then moved its Westside wing into a converted movie theater -- now called the Kirk Douglas Theatre -- a few blocks southwest.

Before CTG moved, it enhanced the Ivy to the point that the structure is considered “one of the top four 99-seat theater facilities” in the Los Angeles area, said Tim Wright, artistic director of Circle X Theatre, one of the applicants for the Ivy residency.

The winning applicant will be able to use the facility for a total of eight months out of the year, with the rest of the time reserved for winners of Culver City performing arts grants. However, the schedule could be planned so that breaks are spread over the calendar year instead of concentrated in a four-month period.

The monthly rent will be at least $3,000, and the winning applicant will be expected to pay it for the entire year. Although the request for proposals issued by the Culver City Redevelopment Agency lists a number of criteria, “any additional rent above the $3,000 minimum is extremely desirable and will be an important factor in ranking the proposals,” the document says.

The application deadline was the end of Tuesday. A decision isn’t expected until late May.

One of the more surprising applicants is Cornerstone Theater, which is known for working in a variety of buildings within far-flung communities instead of using conventional theaters. “We’ve been nomadic forever,” said Cornerstone artistic director Bill Rauch, “but as we work with more communities that aren’t defined by neighborhood, having a regular performing space would be useful.”

The Actors’ Gang has applied for the residency because company leaders say they cannot afford the rent requested by their new landlord in Hollywood. But the Gang is in talks with city officials in Santa Monica and Los Angeles as well.

Two prominent companies that are based within the L.A. city limits but have previously produced in Culver City, Evidence Room and Pacific Resident Theatre, are on the list of applicants. Officials of both theaters said they would not vacate their current premises but would instead use the Ivy as an additional space.

The other applicants are Ray Bradbury’s Pandemonium Theatre, Circus Theatricals, Culver City Theater, Kaleidoscope Theatre, Nomad Theatre, Open Fist Theatre, Padua Productions, Trapdoor Ensemble and Unknown Theater.

The Ivy is located within the city limits of Los Angeles, near the Culver City border, but it has been leased by Culver City since 1987. It was reopened as a venue suitable for theater in 1993.

Other than CTG, Bottom’s Dream is the company that most regularly used the Ivy in recent years, but it didn’t apply because it produces sporadically and wouldn’t be able to fill eight months, said artistic director James Martin.