THEATRE
PREVIEW
GASLAMP
QUARTER THEATRE COMPANY AND “THE HEIDI CHRONICLES”
Published
in KPBS On Air Magazine January 1992
They haven't
lost the whole kit 'n' caboodle, but they've lost some of the Kit. After twelve years as co-founder, managing
director and producing director of the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company, Kit
Goldman has stepped down -- though not away.
She announced in October that she would become a member of the board of
trustees and would still be part of the theater's artistic decision-making, but
she would be pursuing independent, for-profit ventures.
This leaves the
theater with a dynamic restructuring plan and a continuing financial burden (an
$800,000 debt, down from $1.1 million).
But everyone is highly optimistic.
""I
think the theater will change pretty much artistically,'' says managing
director Steve Bevans, who came on board in 1990, shortly after co-founders
Will Simpson (artistic director) and Robert Earl (resident set designer) left
the theater under less than cordial terms.
""It'll be better for the theater. But I'm not letting Kit get away."
Goldman (and
Bevans) will sit on the theater's new artistic round-table, six volunteer consulting
artistic directors representing
Of the
roundtable, Roberson says, "I'm always hesitant about leadership by
committee. But if Steve (Bevans) runs
the theater like a movie studio, identifying different people with different
projects, it'll be fine. The nice thing
is that everyone's very open to different ideas at this point."
Roberson has no
ambivalence about the play he was hired to direct (he scored a winner at the
Gaslamp last year with "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de
Lune"). "She's really
emerging as one of the most important playwrights we have," he says of
Pulitzer Prize-winner Wendy Wasserstein.
"And this is the best thing she's done. It's a splendid play, terribly intelligent, very ambitious and
very funny. It covers 30 years of
things we all went through (as baby boomers), what we had to give up.
"It's
political without being strident, moving without being a tear-jerker. It says a lot about the women's movement and
the gay movement. It's very close to
Wasserstein's own life, and her relationship with (playwright) Chris
Durang. It's so personal, but not
preachy. People leave the theater and
just want to talk about it."
Roberson has
assembled an impressive cast: the
Globe's highly talented Lynne Griffin is Heidi, Bill Anton (who was wonderful
in "Frankie and Johnny") plays her straight friend Scoop and Steve
Gunderson (of "Suds") her gay friend Peter. Multiple roles are portrayed by Shana Wride, Jeanne Stawiarski,
Frank DiPalermo and Judy Milstein.
Milstein,
former director of the Underground at the Lyceum, will soon play an on-going
role at the Gaslamp, as coordinator of the new cabaret being formed from the
GQTC's smaller, 90-seat theater.
Next-door neighbor Cafe Sevilla will provide food and drinks; Milstein
and cohorts (probably including Goldman) will provide entertainment, in the
form of a comedy ensemble performing satirical sketches akin to those of
Meanwhile, the
Hahn Theatre's new season will run September-May, with rentals coming in during
the summer. Bevans feels that the
company's financial status is improving.
Last season, subscriptions were down (from 2700 to 1200) but that may
still be backlash from the 1990 suspension of operations.
"In
another two years," he predicts, "the debt will really be at a
manageable level, about $200,000."
Bevans helped to decrease the debt by 20% in the third quarter of last
year. The theater received several
grants and a $100,000 gift from the developers of the nearby twin-tower condo
complex,
Other creative
fundraising projects include a benefit performance by Steve Allen (January 20)
and a Live Auction of upscale trips and services (February 29) co-chaired by
Gene Luth and Kit Goldman. At the same
time, Goldman's moving full-speed ahead with her own company, Creative
Entertainment Concepts, which produces custom entertainment for businesses,
conferences, etc. "Don't
worry," she says. "I'm not
planning to open another theater or become an independent producer of
legitimate plays. But I'm a producer
and entrepreneur at heart. And I will
be out preneuring."
She feels a bit
of separation anxiety at stepping down from the theater. "I'm sort of like a (young)
grandmother. I can still give the baby
lots of love. But when it misbehaves, I
can turn it back over to someone else.
I want to stay involved, but I don't want to be the kind of grandma who
pops in unexpectedly. I'm thrilled to
be able to pass the torch to Steve (Bevans).
His style is business-like, but he has vision, and a great deal of
feeling and passion for the art."
Right now,
Bevan's vision is focused on the stage as well as on the bottom line. "I'm looking forward to
"Heidi" breaking all Gaslamp records," he says, holding aloft
the torch of high-energy and optimism that Goldman surely passed along.
©1992 Patté
Productions Inc.