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Issue date: September 29, 2000

All Pleasanton's a stage OR Pleasanton presents

by Stephanie Ericson

At the Pleasanton Playhouse Studio Theatre, director Justin Catalino instructs actor Paul Collett to wait for the lights to dim before handing off his wine glass to an exiting actor in "Prelude to a Kiss."

Meanwhile, in the set room, several people work in preparation for the company's first main stage musical production, "Victor/Victoria."

And over at the Amador Theater, a man auditions for a part in the Civic Arts production of "Here's Love," singing "If I Were a Rich Man" while other hopefuls practice dance steps backstage.

Live theater is flourishing in Pleasanton. The Playhouse, now in its 17th year, will present three plays this season in the intimate theater it created from warehouse space several years ago, in addition to its usual four "main stage" musical productions at the Amador Theater.

The city's 11-year-old Civic Arts program will put on its first musical for this year's annual holiday season show - "Here's Love," Meredith Wilson's adaptation of "Miracle on 34th Street." Its popular Youth Theater programs fill up early, enticing youngsters from the Tri-Valley and beyond for its summer and spring plays. It also offers well-attended drama camps during winter and spring breaks. Civic Arts also will bring in professional theater groups to perform "Heidi" and "Twelfth Night" in the schools this year. And Shakespeare in the Park, whose debut this past summer was a rousing success, will return in July to perform "The Merry Wives of Windsor."

Add to this, quality productions from the high schools, whose performance of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" won high accolades last spring, the offerings at Las Positas College and the new Dublin Theater Company, and there are many opportunities to enjoy the lively arts close to home.

Many involved in local theater think Pleasanton is at a turning point, ready to expand and improve further, but hindered by the lack of facilities. The renovation of the Amador Theater 11 years ago brought new opportunities for performing arts, but it also ratcheted up demand; competition to use the theater is keen. Limited space in town for rehearsing and storing sets and costumes adds to the challenge.

"Theater in Pleasanton is on the verge of some really great things," said Civic Arts Manager Andy Jorgensen. Jorgensen has been deeply involved in theater for many years. He founded the Pleasanton-based Children's Theater Workshop, which achieved national recognition, and was its executive director through the 1980s.

"(But) we don't have the support facilities to produce on-going theater," Jorgensen said. Civic Arts is therefore looking to bring more professional groups to perform in the city.

His commitment to theater in Pleasanton goes beyond fulfilling the needs of a growing audience. Jorgensen and others want to expand the opportunities for people to participate in the theatrical arts as well. Interest is high, especially among youth, as demonstrated by the full enrollment in Amador Valley High School's five drama classes, and the 60 youngsters who tried out last week for the 12 children's roles in "Here's Love."

Many adults, too, enjoy taking both on-stage and backstage roles. Putting on a performance at the Pleasanton Playhouse requires the hard work of about 100 people, said John Baiocchi, the theater company's president.

"People do this because they love it, not for any other reason," he said. "We have a great group of people helping us."

Almost all the work, from acting to set building to handling ticket sales, is done by volunteers. A few, such as technical director and producer, receive small stipends. 12sub:Theater casts a magic spell

For many, their passion for theater is all-encompassing and inspires a long-term commitment.

"I love everything about the theater, even the smell of the makeup and hairspray," said Paula Wujek, who has acted, directed and choreographed in many productions and now heads the Civic Arts Youth Programs.

"Theater is one of the most personal and dramatic ways of sharing our stories," commented John Loll, president-elect of the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council. "We as human beings have to share our stories. It's part of our cultural and spiritual makeup." Loll studied film-making in college but finds the immediacy and participatory nature of live theater uniquely satisfying.

Jorgensen described theater as both physical and metaphysical. "It touches you at a visceral level," he said. "I've seen good children's theater change their lives and it has always been close to my heart."

Jorgensen remembers one particularly moving moment when he performed in a theatrical presentation of O. Henry's "Ransom of Red Chief" at a school. Throughout the performance, four or five kids kept making inappropriate noises, he said. He and the other actors, fearing the performance might be dragging, hastened their pace, but the noises increased. After the play, a teacher approached him.

"He said, 'I'm a special education teacher and those students are autistic. Until they saw your play, they had not uttered a sound in their whole academic experience,'" Jorgensen recalled.

Kevin Staszkow, director of "Here's Love," has his own special theater memories. One was of a production of "My Dad and Me," about the relationship between a boy and his alcoholic father, which was written and directed by Jorgensen.

"That was a special show for me because I got to play the little boy and my dad was an alcoholic," Staszkow said. "It was a very powerful production... not over an over-the-top treatment, but just, 'Here's a few days in the life of this boy.' Those kind of productions give back to the community in an exciting and powerful way."

You don't have to be on stage to enjoy theater's magic. Bob Elliott remembers helping with technical production for the Pleasanton Playhouse production of "Godspell" some years ago. "I've been hooked ever since," he said. Elliott has been the theater technician at the Amador Theater for the past 15 years. Pleasanton's theater roots

The presence of live theater in Pleasanton goes back many years. The Masquers, which included Jorgensen's father, was a theater group that performed in Pleasanton from the 1920s until World War II. The group even brought one of its productions to the 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco.

Although the younger Jorgensen, born after World War II, never saw his father perform in these productions, he did see him in a number of Scholarship Frolics or "Schollie Follies" as they were called. These were elaborate skits put on by community service groups to raise scholarship money, and they enjoyed sell-out crowds.

Pleasantonians also participated in Cask and Mask, a theater company that performed in Livermore from the mid-'50s until the early '80s. Its big start came when Livermore's recreation department began leasing the May School, a one-room schoolhouse off North Vasco Road, to the group for a dollar a year. The first production was "The Mikado" in March 1961.

"We converted it into a 90-seat theater, with a light booth and dressing rooms," said Connie Duke, who was active in the group and is now artistic director for the Pleasanton Playhouse Studio Theatre. "It was wonderful entertainment and was very well regarded."

One production got notice from an unusual quarter.

"We did the 'Three Penny Opera' (by Bertolt Brecht), which was condemned by Father Hennessy from the pulpit at St. Michael's," said Duke. "But we sold a lot of tickets."

Cask and Mask had to leave the theater when the well supplying the building's water dried up. Shortly thereafter, in December 1979, an act of arson burned the building to the ground. The group performed at Livermore High School for a while but subsequently disbanded.

Around 1980, Jorgensen recalled, the city of Pleasanton and the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council collaborated on a production of "The Music Man," launching a theatrical enterprise that quickly evolved into the independent Pleasanton Playhouse. More recently, the Playhouse set up its simple "black box" theater on Serpentine Lane, which opened in 1996. It was built mostly with volunteer labor and making use of whatever donations the group could find.

"We started out with dining room chairs donated from the Pleasanton Hotel," said Duke. "We now have raised seats that came from a hospital lecture room." Youth theater

While the Pleasanton Playhouse was establishing itself, Jorgensen established the Children's Theater Workshop in 1981.

"It was some of the most rewarding and hardest work I ever did and we gained a widespread reputation for doing quality work," said Jorgensen. CTW was recognized as a national model and Jorgensen was invited to speak at a conference of youth theater directors.

"Part of the success of Children's Theater Workshop was the underlying philosophy of sharing feelings, creating subtext and understanding that our work can have an impact and not just going for the cheap laugh," he said. "Although we also did have fun."

Paula Wujek, who directs Civic Arts youth acting classes, believes that youth theater presents an opportunity for learning lessons about life. "The whole idea of drama is there is a conflict to be solved," she said, adding that it also offers an important alternative activity for kids.

"We're very much known as a super excellent sports community, with nationally known facilities and teams, but not all kids play sports," she said.

The city-run youth theater program is "already busting at the seams," she said. "My dream would be to have a drama camp at many facilities through the city, so transportation isn't such an issue." Going outside the box

Although CTW fell victim to financial problems, many of those who participated in it remain involved with the expanding local theater scene.

But the financial challenges of amateur theater are ever-present and are likely to remain so, placing limits on producing lesser known or more unconventional works in a suburban setting. Baiocchi commented that a community theater company like the Pleasanton Playhouse can usually withstand one not-too-successful production in a season, but not more.

College theater, free from commercial constraints and armed with an educational mission, has more latitude to take chances. The upcoming "Nijinsky: God's Mad Clown," about the life of the famous dancer and choreographer, at the Las Positas College is such a piece.

Nevertheless, the current Pleasanton Playhouse run of the less well-known "Prelude to a Kiss" and the musical version of "Victor/Victoria" demonstrate the company's interest in going beyond well-worn safe bets.

"Part of what we pay artists for is to take us to the next step and expand our world," said Jorgensen. Expanding public arts facilities

Expanding facilities as well as minds is high on the agenda of the local arts community, and a city-commissioned study on arts facilities needs should be completed this fall.

Loll thinks that theater in Pleasanton will continue to improve in quality and quantity, and eventually attain a regional recognition.

"Now we are solely in the community theater and I think we can ramp that up," he said. "All we need is people to have the resolve to make that happen. Pleasanton theater is at a turning point. But right now we don't have the infrastructure."

Loll and PCAC president Chuck Cole would like to see a new theater, similar in size to the Amador Theater but with all the amenities of a modern theater, as part of a city-built cultural arts center.

"The Amador Theater has served us well for many years, but it was built as a high school auditorium," Cole said. "And we need not only performance space but also for educational pursuits, rehearsal space and storage space for sets and costumes."

The Bernal property is one possible location, but there are others, he said, including Amador Valley Community Park, Wayside Park, and the Civic Center area. "Since all those spaces are under review at this time, it is an opportunity to set aside some space," he said.

Achieving regionally recognized theater in Pleasanton may seem a daunting task. But if the arts community can muster the support it received for the Amador Theater renovation, strong backing from the city and the expanded business community, the dream of regional theater in Pleasanton just might become a reality. <@$p>