Arts Centers Raise Curtain on New Era

By DAVID R. BAKER

Oct. 19, 1996 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

A year ago, Moorpark College drama students like Dave Mason performed in an aging theater that some on campus called a glorified lecture hall. Now, their stage is a modern “black-box” theater tricked out with elaborate lighting and seats so new, the fabric shines.

“It’s incredible,” said Mason, caked in makeup after a recent show. “There’s no comparison. The sound is so much better, and it’s so intimate.”

Across eastern Ventura County, the pent-up demand for performance space has been met. All three of the area’s cities have opened gleaming new arts centers in the last two years--first Thousand Oaks with its Civic Arts Plaza, then Simi Valley, which turned an old church into the Cultural Arts Center, and finally Moorpark, where the college’s Performing Arts Center will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony tonight.

Local actors and musicians, once relegated to performing in school gyms, no longer have to hunt for prime stage space. The new theaters, some say, have created a new beginning for the area’s artistic community.

“Unquestionably, they’ve improved the cultural climate out here,” said Lane Davies, artistic director of the Santa Susana Repertory Company. “All of the elements were here for an arts renaissance.”

In spite of the ribbon-cutting ceremony’s timing, the Moorpark College facility actually opened its doors in January. In its first four months, the center hosted 31 performances--plays, concerts and dance recitals--and drew more than 6,000 people, said Les Wieder, chairman of the school’s performing arts department.

For students and faculty members used to the school’s old theater, the new center represents an immense improvement. Theater technician Mickey Howell, who also teaches a stage-crafts class, marvels at the center’s state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems.

“It’s really wonderful to have all these tools,” he said. “It was fun before, because we had to be extremely inventive and pull things off with next to nothing. It’s much more fun to have just about what you need.”

So far, the center has concentrated on serving the college community. The shows presented in the building’s two theaters have all been school productions, attended largely by students. Of the roughly 35 people attending a recent evening of one-act plays, for example, most were the actors’ classmates, relatives or friends.

Wieder said, however, that the theater is also drawing people from Moorpark and the surrounding area. He hopes the center will help further link the school to the Moorpark community.

“They will begin to realize that we have a lot of the performing arts here, for a lot less than you’d spend at the Civic Arts Plaza,” he said.

Not that the two facilities book the same acts. The plaza, which opened two years ago this weekend, has concentrated on big-name performers such as Sheryl Crow and popular, professionally run musicals.

“The real addition of the Civic Arts Plaza has been to provide a place for national touring groups that we didn’t have before,” said director Tom Mitze.

At the same time, the presence of the plaza, with its 1,800-seat main hall and 400-seat Forum Theater, has acted as a catalyst for local theater groups, Mitze said.

Before the plaza opened, the Cabrillo Music Theatre had been in limbo, looking for a new performance space after its old home in Port Hueneme closed.

“I don’t know how long we could have continued not producing our product,” said executive director Cheryl Mastrovito.

The plaza not only gave the company’s performers a place to work, Mastrovito said, it also improved the caliber of their shows, such as their production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” which opened Friday night.

Musical groups have also benefited from having new homes. In Simi Valley, the Santa Susana Symphony has taken up residence at the city’s Cultural Arts Center after starting out in local churches. Conductor Philippe Fanjeaud said having a stable location has enabled him to bring in musicians from throughout the area, from Oxnard to Palmdale. “It gives more security to the musicians,” he said.

Despite operating in such close quarters, and competing for much of the same audience, the three centers could help each other grow. Michael Arndt, associate professor of drama at Cal Lutheran University, likens their arrival to the mid-1960s opening of the Guthrie Theater in his hometown of Minneapolis.

“That really spawned other arts groups and theaters, and made Minneapolis a theatrical power,” he said.