Highkin Sends in the Clowns : <i> *</i> Theater: The producer and director is best known for bringing small shows to the community. But now he’s setting his sights on the Big Top.

SAN DIEGO —  Breakfast with John Highkin is a lot like his upcoming Project Theater production--it’s a community event.

The frenetic producer-director bounds into Golden Hill’s bustling Big Kitchen diner with a confident familiarity. He strides behind the counter, pours his own coffee, sits down in a corner booth and immediately spots someone he has to approach.

Stumbling over apologies, Highkin excuses himself, talks with his associate and comes back to the booth three minutes later.

“Sorry,” he says, smiling, “but I just sold a quarter-page ad for the program.”

Minutes later, the Big Kitchen phone rings. It’s for Highkin. He disappears into a back room and is gone for five minutes this time.

“Sorry,” he says. “Business. And after I hung up, I ran into Don Victor who gave me the name and the number of an actress I might use in the circus.”

Several similar interruptions flavor the meal, but Highkin juggles the distractions skillfully. The 40-year-old is scrambling to put the finishing touches on a community arts project called Fern Street Circus. The circus, featuring local acrobats, tumblers and jugglers, opens Saturday at noon in Grape Street Park in Golden Hill.

According to Highkin, the tent-less, one-ring event is the biggest, most ambitious project he has ever undertaken.

Highkin is best known in San Diego for creating little events. He co-founded Project Theater (with local performers Eric Grischkat and Kevin O’Neill) in 1989, and the theatrical troupe has since staged five intimate, low-budget productions at the Big Kitchen.

After directing works by Bertolt Brecht, David Mamet and Vaclav Havel, Highkin is changing form and content with his foray into Fern Street Circus.

“I came here in 1987 as a directing intern at the Old Globe,” Highkin said, an arrangement in which he “assistant-directed a bunch of shows.” Later that year, he made his local directorial debut, mounting an independent production of Eugene Ionesco’s “The Lesson” at the 6th Avenue Playhouse.

“It was right when the (Montreal-based) Cirque du Soleil first came to town,” Highkin remembered. “I would go straight from watching the Cirque to watching my own show.” He shakes his head. “I got frustrated. I wanted, more and more, to find an alternative to reliance on language.”

Inspired by Cirque du Soleil’s story-within-a-circus presentation, Highkin left San Diego and joined up with St. Louis-based Circus Flora, another troupe that explored the relationship between theater and circus. As Circus Flora’s production-stage manager, Highkin learned the ropes, putting up tents, organizing travel schedules and discovering exactly what

it takes to create a circus.

“I did everything that fell between the cracks,” he said. “It was a really valuable experience.”

Highkin returned to San Diego with Fern Street Circus in mind.

“We’re trying to be as humble as possible about this and provide the best entertainment we can given who we are and our position as new people,” Highkin said. ‘We’re trying to work within the skills our people have.

“For example, one of our performers is a wonderful juggler; one woman is a real good contortionist. We have three good tumblers.”

What about death-defying feats? Will we see a flying trapeze act? Will we see anybody get shot from a cannon?

No.

But Highkin contends that there is much more to a circus than jaw-dropping spectacle.

“I’ve seen circuses that have much better technical performances than Cirque du Soleil, but what the Cirque du Soleil performers do is heightened by the way it’s staged.”

This is where Highkin and “Pino the Barber”--a loosely constructed narrative that propels the action forward--come in. Highkin will focus his directing skills on the telling of a story; the performers will concentrate on completing their individual feats. Together, Highkin and cast hope to create a narrative that relies on actions rather than words--a circus with a story.

“This is not community theater,” Highkin said. “It’s professional theater in the community.”

To help fund the task, Highkin last year applied for funds from the city of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture’s Special Projects program. He must have been convincing. The commission awarded him a $15,360 matching grant to produce the circus, more than one-half of the $30,000 budget.

According to Gail Goldman, the commission’s public art coordinator, Highkin’s proposal was top-notch. His plan ranked seventh out of about 85 submitted, and expertly addressed the Special Projects’ mission directly.

Goldman did not attend last October’s panel review, but reading from the minutes, she stated: “There were three main comments that were made in response to the Fern Street application and certainly, first and foremost, was how well it served the neighborhood. It is very much a neighborhood-oriented event.”

The Fern Street Circus proposal also was noted for being “innovative as far as theater is concerned, and for being very cost-effective.”

“One of the reasons the Fern Street Circus ranked as high as it did is that it really is compatible with this mission,” Goldman said. “One of the strongest emphases of the Special Projects category was broadening the constituency and developing partnerships and a focus on community involvement.

“That’s why the category was established.”

That’s also a big part of why Highkin created Fern Street Circus.

“This is not just an arts project,” Highkin said. “It’s a community-service program. This is specifically about creating something in the neighborhood.”

Highkin demonstrated a thinly veiled frustration with theater that appeals to the moneyed and the educated. He decries what he calls the theater’s “culture palace on the hill” reputation. Though he has directed works by somewhat obscure authors, Highkin wants his current project to appeal to avid theatergoers as well as circus fans.

“With a play, how many people know Havel? How many people know Brecht?” he asked. “Everyone knows a clown when they see one.”

For Fern Street Circus, Highkin and Cindy Zimmerman penned “Pino the Barber,” about a man who becomes a barber and through (his profession) is set free.

“If you’re going to tell a story with a circus,” Highkin said with a chuckle, “the story has to be very, very simple.”

In Highkin’s plan, simplicity leads to accessibility, which in turn leads to a diverse audience base.

“The fact that it’s circus, the fact that it’s out in the open in the park, the fact that it’s $4 for adults instead of $15 widens the appeal incredibly.

“We’re making an effort to let everybody know about the circus--that includes (the poorer areas) down into the southern part of Golden Hill,” Highkin said. “As Anglos, we’re also making what inroads we can to the Latino community.”

All of the circus’ advertising has been printed in both Spanish and English, and the flyers and posters have been circulated heavily in many Spanish-speaking areas. “In Latin culture, there’s a real rich circus tradition,” Highkin said.

In American culture, there’s an equally rich parade tradition. “The Golden Hill Circus Parade” will open the Fern Street Circus at 11 a.m. Saturday.

“There’s tremendous value to a parade,” Highkin said. “Everyone has a stake in a parade. The community becomes part of the event. It’s open to anybody. You can do anything--from being very creative and making a float, to putting on a T-shirt and walking.”

Performances of Fern Street Circus’ “Pino the Barber,” opening Saturday, will be at 5 p.m. Fridays, noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturdays, and noon and 2 p.m. Sundays, through Oct. 6. At Grape Street Park, near 30th and Grape streets in Golden Hill. The parade will begin at Brooklyn Elementary School, then turn right onto 30th Street before turning left on Grape Street to the park. For more information, call 235-9756.