Fledgling Arts Plaza Is Still a Star Attraction

THOUSAND OAKS —  The honeymoon is over, and the uneasy slump that fledgling performing arts centers usually go through--reality, as the more cynical impresarios call it--should be setting in.

That’s not the case for the Civic Arts Plaza.

Nearly midway through its second year of operation, attendance at the $64-million monolith is on pace to match inaugural season numbers--a remarkable achievement, theater director Tom Mitze said.

Between October 1994 and January 1995--the first four months the Civic Arts Plaza’s two theaters were open--the center attracted 121,000 people.

During the same stretch a year later, it drew about 117,000, with popular musicals such as “Les Miserables” and “Cats” luring the masses. In all, more than 420,000 people have attended about 600 shows at the plaza to date.

Like the inaugural season, the second year is also expected to be a financial success, as celebrity acts such as magicians Penn & Teller, Latin crooner Julio Iglesias and country legend Johnny Cash have packed the Charles E. Probst Center’s 1,800-seat concert hall.

Because Thousand Oaks has pledged not to subsidize operating costs at the nonprofit arts complex, breaking even is critical.

“Look at Simi,” said Virginia Davis, chairwoman of the Civic Arts Plaza’s administrative board, during its monthly meeting last week. “They [Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center] have only been open a year, and they are already having problems. We should be proud of what we have accomplished here.”

So far, business has been good. But as Mitze and others quickly point out, it will take at least three years to determine the financial stability of the theaters. And even if the Civic Arts Plaza is a commercial success, Mitze said there is still much to achieve: Business is not the bottom line when it comes to running a top-rung arts center.

“You build it to be a cultural resource,” he said. “The challenge is to fulfill the cultural needs of the community while paying the bills. And it’s going to take a few years to see if we have accomplished that.”

Critics of the Civic Arts Plaza say by focusing on acts such as Barry Manilow and Liza Minelli--older stars that many teenagers and young adults consider hopelessly unhip--the center has neglected a potential audience.

At the other end of the spectrum, highbrow critics say the Civic Arts Plaza has taken few chances with the avant-garde, only putting on the safest and most established jazz, dance and classical music works.

Mitze concedes the Civic Arts Plaza has been too conservative. He and the center’s board of governors plan to change that--albeit at a careful pace.

“We’ve been very middle-of-the road,” he said. “We have not done much cutting-edge stuff, and the reason is money. We’re not at the point where we can risk a lot of money on avant-garde programming.”

A former director of the La Mirada Theater and employee at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Mitze said he has followed a safe, three-pronged programming formula gleaned from 25 years of experience. The Civic Arts Plaza has largely booked big productions of well-known former Broadway plays and musicals; good--if past their prime--celebrity artists such as John Denver and Peter, Paul and Mary, and accessible family shows such as “The Nutcracker.”

The approach has worked. In particular, the Civic Arts Plaza has been a huge hit with schoolteachers and parents, who have taken advantage of the center’s daytime performances to give children more cultural experiences.

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Indeed, theater operators estimate that since the Civic Arts Plaza’s grand opening, more than 73,000 children have seen shows at the facility.

But between children and over-30 adults, there is a big gap. Mitze and the board of governors is keenly aware of the need to attract more youth-oriented acts to the Civic Arts Plaza. The board has found, however, that what some young people want is not realistic.

“We’re not going to be able to book a Pearl Jam or U2,” said board of governors member Al Adam at the panel’s meeting last week. “They’re too big. And we want to stay away from those metal/head-banging acts.”

Mitze agrees. He has to try and book more acts that are young and hip, but that at the same time fit the refined mold of the Civic Arts Plaza. “We don’t want a mosh pit in here,” Mitze said. “Safety is a top concern.”

Theater operators say they will try to book more up-and-coming rock and pop acts, hoping to establish the Civic Arts Plaza as a regular date on the customary tours along the California coast. And they are also trying to mine the regional music scene for bands to play in the center’s 400-seat Forum Theatre.

“I think it’s the right move for the Civic Arts Plaza,” said Agoura promoter Dave Hewitt, who tentatively booked Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, an eclectic big-band/rockabilly group that has a cult following in Ventura, to the Forum Theatre for May 24.

“There’s a lot of younger adults that see that building and say, ‘Wow, that place looks cool.’ But there’s never anything there that they would enjoy. I mean, c’mon. I don’t think the Forum Theatre or the Probst Center is geared toward punk or rap, but a lot of other things could happen there.”

In addition to hosting national and international touring companies and artists, the Civic Arts Plaza has become a home stage for local arts groups such as the New West Symphony, the Santa Susana Repertory Company and the Cabrillo Music Theatre. Indeed, the groups, though outshined by the better-known acts, are what give the center consistency.

The board of governors and Mitze have mainly relied on private promoters to bring shows to the Civic Arts Plaza: It is much less risky to simply provide a venue and collect rent, even if it means losing the opportunity to profit from ticket sales.

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The theater operators, however, are slowly beginning to get into the game, co-producing some safe-bet shows and taking small chances under the name Civic Arts Plaza Foundation. The group’s role is to bring sophisticated or unique acts to Thousand Oaks that would otherwise not come to the venue for economic reasons--but in moderation only.

At its meeting last week, for instance, the board of governors decided to pass on a chance to produce the Russian Village Folk Festival, saying it was too obscure to make much of a profit and had the potential to lose money.

Once the group builds up enough funds--it now has about $100,000--Mitze would like to take a big chance, putting on a serious opera or some avant-garde dance work. But those days are a long way off.

For now, he and the other theater operators plan to play it safe. The City Council has decided to add a public relations position to Mitze’s skeletal five-member staff. That should help spread the word about shows. And the board of governors is flush with ideas to plug the center--including a home page on the Internet, weekly calendars in newspapers, and of course, the proposal for a marquee along the Ventura Freeway.

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It would be hard to argue with the Civic Arts Plaza’s cautious approach, said Robert Freedman, vice president of the California Center for the Arts in Escondido. Roughly the same size as the Civic Arts Plaza, the Escondido center is also in its second season.

Like most performing arts centers, however, the Escondido facility ran a deficit its first year and is on the same pace this season, due in large part to the calculated risks it has taken with multicultural entertainment, Freedman said.

“The first year you have a new building, everybody wants to come and see it,” Freedman said. “The second year, the community has seen the building. They only come to see the shows they really want to see. For the Civic Arts Plaza to have that kind of attendance is excellent. They’re playing everything by the book, and it seems to be working for them.”