Topsy-Turvy Times

With three local productions of “A Christmas Carol” and one of “Cricket on the Hearth” having played their course, it’s time to look back over the last year in Ventura County theater.

While most local groups qualify as amateur, four professional companies have been working the area. The difference? Professional companies employ professional actors under contract with Actors Equity. And while some--perhaps many--of the area’s amateur actors are as capable as some professionals, we can generally expect a higher degree of performance and production from the professional groups.

The oldest such group in Ventura County, Santa Susana Repertory Company, just performed its 10th annual edition of “A Christmas Carol.” Allied for some time with the now-defunct Gold Coast Plays, Santa Susana hasn’t officially announced any productions for next year, but founder and artistic director Lane Davies said he’s planning a version of “Romeo and Juliet.” The play would open at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, then move to Cal Lutheran University, where it would be performed in repertory with “The Taming of the Shrew.” Davies plans to bring “A Christmas Carol” back next December, perhaps in repertory with “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Two other professional companies completed their first year in Ventura. Sadly, only one will return. The Rubicon company, operating out of the Laurel Theater on Main Street, started with a staged reading of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Ventura Theatre. Later, the company moved to the Laurel for two of its own plays, a touring company of “Forever Plaid” co-produced with Gold Coast and a workshop of a new play, “The Ark Hasn’t Left Yet,” in October.

Next year, the group promises a version of Lillian Hellman’s “The Little Foxes,” starring Linda Purl and directed by veteran Jenny Sullivan; the review “Harry Chapin--Lies and Legends” with Amanda McBroom and George Ball; and “Murder in the First,” Dan Gordon’s theatrical adaptation of his 1995 feature film script.

*

The second professional company headquartered in Ventura, Theatre on Main, produced a slate of plays including “Slow Dance on the Killing Ground,” the semi-biographical “Tennessee [Williams] in the Summer,” and a program of Williams’ one-act plays. While the productions were generally good to excellent, audiences never materialized.

But the group has temporarily continued after losing its tenancy in the Ventura Odd Fellows Hall. Artistic director Jack Heller said he has checked out more than 20 possible venues, but that “most places would rather rent for weddings and such than have a single tenant.” That, or the rents were prohibitive.

Allowing that his group was underfunded from the start, Heller is determined to produce the kind of play that has a hard time drawing audiences even in major markets.

The dissolution of Gold Coast Plays took place without fanfare, but was hardly surprising to those who followed its recent history, including a split from Santa Susana Repertory Company, cutting a previously announced run of “Forever Plaid” at the Moorpark Playhouse during its first weekend (after runs in Thousand Oaks and Ventura) and withdrawing from a planned co-production of “Murder in the First” with Rubicon.

The company’s own production of “Noises Off” was canceled at the last moment, replaced by a touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber songs that was, to put it kindly, subpar. Still, Gold Coast says it intends to produce Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” in February, with a cast not including the previously announced Dale Kristien.

Kim and Dwier Brown, who run the area’s other professional theater group, Ojai’s Theater 150, were celebrating the holidays in Australia but have announced a reading of a new play, Kevin Crowley’s “Disgruntled Employees,” on Jan. 22 at Nordhoff High School. It will benefit the Ojai Playwrights Conference, with which the Browns are involved. At last report, stars who have promised to read include David Hyde Pierce and John Mahoney from TV’s “Frasier,” as well as Peter Strauss and Christine Estabrook. Tickets are $50 and can be ordered by calling 640-0400.

Todd Everett can be reached at teverett@concentric.net