PLAYHOUSE OPTS FOR THE ECLECTIC IN 2ND SEASON

“If at first you don’t succeed . . .” is the reigning philosophy at the Pasadena Playhouse. The new management team of artistic co-directors Susan Dietz and Stephen Rothman is entering the second season of the theater’s second life (as a smartly renovated house) with a new approach to programming.

Call it eclectic. The season, as announced Wednesday, departs from last year’s emphasis on modern classics, replacing it with all-out comedy. It also comes in two parts: a four-play main event and a six-part curtain-raiser.

The main event will include an opening revival of John Guare’s “House of Blue Leaves,” now a hit at Lincoln Center but to be locally produced (May 3-24); the premiere of “Mail,” an original musical by Jerry Colker and Michael Rupert (June 14-July 5); William Gibson’s moral debate between a crusty old judge and a flinty nun in “Handy Dandy,” with James Whitmore and Audra Lindley (July 26-Aug.16) and a revival of a zany old favorite, “Room Service” (Sept. 6-27). And there it is: Something old, something new, something borrowed and nothing blue.

The Great Performance Series, which precedes the four plays, consists of six weeklong events:

Kevin McCarthy in the one-man “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!” (March 3-8); the ineffable “Miss Peggy Lee” (March 10-15); a concert version of Colker and Rupert’s Off Broadway musical “Three Guys Naked From the Waist Down,” with the original cast--Colker, John Kassir and Scott Bakula (March 17-22); Ray Stricklyn as Tennessee Williams in the award-winning “Confessions of a Nightingale” (March 24-29); double-trouble comedy with Dick Shawn and Dale Gonyea sharing the same bill (March 31-April 5) and, finally, Jack Gilford’s own “How I Became an Overnight Success in 40 Years” (April 7-12).

Subscribe to both series and it’s a Chinese banquet: how to please the most people at once.

“We both agree that we have two prime markets,” Rothman said, “the San Gabriel Valley and Greater Los Angeles. In putting the season together, we tried to balance things so longtime supporters could be excited--and we could too. We wanted an exciting show to launch the season--and we both independently came up with ‘House of Blue Leaves.’ ”

“Guare is a solid contemporary playwright,” Dietz echoed. “The success of the play’s revival in New York says something about that.”

“And it’s a great piece for actors,” added Rothman, reemphasizing that the playhouse will be an actors’ theater and has an actors’ advisory board (headed by Whitmore) committed to making it one.

“We want this to be a place where actors come to work, “ Dietz said. “The Great Performances Series exemplifies it. It includes many performances of a lifetime.”

But under all the public relations, can something designed to please everyone please anyone?

“Who knows what’s dangerous and what’s safe? You put it on the stage and you see what happens,” said the ever-pragmatic Dietz.

“We wanted something for everyone. We didn’t want to play it safe. We’re taking a real shot. It’s an interesting mix and the people involved are fabulous.

“We’ll see if it’ll draw a variety of theatergoers. We wanted to include performances that might attract people who’ve never been to the playhouse--generate single ticket buyers who may then go for the four-play subscription.”

With a budget of $1.8 million, Dietz and Rothman have an uphill struggle. They’re revitalizing Stages Magazine as a subscriber’s newsletter and have long-range plans for corporate (or private) sponsorship of individual performers or performances. They also hope to stage a fund-raiser in the fall and have already raised $18,000 on one mailing of a just-started Angels’ drive designed to raise $50,000. In time, they want a program for young audiences.

For the moment, however, they are battling not only the effects of last year’s lackluster season (a subject they did not bring up), but also the expected 30% to 40% subscription drop customary to second-year renewals.

“The first task,” said Dietz, undeterred, “is to recapture those 8,300 (first-year) subscribers. We’re going for a total of 10,000.

“If we can do that, we’ll be happy. There’s a sense in talking to people in Pasadena that, if the playhouse can be made viable, they’ll gather ‘round.”

Much hangs in that balance, such as the fate of the 99-seat theater adjacent to the main stage (but on separate real estate) currently rented by the Bank Playhouse.

“We like having it there,” said Rothman. “It creates action,” but he could not say if the theater would survive. “You’ll have to ask (Playhouse developer) David (Houk) about that.”

“It’s all dollars,” Houk said. “Our plan is to keep the (smaller) theater, but it has to be paid for. It depends on how successful Steve and Suzie are.”

MINI-FESTIVAL: Beginning Monday, the Ensemble Studio Theatre will host “An Anthem to Black Artistry” in anticipation of February as Black History Month.

The seven-day celebration kicks off with three workshops (Monday through Wednesday) focusing on black writing, acting and directing, followed by the performance of plays and other pieces next Thursday through Jan. 18.

The event, produced by Rosie Lee Hooks and Ben Guillory, will address cross-cultural audiences.

Among other things, it includes an appearance by the all-black comedy improv group Mixxed Nutts, the South African play “Woza, Albert!,” readings of anti-apartheid poetry, poems and scenes about black women, and Guillory in “Paul Robeson,” written by Philip Hayes Dean, with Howlett Smith at the piano. Call 213-466-2226.

PIECES AND BITS: “No Stone for Studs Schwartz,” opening Friday at the Boyd Street Theatre, is the Los Angeles Poverty Department’s second contribution to its Theater of the Homeless.

It begins with a murder on Skid Row and moves into the victim’s recollection and perception of himself as Studs Schwartz. John Malpede directs with Bill Kerr.