A.S.K. Helps the Ford With New Plays

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission and A.S.K. Theater Projects will join forces for the second season of productions at [Inside] the Ford, the 87-seat space on the lower level of the county-owned John Anson Ford Theatre in Hollywood.

For the first season, in 1998-99, the commission itself picked three productions, focusing on companies that didn’t have their own homes. The resulting mix was eclectic but, in retrospect, “we really felt we needed to create an identity for the space, to forge one direction that theatergoers can get used to,” said Laura Zucker, the commission’s executive director.

The second season was delayed by construction at the Ford, but when planning resumed, the commission decided that the series should focus on new plays. Enter A.S.K., the Westside organization that sponsors plenty of play readings and workshops but is precluded by its own rules from staging full productions. A.S.K. picked three projects that had gone through its developmental process but had not yet been scheduled for full L.A. productions, and these will make up the new season. A.S.K. also threw in $25,000 to support the marketing of the season.

As it turns out, all three productions will still be presented by companies that lack their own homes.

Playwrights’ Arena will present the first play in the series--the premiere of Daniel Cariaga’s “Sleepwalk,” Nov. 9-Dec. 17. (Cariaga is the son of Times music writer Daniel Cariaga.) The company had its own tiny home on Pico Boulevard but recently lost it due to rising rent.

Next up will be the L.A. premiere of Julie Jensen’s “Two-Headed,” which opened in New York last month. The producer of the Jan. 11-Feb. 25 run will be Timescape Arts Group.

“The Woman Who Forgot Her Sweater,” a chamber opera by O-Lan Jones and Kathleen Cramer, will run March 15-April 21, produced by Jones’ Overtone Industries.

The county does not provide direct grants to the productions but does rent the space for $500 a week and furnishes box-office services, lighting and sound equipment and a production manager. The space was formerly known as Taper, Too, during the years when its primary tenant was the Mark Taper Forum.

PEACE IN 90210: Peace is at hand in the conflict between Theatre 40 and the Beverly Hills School District.

The professional nonprofit company uses a 99-seat venue on the campus of Beverly Hills High School. But during much of the 1999-2000 season, relations between the troupe and the school system were strained.

A few administrators, at least one prominent teacher and a school board member challenged Theatre 40’s continuing residency. The company was briefly ordered to vacate the premises for purported violations relating to safety and handicapped accessibility, just before a major production of “Nicholas Nickleby” last fall.

In January, the company’s belongings were removed and placed in storage. Theatre 40’s artistic co-directors and a school board member were throwing words like “vile” and “obnoxious” back and forth. The school board voted to allow Theatre 40 to complete its season, but an extension beyond that sounded unlikely.

Now, however, relations are well on the road to recovery, if not quite back to normal. The school board has unanimously voted to extend Theatre 40’s residency, and a contract confirming the arrangement for three years is likely to be signed by the end of the summer, a school spokesman said.

The company isn’t slated to produce anything on campus this fall, but only because the school plans to use the 99-seat space while two larger theaters on the campus are being refurbished. However, Theatre 40 is now expecting to return to production in its campus home early in 2001.

“There is no more hostility, no more resistance. Our future is secured,” said David Stafford, a Theatre 40 board member. He said the group’s belongings were returned to the space about a month ago.

Stafford attributed last year’s friction to “new players who had no perception of our 30-year history in Beverly Hills,” but he acknowledged that some company members also “reacted with hostility.”

The company will try “not to step on toes” in the future, he said.

Artistic co-directors Artur Cybulski and J. David Krassner resigned earlier this year, citing time pressures, but remain members of the company. No new artistic director has been named, although a committee from within the membership will make any artistic decisions that may arise until a new artistic director is named.

FRYER REMEMBERED: The memory of former Ahmanson Theatre artistic director Robert Fryer, who died May 28, will be honored at the Ahmanson on Thursday at 4 p.m. The event is open to the public.

Among those scheduled to speak are Larry Gelbart, Carol Channing, Charlton Heston and Gordon Davidson. Slated to sing are Jerry Herman, Jane Carr, Bill Hutton and Mary Jo Catlett. More names are likely to be added to those lists. Fryer guided Ahmanson programming from 1971 through 1989.

For more information, phone (213) 972-7389.