A Tale of Two Theaters

Stage

OVER THE SPAN OF TWO DECADES, a pair of local theater companies has gained international prominence, mostly under the guidance of two artistic directors, Jack O’Brien at the Old Globe and Des McAnuff at La Jolla Playhouse. Now both have gone on to emeritus status and other positions and projects, leaving vast voids for their successors to fill. In October, the Playhouse named Christopher Ashley to replace McAnuff, and this year the Globe started with a three-man leadership team developed under O’Brien. Darko Tresnjak, who previously oversaw the Summer Shakespeare Festival, and Jerry Patch were co-artistic directors reporting to Lou Spisto, who now carries the title of CEO/executive producer. Patch, however, abruptly crossed coasts in March to take a post at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Now, as the two companies head into their first seasons under revised management, should we expect big changes? Not according to the new leaders, who plan only to expand on their predecessors’ successful ways. The Old Globe is continuing to fill its stages with the fresh and the familiar, like the recent pre-Broadway musical comedy Dancing in the Dark and The Glass Menagerie, another in the Classics Up Close series.

And the organization is making big strides offstage. In January, the Globe opened a technical center in Southeastern San Diego, where sets and scenic elements will be constructed and stored. Its funding came from the ongoing $75 million capital campaign, which will also finance the reshaping of the Balboa Park complex, replacing the Carter and adding an education center.

Such projects are what Spisto envisioned in launching the capital campaign. “We know what the Globe means to the community and to the country,” he says. “We have a responsibility to go beyond our stages into the community.” He’s also excited about plans to nurture new audiences, including free early matinee performances——“three per run”——for students and a bilingual Romeo and Juliet as part of the Shakespeare Festival.

Theater companies are increasingly being administered by a leadership team rather than an individual, a trend Spisto sees as valuable. “In today’s world,” he says, “artistic directors are peripatetic. They want to work all over.” That, he recalls, was especially true of O’Brien,

who was sought by theaters everywhere. “We all said, ‘Jack is sui generis’ ” (one of a kind).

Spisto’s specialty is producing and gaining financing, and he’s done well. Since his arrival in 2002, the subscription base has grown by more than 35 percent, and in each of the past three years, total ticket sales exceeded any other year in Globe history.

AT THE PLAYHOUSE, Ashley opened his initial season with Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations (through May 4 at the Mandell Weiss Theatre), the story of a sleuthing musicologist who gets obsessed in studying Beethoven’s fascination with an obscure piece of music. The schedule also includes Xanadu, the boffo Broadway musical that Ashley directed, which in November will get its first stop after New York.

“I was asked,” says Ashley, “if the first season is a blueprint. I said no. The job is to reinvent yourself.

“I love being at the Playhouse, the basic DNA of this theater. Anything we can imagine, we can do. It’s an amazing sandbox to play in.” Plus, he says, “I have a canny, smart, experienced staff, and they’ve been an immense help.” He’s been working at the Playhouse almost full-time since his appointment, but he’s also making time to check out other productions around town. Such visits are central to a key part of his charted course, a residency program under which small local troupes who lack a space will get to use Playhouse facilities.

“There’s an immense amount of theater energy in San Diego,” says Ashley, “and depending on how you count, we’ll have anywhere from three to eight performance spaces.” They range from the 492-seat Mandell Weiss Theatre to an intimate cabaret space at the restaurant in the Jacobs Center, where “We hope to have a late-night performance starting New Year’s Eve.”

Ashley also wants a stronger commitment to new work, especially looking south. “Our commissioning program will get increasingly aggressive,” he says, adding, “We want to establish really strong relationships with Mexico and South America, to give their artists a chance to be seen.” He’ll expand the Playhouse’s acclaimed and successful play-development program (“We’ll have two Page to Stage productions next season”), and he’s particularly seeking works for the year-old series called The Edge, which aims to present innovative, provocative works. “We want to say to audiences: ‘Come to have an adventure.’”

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