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Photo by Tom Bonner |
The Geffen Playhouse lobby showcases the historic theater's classic masonry wall, period lighting fixtures and restored original flooring of the Mediterranean building. |
Geffen sparkles as newest crown jewel on theater scene
BY Cynthia Lee
Today Staff Writer
The curtain went up Oct. 17 on the Geffen Playhouse’s 18-month, $17-million renovation before an invitation-only crowd that included campus leaders, donors and celebrities. They were among the first theater patrons to applaud the dynamic new changes to the interior of this historic building.
The opening soiree, hosted by Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gil Cates and co-chaired by Jason Alexander, hailed the renovations that, playhouse officials said, reposition the institution as one of the crown jewels of Los Angeles theater. On hand to speak were Chancellor Albert Carnesale and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
“Ron Frink’s thoughtful and meticulous renovation maintains the historical context of the building while creating a whole new level of comfort for patrons,” Cates said of the architect who preserved the romanticism of the building’s design while adapting the space to the needs of its audiences and theater company.
Along with improved acoustics, sight lines and a new elevated section of seats with premiere views, there are plusher, wider seats; an extended mezzanine with front-row seating and two new boxes; a new main stage and thrust stage floor with traps; and new left and right wings to accommodate full-size sets and scene changes. Adjacent to the 522-seat main theater was built the three-story Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater with 117 seats.
The playhouse is one of the first 12 structures built in Westwood Village in 1929, the founding year of both the village and the Westwood campus. As the Masonic Affiliates Clubhouse, it served UCLA students and alumni who were related to Masons. “The MAC,” as it was called, hosted ping-pong tourneys, tea dances, Mardi Gras balls and study sessions until its conversion in World War II to a U.S. Army barrack.
Designed by the Los Angeles firm of Morgan, Walls & Clement (who also did the El Capitan and Mayan theaters), its Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, the style designated for the village’s original buildings, was selected by developers Edwin and Harold Janss to complement the Romanesque style of UCLA’s first buildings. It was the Janss brothers who in 1925 sold 375 acres to the University of California for its new campus.
A celebrity red-carpet gala is set for Nov. 16, opening night for Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” featuring Jeremy Davidson, Academy Award-winning Brenda Fricker and John Goodman. The inaugural performance at the Kenis Theater is slated for Nov. 18 with the world premiere of “My Buddy Bill,” written and performed by Emmy Award-winner Rick Cleveland.
For details on the playhouse’s 10th anniversary season, go to www.geffenplayhouse.com.
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