COVER STORY : NoHo : The vitality of theater is no act.

With the high visibility of the Academy project at Lankershim and Magnolia boulevards, and the proliferation of new businesses in the area fanning out from it, including art galleries and coffeehouses, it looks as though culture is suddenly blooming in North Hollywood.

Actually, it’s been around for a long time--at least one aspect of culture. Legitimate theater is firmly established here. And the area is nurturing more theaters every year.

There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is the fact that many film and television actors, writers and directors have gravitated toward the area’s reasonable domestic rents. They, along with longtime residents, provide a strong audience base for live theater. Sensible rentals for possible theater spaces themselves have been a magnet, along with the settled and easy camaraderie of several successful North Hollywood theaters that have confirmed the area as a viable market.

The first professional theater to settle permanently in North Hollywood was Group Repertory Theatre, which moved from Hollywood in 1975 and opened first on Magnolia Boulevard before settling on its current Burbank Boulevard location. Since then other theaters have come and gone, but many have stayed. In the last decade the count has increased to nine professional theaters.

Other area theaters include the Acme Comedy Theatre on Lankershim Boulevard, Actors Alley Repertory Theatre on Riverside Drive, Chandler Studio on Chandler Boulevard, Our Gang Theatre on Vanowen Street, Theatre Exchange on Hart Street, and American Renegade Theatre, Gnu Theatre and Limelight Playhouse, all on Magnolia Boulevard.

The newest, the Limelight Playhouse, is owned by Dan Hirsch, who also operates the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks. He explained his decision to expand to North Hollywood: “I simply looked at what I felt was an up-and-coming area that had reasonable rental rates, but also had a residential community of people that I thought would support theater.”

Hirsch said he found rents in other areas of the Valley were double those in North Hollywood. For example, he said, his rent for the Whitefire in Sherman Oaks is double that of the Limelight.

A “lot of serendipity” was also involved with his choice of location, he said, noting that he originally had not realized that the North Hollywood theater community was so vital. Now people say to him, “Oh, you’re near the Gnu Theatre, American Renegade Theatre, Group Repertory.”

The presence of an active theater community caused David Cox of American Renegade Theatre to initiate the formation of the Valley Theatre League in September. The league aims to bring owners and operators together for their mutual benefit, including plans to jointly promote theatergoing, to launch an awards program for area theaters, and to establish a theater-ticket coupon book in association with local merchants.

About the same time, James Mahfet, director of the North Hollywood-Universal City Chamber of Commerce, called a meeting to form a Cultural Affairs Committee to promote “the cultural identity of the area.” The chamber committee and the Valley Theatre League hope to co-sponsor events to promote the area’s cultural life.

One of the first ideas for a joint event to emerge from the two groups was David Cox’s proposal for a theater-centered street and art fair, which would block off traffic on Lankershim from Camarillo to Chandler for a day. Mahfet said the chamber will sponsor such as event on an as-yet undetermined date.

This is all in keeping with the chamber’s plans “to promote North Hollywood as a theater area,” he said. “Encino is truly identifiable as a restaurant-oriented community. We don’t have that. We have our culture, that’s what we’re here for. That’s my agenda.”

Cox, a relative newcomer in the area, opened his American Renegade Theater in early 1991 on the Magnolia Boulevard site of a previously established theater company. He chose a North Hollywood location, he said, because the area “is the only place left that can go booming. It’s been true so far, and that’s why I’ve jumped in and tried to be an instigator. You’ve got to do it. Not talk. Make it visible.”

He has since completely renovated the building and brought it up to code and, he said, community response has grown significantly. In the year since American Renegade opened its doors to the public, Cox avers, its income has increased by 50%. Its first show paid back half its investment, its last made a profit. And these days, Cox said, a dozen or so people walk in every day to say they’re glad he’s there. “They take flyers and try to spread them around,” Cox said. “They do the same with Dan Hirsch at the Limelight.”

The more theaters in the area, the better, the directors say. Most echo the sentiments of Lonny Chapman, whose Group Repertory Theatre has been on Burbank Boulevard since the mid-1980s: “There’s more awareness of theater in the area today. It’s healthy and it should get healthier. I really love it. I’d like another theater to open up across the street. The more the merrier.”

Local residents are not the only supporters of North Hollywood theater. The area’s Community Redevelopment Project, under the direction of Jerry Belcher, has also provided some assistance. When Group Repertory was displaced from its Magnolia home by the Academy project, Belcher helped the group find its new space on Burbank Boulevard.

Belcher said he hopes to do more than that in the future. Although there are redevelopment funds available for city arts facilities, the CRP is not allowed to use those funds for privately owned arts facilities. Belcher hopes that that situation will change with the North Hollywood project’s next 12-year plan, which will be submitted for City Council approval in the spring. The plan, he said, “contains an element whereby we will have funds available to help with commercial or storefront renovations,” including small theaters that are looking to North Hollywood for a home.

Actors Alley Repertory Theatre, another area group that is looking to the CRP for assistance, is working with Belcher to find a new, larger space in the Lankershim area.

The theater has been in a facility on Riverside Drive since it relocated a couple of years ago from its original Sherman Oaks space. Like Hirsch at Limelight, Bob Caine, Actors Alley managing director, chose North Hollywood for economic reasons. “The thrust of the whole thing is that the West Valley is getting too expensive,” he said.

Caine said the move has been good for the company because the North Hollywood space is larger and its theater’s audience has expanded.

The company also has developed a cooperative relationship with the University of Judaism in which joint productions are staged in the university’s Gindi Auditorium and the Actors Alley Riverside Drive facility.

“If you get community support, it helps a lot,” Caine said.

If Actors Alley moves to a larger facility, the theater would be required, because of the increased seating capacity, to operate under the more stringent Hollywood Area Theatre contract with Actors Equity Assn., the legitimate theatrical union. The new contract would require the company to pay performers a higher wage than now stipulated under its current 99-Seat Plan agreement.

Moving up in status has been a goal of several local theater operators and, considering the commercial potentials and audience base, one of the reasons for choosing North Hollywood as a springboard for that jump. Jeff Seymour, whose Gnu Theatre has been successful and visible on Magnolia Boulevard for almost a decade, has intimated that that has also been one of his own goals.

Seymour says another reason for locating in North Hollywood was to give residents theater without making them go over the hill.

“It would be easier to find a safer area, and I knew I could get a lower rent than in Hollywood.” But North Hollywood has been good to him.

Seymour welcomes new theaters. “I hope it continues to happen,” he said. “It will bring more and more people in.”

James Mahfet agreed, saying that he thinks live theater may be a beacon for North Hollywood’s future.

“It’s surprising people don’t know there’s so much theater here,” he said. “The thing is to get the public to know that. That’s what’s going to make it successful. We do have an identity in North Hollywood, and essentially it’s live theater.”

North Hollywood Professional Theaters

Acme Comedy Theatre, 5124 Lankershim Blvd. A small theater that specializes in scripted and improvisational comedy, located near the Academy Project. (818) 753-0650.

Actors Alley Repertory Theatre, 12135 Riverside Drive. Located in Sherman Oaks for a number of years, AART moved three years ago to its present location, a comfortable space where it produces revivals and new plays, along with frequent co-productions with the University of Judaism. (818) 508-4200.

American Renegade Theatre, 11305 Magnolia Blvd. The group took over this space a year ago and has refurbished the building. It has a large mainstage area and a second smaller space in the rear. The company does revivals of well-known plays and frequently new plays. (818) 763-4430

Chandler Studio, 12443 Chandler Blvd. The home of Michael Holmes’ acting workshop, but also presents interesting projects open to the public. (818) 780-6516

Gnu Theatre, 10426 Magnolia Blvd. A classy, comfortable building, sometimes presenting revivals, but more frequently interesting new plays, a number of which have won awards. (818) 508-5344

Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd. A well-established group that has been in the area since 1975, producing both revivals and original scripts. (818) 769-7529

Limelight Playhouse, 10634 Magnolia Blvd. North Hollywood’s newest professional theater. Basically a rental house, but usually interested in unusual new plays. (818) 761-4176

Our Gang Theatre, 11411 Vanowen St. This theater houses the Our Gang Teen Ensemble, but its productions, whether with professional actors, teens, or a combination of both, are for all audiences, and definitely not a children’s theater. (818) 503-2952

Theatre Exchange, 11855 Hart St. A theater that was very successful in the area for a number of years before going dark a few years ago, but came to life again earlier this year. (818) 765-9526