Located at the intersection of 11th St. and Santa Monica Blvd., a
striking modern building designed by Santa Monica architect Renzo
Zecchetto sits on the site of a former elementary school playground and
looks to have risen out of the ground sui generis, almost as if the
Starship Enterprise had decided to dock in the middle of a residential
city block.
It didn’t.
This is the remarkable new Santa
Monica College Performing Arts Center, comprised of the Eli and Edythe
Broad Stage, a 499-seat state-of-the art theater, and the Edye Second
Space, a 99-seat “black box” theater. The new center, generally known
as, simply, the Broad Stage, will debut with a gala opening on Sept. 20
celebrating the life, career and music of Barbara Cook, the
incomparable interpreter of the American Songbook (KCRW-FM 89.9 will air a one hour documentary about Barbara Cook produced by Sarah Spitz on 9/16 at 2 and again at 7PM in honor of the gala).
For the
theater-bereft Westside, whose residents once could only hope to see
major theatrical productions by traveling downtown — often in rush
hour —
this is a big step up culturally. And it has been in development for a
very long time — each detail dissected, discussed and considered.
The
story goes that about 10 years ago, Dale Franzen, an opera singer and,
at the time, a member of Santa Monica College’s music faculty, found
herself at a dinner party with Dustin Hoffman, who once upon a time
attended SMC. They met at the home of Piedad Robertson, then SMC’s
president, and talked about how great it would be if the Westside had a
world-class performing arts center. So they sketched out a plan on a
napkin. In time, as their vision took flight, Franzen took on the role
of artistic director (she is now director), and Hoffman, who chaired
the building committee, became chair of the Broad Stage’s artistic
advisory board.
Over the ensuing decade, a whole host of
notables were consulted on making the dream a reality, including
professionals associated with the Los Angeles Opera, the Los Angeles
Chamber
Orchestra, the Wiltern Theatre, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza and
California Institute of the Arts. The old joke would have you believe
that a donkey is a horse built by committee, yet in the case of the
Santa Monica Performing Arts Center, Franzen managed to birth a
butterfly from a silkworm (and I now officially have run out of species
clichés).
Recently,
Denise Leader Stoeber, associate director of the Broad Stage, gave me a
tour of the facility as workers were putting on the finishing touches.
The
Broad Stage was designed to be performer and audience friendly; the
499-seat theater space has a bright and clean design, yet feels
intimate. Every seat affords clear sight lines meant to allow eye
contact with the performers, and the seats themselves, imported from
Italy, are firm and comfortable with good legroom (I tested them).
The
stage was conceived to accommodate drama, dance and musical
performances. Accordingly, there are 37 fly
lines, allowing for complex changes of scenery. There’s also an
orchestra pit, and the stage can accommodate a 45-piece orchestra. A
9-foot concert Steinway piano, stored in its own specially designed
cupboard, was a gift from donors Eva and Marc Stern. The stage flooring
is partially sprung, so has a very good surface for dance, added to
which a professional dance floor has been fashioned to be placed on top
for performances.
Of
course, the audience will see only a small part of the story. There is
ample wing space, a comfortable green room, dressing rooms for solo
performers as well as for a company of as many as 14. There’s an
orchestra lift and a trap pit that allows the stage to open from almost
anywhere, and both the backstage and below-stage areas are handicap
accessible. The Broad Stage also has a state-of-the-art sound system
and state-of-the-art performance lighting (with two lighting bridges
and follow spot room). It can accommodate filming as well
as live broadcasts. As for screening movies or events — such as
high-definition transmissions of live opera — the stage has both the
sound system and the screen, though it still lacks the projector
(donation, please?).
Finally,
the acoustics were designed by Mark Holden of Jaffe-Holden Acoustics,
who has worked with both the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and
Lincoln Center in New York. A motorized variable acoustic drapery
system allows the room to accommodate the sounds of different artistic
performances and disciplines.
And for my green-conscious
friends, eco-warriors please note: The theater was built with Honduran
mahogany, a renewable resource, and the heating and cooling systems are
beneath the floor and vent beneath the seats, rather than from above,
while the lobby has been configured to be naturally vented, all for
maximum efficiency.
Last, but by no means least, for those
patrons who have had the experience of missing part of a
performance because they were waiting in line outside a restroom, the
good news is there are four public restrooms, and the main women’s
restroom includes a lounge and double capacity facilities.
The
Edye Second Space, which is adjacent to the Broad Stage, is a 99-seat
theater, with its own lighting grid and the ability to show video. It
is intended to showcase a wider range of more experimental works,
including readings, plays and interdisciplinary productions.
For
both the Broad Stage and the Edye, Stoeber said, the ambition is to be
a place where artists used to performing before large audiences can
perform in a more intimate setting, where new work can be incubated,
and where new artists can be presented. To that end, for example, on
Oct. 11 the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade will perform
Mozart, Bernstein and Poulenc, as well as new works composed for her by
composer and accompanist Jake Heggie.
Just to give you a sense
of what
architect Renzo Zecchetto has accomplished, in its technical abilities
the Broad Stage is at the same level as UCLA’s Royce Hall, yet Royce
can hold an audience three times as large. The combination of the
intimacy of the Broad and the technical virtuosity is unparalleled here.
What
is remarkable, when you think about it, is that until now, no such
performing arts center for music, dance, and theater has existed west
of the 405 Freeway. That is not to say that the Westside has been
without temples of culture: The Getty Center and the Getty Center
Malibu have staged theater events, readings and happenings, as has the
Hammer Museum in Westwood, and there have been events at Bergamot
Station in Santa Monica; the relatively new Kirk Douglas Theatre in
Culver City (an outpost of the downtown Center Theatre Group), has
mounted significant theater productions; as has the Miles Playhouse in
Reed Park. Santa Monica Civic Auditorium hosts the occasional concert,
and
the Skirball has, among other offerings, a thriving world music
program. Nonetheless, despite these and many other performance spaces,
the Westside has never had a dedicated stage of this caliber to attract
world-class artists.
To
ensure that Los Angeles denizens can enjoy their evening, the Broad
Stage parking lot can accommodate 289 cars, in addition to valet
parking, fitting, since as David Mamet reportedly said of the new
venue, “the only thing more important than a forum where the community
can go hear the truth is a forum where the community can go to hear the
truth with adequate parking.”
What then, you may ask, is the
price tag for a world-class arts center? More than you might imagine:
$45 million. And if you are a resident of Santa Monica or Malibu, you
can thank yourself for making all this possible: In 2004 Santa Monica
and Malibu passed a $35 million bond measure to support the project; $5
million came from other government agencies and
individual donors, along with additional funds from a 2002 bond measure
passed to finance improvements to Santa Monica College.
This
marriage of public and private funds and of a community college and a
performing arts center with world-class ambitions required a fair
amount of creative collaboration and innovation in of itself.
“Embedded
in the original Santa Monica College charter is the call for a
performing arts center, so the stage fulfills our mandate and our
traditions,” said Chui. L. Tsang, the current president of Santa Monica
College. One can also point to KCRW-FM, the nationally renowned radio
station that broadcasts from the SMC campus, as an analogous “community
service” of SMC.
In practice, what this means is that the
college will use the space for rehearsing its orchestra, college band
and chorus (which can include as many as 100 people), and for
performances associated with those groups. The Madison Building behind
the center is
available for classes and for rehearsals, as is the Edye Second Space.
Both
the Broad Stage and the Edye will plan their programming around the
college’s use. At the same time, the Madison Group, a nonprofit
organization created to stand at arms-length from the college, will
lease the space and administer other programming for the center while
raising money for what Stoeber called “this world-class programming in
a world-class building.” Memberships are available, and the inaugural
season package has a five-ticket-for-the-price-of-four deal.
The
inaugural season offers evenings of song, dance, music and theater from
a diverse group of artists, ranging from mezzo-soprano Von Stade on
opening night (Oct. 11) to jazz artist Theo Bleckmann, cajun ensemble
The Pine Leaf Boys and a cappella group Chanticleer, to dance companies
such as Lulu Washington and Diavolo, musicians Lee Ritenour and Dave
Grusin, as well as conductor Kent Nagano leading soloists from
the Montreal Symphony (for a full schedule of events go to
www.TheBroadStage.com).
The
first season, impressive as it is, is still somewhat of a “soft
launch,” as they call it in the Internet world. Given that the opening
is about a year behind schedule, the artists for the first season
needed a certain flexibility to accommodate the Broad Stage. As Franzen
has noted, the first season performances “allow us to test how the room
and our systems perform in staging music, oratory, song and drama.” The
second season is already being scheduled, and there is talk of
including more ethnic dance and more family offerings. Hoffman has been
working on theater offerings to launch next year.
To support the
programming as well as arts education, Eli and Edythe Broad donated $10
million to create an endowment. At a press conference earlier this year
to announce the gift, Broad proclaimed: “We have the Walt Disney
Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles and now the
Westside will have its own premier performing arts venue.”
That
the Broads have become our modern Medicis was not lost on Hoffman, who
lauded them: “Without people like the Broads, we wouldn’t have
commissioned work of Mozart and Bach and Beethoven and so many of the
great painters. How they use their capital is commendable.”
Initially
the Broads had urged that the theater be named after Hoffman, but they
were ultimately persuaded otherwise. “Edye loves the theater” press
materials quote Broad as saying, “and after 53 years of marriage, I
wanted to honor her by naming the second space “The Edye.'”
As
for Hoffman, during the planning of the Broad Stage, one of his
suggestions was to have a restroom just off-stage for performers —
apparently his many years in the theater have taught him that such a
contrivance would be invaluable. The restroom is now there, and Hoffman
has asked that a plaque noting his contributions to the Broad Stage be
placed
there.
Something about that just tickles me. The Broads may
have their names on the front of the building, but Hoffman has created
his own rung on Rambam’s ladder: the ironic acknowledgement.
The
Broad Stage, as it goes forward, will no doubt evolve. As part of Santa
Monica College and as part of the Santa Monica community, it has a rare
opportunity to make its “global theater” locally relevant. The degree
to which it becomes integral to the community and to Los Angeles as a
whole will depend on both the quality and choice of the offerings, as
well as its responsiveness to the audience. A task that poses as many
questions as it does challenges.
For example, given that
Emeritus College is also part of Santa Monica College, serving the
senior community, will the Broad Stage create programs suited to senior
schedules when the facility is otherwise not in use? Similarly, what
about family programs? Will there be the equivalent of “early bird
specials”? Weekend afternoon shows at family-friendly hours? Will they
hew to the classic, or tilt to the new, or provide both? And how will
the audience respond? (And who will they be?) All this remains to be
seen.
For
now, let us rejoice in the fall harvest of riches in Santa Monica: from
newly opened restaurants, such as R+D Kitchen on Montana and Anisette
just off the Third Street Promenade, to the forthcoming relocation of
Santa Monica Seafood and the café and oyster bar they intend to open,
to the imminent arrival of Diesel Bookstore in the Country Mart, and to
this new starship that docked on 11th Street (with ample parking),
ready to take all who enter on voyages of the heart, mind, soul and
spirit.
