Chance Theater rolling out next phase of its expansion
by Eric Marchese
Just 13 months since announcing and initiating a major move and expansion plans, Chance Theater is now implementing “phase 2” of that expansion. The additional 3,000 square feet will be rolled out on Feb. 7 at the opening-night gala of “Loch Ness, a new musical,” the Anaheim theater company’s first production of the new year.
The fall 2013 plans, which came to fruition in late January of this year, meant a new space of 6,000 square feet and the ability to hold 100 to 149 patrons in an enlarged theater with a larger lobby and restrooms plus enhanced facilities for actors.
Phase 2 increases that space by an additional 50 percent. The front one-third of the new space will house a new second stage with 49 fixed seats. The middle section holds a rehearsal space plus a fully equipped dance studio. The rear third will contain a complete scene shop.
The expansion represents the first time in the company’s 16-year history that it has had a second performance space, a functioning separate rehearsal space from its main stage, and a dedicated space to build scenery.
The new plans were announced at Chance’s Anaheim Hills venue on Sunday to an audience of 120 current and potential subscribers. Billed as a “Season Preview Bash,” the 90-minute presentation urged the audience to take advantage of various subscription packages, announced the expansion, named the five shows that will fill the new space in 2015, announced the six Main Stage productions for next year, and offered excerpt performances from six of next season’s shows.
Of next season’s 11 productions – six main and five second stage – six are premieres, including world premieres of “Loch Ness, a new musical” and “The Legend(s) of Sleepy Hollow”; the West Coast premiere of Lauren Yee’s “Samsara”; Southern California premieres of “After the Revolution” and “The Dragon Play”; and the Orange County premiere of “Fancy Nancy – The Musical.”
Even the non-premieres are noteworthy, including the Obie Award winner “A Bright New Boise” by Samuel D. Hunter (“The Whale”); a “re-imagining” of the popular Broadway musical “Hairspray”; and a new staging of “Alice in Wonderland,” part of the company’s three-show youth theater series.
Rounding out the company’s holiday series for 2015 are its third seasonal production of “Anne of Green Gables” and its 12th annual production of Jeff Goode’s raunchy comedy “The Eight: Reindeer Monologues.”
Artistic director Oanh Nguyen said “the additional space brings additional patrons and additional support” and that increasing the total seating capacity will help the company to continue to grow and improve while reaching new audiences.
Managing director Casey Long listed increased ticket sales as one of the edges to having a second space by virtue of being able to run two shows concurrently – “or having the theater open where you’d usually be dark.” Yet he also noted that having two performance spaces “isn’t just about putting on more shows: We’re also going to be able to expand our education and outreach programs, and having a scene shop will allow us to turn sets around – we won’t have to wait until the set (of a current show) is cleared off to start building the next one.”
Also on hand Sunday were Bette and Wylie Aitken, whose 2013 donation of $250,000 prompted Nguyen, Long and company to rename their theater Chance Theater at Bette Aitken Theater Arts Center.
Wylie Aitken said he and wife Bette “expect to see the incredible genius of this theater continue and have the opportunity to reach a much greater and more expanded audience. It will provide more opportunities for these great talents to not only perform but to bring in greater and other new talents.”
The expansion, he said, “will provide something I guess I’ll get shot for by Martin (Benson, co-founder of South Coast Repertory and a Chance board member) and David (Emmes, Benson’s SCR founding partner), which is, we’re gonna follow their lead and be one of the finest theaters in America.”
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