Pasadena Playhouse Teams With Lobero Theatre

The Pasadena Playhouse will export its productions to Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre beginning in September. Each of the six annual mainstage productions at Pasadena will be restaged for 22 performances at the Lobero.

The announcement by officials of the two theaters is the first solid evidence that Pasadena Playhouse owner David Houk’s plan to build a regional circuit for his productions is taking shape. Houk has bid for arrangements with theaters in San Diego, Culver City and Riverside as well as Santa Barbara.

The Pasadena Playhouse and the Lobero were built in the same year--1924--and are “almost identical in stage size, technical support and seating capacity,” noted Lars Hansen, executive director of the Playhouse.

The Santa Barbara agreement is projected to last five years--including a period in 1994 when the Lobero is slated to undergo seismic renovation. But it’s not yet known how long the renovation will take or how it will affect Lobero programming. Hansen noted that the Playhouse staff is well acquainted with seismic renovations, having gone through the same experience in Pasadena.

Lobero and Pasadena officials declined to discuss the financial arrangements behind the agreement. But sources said that a five-year rental at the Lobero, based on current rates, would cost the Playhouse about $1 million.

One of the reasons why the Lobero board approved the Pasadena proposal over several others was because the Playhouse was seen as “a solid financial partner,” said Lobero executive director Nancy Moore.

Other reasons she cited were the Playhouse’s artistic quality, the impact of its proposed schedule on the Lobero’s ability to accommodate other programming, and its marketing resources. The Santa Barbara productions will be marketed as a subscription season.

The Lobero recently lost its primary theatrical tenant when Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera officials decided to move to a larger theater, probably the Granada.

The first production of the next Playhouse season, slated to be announced next week, will play Pasadena July 19 to Aug. 23 and move to the Lobero for a Sept. 24-Oct. 11 run. That would leave time for another stop between the two cities, and negotiations are under way for that possibility, Hansen confirmed.

The Playhouse moved its production of “Solitary Confinement” to the Spreckels Theatre in San Diego earlier this year, and sources say it’s likely the Spreckels could be added to the Pasadena circuit in the near future.