It’s a new day at Malibu Stage Company—right down to the new name: the Malibu Playhouse. The intent, local director Diane Namm said, was “a push to acknowledge Malibu not just as a beach town, but as a cultural destination on a par with the La Jolla Playhouse.”
That regional theater has become famous for developing productions to send to Broadway (e.g. “Big River” in 1984). Malibu Playhouse might have similar aspirations under newly appointed Artistic Director Gene Franklin Smith.
He replaces Richard Johnson, who has served as AD since May 2011.
Smith has a confirmed status as a theatrical heavyweight, having seen a number of his own plays produced in New York City and in Los Angeles. He founded the Write Act Repertory Company, whose envelope-pushing zeitgeist developed world premiere productions, Smith’s hugely successful adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House” among them.
In 2003, he moved to Toronto and founded the Troubled Souls Collective, which produced a soldout series of Victorian ghost stories staged in a historic Victorian mansion. Upon returning to Los Angeles, he oversaw productions at the Matrix Theatre and participated in Playwrights’ Arena’s 20th year celebration, writing and directing different successful productions.
As a seasoned writer, director and producer, Smith brings a lot of thespian cred to his new position.
“We want to see the best quality productions at Malibu Playhouse,” Namm said. “And Gene really stood out as the guy most in line with the direction we want to go. He really knows how to support a production.”
“Malibu Playhouse has a beautiful facility and I want to see it become a full entity known for ground-breaking theatrical values,” Smith said in discussing his new direction for the theater. “I’m going into it with the idea that if people want to see standard musicals and comedies, they can watch that on TV. We’ll be giving them provocative theater.”
Smith plans on tapping his 20 years of experience in New York and L.A. to expand casting and production value options. One of the titles he is considering for his first season, which will commence in September, is Noel Coward’s “The Vortex.” This 1924 drama scandalized audiences at the time with its subjects of nymphomania, drug use and veiled homosexuality. It counted as Coward’s first true commercial success and a break with fluffy, more well-known comedies like “Private Lives” and “Hay Fever.”
Another title he is considering is “I Am My Own Wife,” a one-man true story about the life of a German antiquarian who killed her father when she was a young child and survived Nazi and Communist regimes in East Berlin as a transgendered person. The play won the 2004 Pulitzer for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, among a host of honors.
He also wants to bring world-premier productions to the playhouse, starting with a new title by acclaimed local playwright Tom Jacobson, whose plays have been designated Los Angeles Times Critics’ Choices.
“When I found out that they were looking for a new artistic director for Malibu Playhouse, I wanted to give it another try with an established company,” Smith said. “I’ve been amazed that Malibu Playhouse has never capitalized on marketing its productions to local restaurants or hotels. There is another layer of audiences I am hoping to bring into the theater. We want to reach out to Calabasas and the Valley and down into Santa Monica.”
Smith said that times being what they are, fundraising will have to be an ongoing aspect of the playhouse’s identity and he has some intriguing proposals—from developing young local playwrights with staged readings, to a regular performance event billed as “Behind the Curtain,” modeled on the popular “Actor’s Studio” interviews with famous actors.
“I think I can bring in some of the great old stars like Olivia de Havilland and Debbie Reynolds,” Smith said. “People love hearing stories from the true stars, and I think once we’ve shown how popular this can be, we can get more of Malibu’s celebrities on board.”
More information for the next season can be found at www.malibustagecompany.org