The Rose Alley Theater is a charming little theater located in an alley behind a gas station off Lincoln Boulevard in Venice. The type of place, if you blinked, would be easy to miss. Up until recently, this theater was a rundown eyesore that occasionally showed a performance, the type of venue that had “potential.”
A little more than a year ago, two Malibu residents, Will Willoughby and Jamie McMurray, and former Malibu resident Bertram McCann gave the theater the new life it needed by starting “Theater for a Difference at The Rose Alley Theater,” a nonprofit educational program dedicated to children and the theater arts. The program is designed to give children who are at risk the opportunity to experience the arts in a safe environment and to keep them away from gang violence and off the street.
Willoughby and McMurray, the artistic directors for “Theater for a Difference,” have extensive backgrounds in the theater arts. McMurray graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in theater arts and also graduated from the very prestigious school for actors, The Burt Reynolds Acting Academy in Jupiter, Fla. Willoughby taught children’s theater in Texas and is a USC film school graduate. When Willoughby moved to Malibu he began working for well-known playwright and longtime Malibu resident Jerome Lawrence, who wrote “Auntie Mame” and “Inherit the Wind,” among others.
When McCann first became executive director of the Rose Alley Theater, he wanted to put on a contemporary edgy play. He came across Lawrence’s “The Gang’s All Here” (which will be in production at the theatre in the fall), and was ecstatic.
It was Lawrence who was the pivotal person in making the nonprofit “Theater for a Difference” transpire.
McCann used to rake the beach by the former J. Paul Getty Museum as a child, looking for coins. McCann, the executive director at Rose Alley, met Lawrence in front of his beach house and they became long-lasting friends.
Lawrence introduced McCann to Willoughby, who at the time was producing a play with McMurray at the St. Thomas’s church in Hollywood called, “He Was Here.”
McCann saw the production and was so impressed he wanted to show it at The Rose Alley. Willoughby and McMurray were looking for a theater home and McCann provided it. This also gave McCann the idea to put on productions to raise money for “Theater for a Difference.” They were all after the same goal, to provide theater in Los Angeles and at the same time help children through the theater arts.
Through their theater arts connections and at the productions at The Rose Alley Theatre, Willoughby and McMurray came in to contact with a vast variety of people who ended up becoming involved, especially from Malibu.
Even Malibu celebrities, like Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, have been spotted in the audience at some of the productions. One Malibu resident, Brandon Wilson, an old friend of Willoughby, became the stage manager and public relations/advertising person for the theater. Topanga resident Catherine Hollis recently choreographed “The Cave Dwellers.” Pablo Capra, another Topanga resident, helped put on the poetry reading, “Lost Lives, the Poetry of Lower Topanga” that showed last December and was a sell-out.
One of the first supporters of the theater was Malibu resident and Realtor Gail Pritchett, who has been an extremely generous sponsor and is also providing T-shirts for the children involved with “Theater for a Difference.” Another Malibu Realtor, Alan Long, has also stepped up and sponsored the theater. A colleague of Willoughby’s, Jerry Hendersen, a theater arts professor at Pepperdine University, was responsible for getting the university’s theater department involved, which donated props, costumes and lighting equipment. Theater Palisades in Pacific Palisades donated props and lighting fixtures as well.
“The theater arts is definitely a collaborative art,” McMurray says. “We have been so lucky. We are hoping that The Rose Alley Theatre will be a home to many Malibu people.
“It’s too bad that the theater is not in Malibu.”
Even though there has been a great deal of support for the theater, Willoughby and McMurray are still at ground level.
“We have been really fortunate,” Willoughby says. “We have been breaking even every month.”
Right now, their main focus is on “Theater for a Difference.” The program, which will consist of workshops with a different theme each week, begins this Saturday, April 5, and will be running for six weeks.
“We are so focused on our programs,” Willoughby says. “Our first program will deal with gang violence and the ideas the children have about the characters they see on the street.”
There will be 20-30 children in each program from various backgrounds.
“We definitely don’t want to exclude anyone,” McMurray says. “Just because a child is from a wealthy background doesn’t mean he or she is not at risk.” “
“What is most important is,” Willoughby says, “if we can shift a child’s perspective. That in itself could make our community a better place.”
Opening on April 18 will be “Summertree,” by Ron Cowen, a play about the life of an American family during wartime. For more information call: 323.650.3013.