A look into the Geffen Playhouse

 

By Mary Williams
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Across the street from UCLA, in that unusual building next to
the Burger King, is a theater that many students don’t know
much about.

There is a vague notion that the Geffen Playhouse is associated
with the university, but in what capacity, few people
understand.

“Many people are not aware that the Geffen is intimately
associated with the Department of Theater,” said Robert
Rosen, dean of the School of Theater, Film and Television.

In fact, the relationship includes master classes taught by
professionals who work with the theater, students who work as
interns on the productions, programs at high schools presented by
both the playhouse and the university, and UCLA faculty involvement
at the theater.

“One of the ideals of a theater department is to have an
ongoing, highly interactive relationship with a professional
theater company,” Rosen said.

The relationship began in 1993, when the theater was purchased
from the previous owners and established as a UCLA-associated
playhouse.

“I think it started with a very close relationship and I
think it’s still a close relationship,” said Gil Cates,
the producing director of the Geffen Playhouse.

The theater presents five professional productions per season,
often featuring big-name actors from film, television and theater,
and professional sets and lighting. The last production of the
2000-2001 season, for example, starred David Hyde Pierce and Uta
Hagen. These aren’t the usual earmarks of student involvement
in a plays. The audiences are largely members of the Westwood and
West Los Angeles community, and don’t include many
students.

Behind the scenes, though, are a handful of students gaining
real-life experience in their field, as directing, writing, acting,
lighting, technical or scenic interns.

“We’ve had people who have acted as understudies or
in small roles ““ both undergraduates and graduates,”
said Michael Hackett, a theater professor who works in various
capacities with the Geffen Playhouse. “It’s very
exciting for the students. They get to work on professional
productions as assistant directors, they take notes, occasionally
they run the rehearsals.”

The interns come to the theater to learn from professionals, the
professionals come to UCLA to teach the students.

Actors, writers and directors, including Donald Margulies, who
wrote “Dinner with Friends,” Annette Benning, who
appeared in “Hedda Gabler” in 1999, and Hagen have all
taught graduate students in the past.

“Master classes (are) taught by the professionals who are
associated with the theater, to the students,” said Rosen,
who added that this is a great opportunity for the those getting an
education in theater.

Students, working through the playhouse, also participate in
productions that travel to high schools. The two groups
collaborated to perform “Caucasian Chalk Circle” to
4,000 high school students through eight shows in 2000-2001, and
“Passions of Shakespeare” to 5,000 students in
1999-2000.

UCLA faculty members also work with the Geffen as lighting
designers, scenic designers, understudies to actors, and present
symposia.

Cates, who was the first dean of the School of Theater, Film and
Television now is the producing director, and Michael McLain, a
professor in the school, was literary director of the playhouse
from its inception to the fall of 1999.

The crossover of professors and professionals between the two
institutions gives students interaction with those involved in both
scholastic and real-world experiences.

“Gil (Cates) is both a creative person as a director and
someone who understands the business as a producer,” Rosen
said.

Considering the playhouse is only entering its sixth season, it
has a well-developed relationship with the university.

“I think it evolved beyond any of our expectations,”
Cates said.

But even with the numerous connections to UCLA, the playhouse
doesn’t draw a large crowd from the university.

“A lot of students don’t come,” Cates said.
“As a student, you’re busy, you’ve got other
things to do.”

However, he expressed satisfaction with the quality of the
productions and asserted that the Geffen has become an important
Los Angeles theater.

“We want to do shows which a local audience might not have
seen,” he said about the selection of productions, which
include the unusual and experimental.

This year the season includes an acrobatic, highly visual piece,
“Do Jump,” as well as the currently showing “The
Unexpected Man,” a more dialogue driven play.

Aside from these productions, though, Cates, Rosen and Hackett
emphasized the scholastic importance of having a professional
theater attached to a university. In addition to helping educate
the current students, it is a draw for future applicants.

“We’ve accomplished a lot to date, and I think
it’s a reason that many students want to come here,”
Rosen said.

For the students, the playhouse is not just a source of
entertainment, but also a learning tool.

“It gives them the opportunity to see professional
theater,” Cates said. “It gives them the opportunity to
see dress rehearsals, then we give the opportunity to students to
work in the theater in various capacities.”

Photos by MARY HOLSCHER