May 21, 2002
CITY OF ANGLES
An Artful
Pitch for a New Theater
On a recent
evening in Pacific Palisades, Dustin Hoffman stood in one end of
the garden of a private home, looking a little nervous. In a few
minutes, he and Amanda Peet were going to perform a one-act play
by David Ives for about three dozen people. First, though, Hoffman
had to give his pitch. He turned to the assembled guests and cleared
his throat.
“It’s
not just good for the Westside,” he said of a planned new
theater at Santa Monica College, for which he was helping raise
funds. “It’s good for the city.” Then he and Peet
gave an even better reason for building theaters: resident actors,
eager to take the stage.
After the 15-minute
show, opera buff and former Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, who had been
sitting in front of Tom Hayden, turned and saw the former state
senator. “You look great,” Garcetti exclaimed, across
the row of chairs. (Both sported out-of-office tans.)
After the short
play, guests gathered in small groups on the lawn, launching into
their favorite subjects. Hayden talked politics, architect Renzo
Zecchetto talked design, and Peet and Hoffman were joined by Ray
Liotta for a discussion of theater versus movies. A new theater
will have to be accessible and affordable to compete, Hoffman said.
“We have
to give the theater a youthful vitality,” he said, recalling
a conversation with Arthur Miller when the actor did “Death
of a Salesman” in London some years ago. “Miller took
me aside and said, ‘When I wrote this play, I didn't write
it for these people. I wrote it for people who couldn’t afford
[the theater.]’ I always remembered that,” he said.
He then turned
to dedicate his play notes to Peet. “How do you spell colleague,”
he asked, joking. Peet blushed and responded, “I’m going
to have this framed straightaway.”
City of Angles
runs Tuesday through Friday. E-mail angles@latimes.com
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