The number of seats for each show will vary from night to night, and Pasadena Playhouse patrons will not be able to secure a seat if a performance is sold out, Dietlein said.
While the Pasadena Playhouse is conscious of the efforts of other theater houses and organizations who have offered their assistance, it is not officially endorsing any assistance at this time, said Patty Onagan, director of marketing and communications for the historic playhouse.
The Center Theatre Group, whose theaters include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre and Kirk Douglas Theatre; the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts in La Mirada; and the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, have expressed interest in assisting Pasadena Playhouse, Onagan said.
“This is not something we are advocating; this is not something that we are telling our subscribers,” Onagan said by phone from her office in Pasadena. At the same time, “we are so grateful. Right now we’re just keeping a list of everyone that wants to help.”
As such, Glendale Centre Theatre has been “low key about it,” Dietlein said as he sat on the set of “See How They Run” Friday afternoon.
“I was shocked,” he said of the Pasadena Playhouse announcement. “The Playhouse is an amazing theater.”
It is not unusual, said Dietlein, who is a third-generation producer at Glendale Centre Theatre, to see performance arts venues come together in support of one another. One recent example is when Music Theater of Southern California closed in 2001, he said.
