A Tour of the Valley : Theater Scene : Area stages show a steady rise in quality, adventurousness in programming.

“Thirty-seven theaters in the Valley?”

That’s not only the response from people who live on the Other Side of The Hill, but from people who run one of the 37 professional theaters. Even Valley artists don’t know what’s in the Valley.

But the word is spreading that for theater companies, and their audiences, the Valley may become The Next Big Thing in Los Angeles theater.

First, though, a clarification: “Professional” means theaters with productions under contract (or in the process of establishing one) with Actors’ Equity Assn., the actors’ union. With a few exceptions, all 37 here function under Equity’s 99-seat plan, which requires minimum pay and working conditions for the cast. The exceptions are the comedy theaters, with which Equity has no involvement, and Playhouse West, which produces with professional actors but does not recognize the 99-seat plan.

The same force--high rents--that pushed companies out of the Westside into Hollywood is pushing them into more-affordable areas like North Hollywood and Burbank. And pushing them away from pricier Valley areas, leaving the west and north areas theatrically denuded.

Yet the eastward push has also created the NoHo arts district, a cluster of theaters, centered around Lankershim and Magnolia boulevards, which may soon rival Theatre Row Hollywood as a center of small-theater activity.

Since too many of the Valley’s theaters rent to visiting productions, there is no real artistic identity or movement in the theater community. That’s a problem in Los Angeles theater at large, not just in the Valley. But among those companies that make their own kind of work within their four walls--they range from The Actors’ Company and A Noise Within to the Road Theatre Company and Acme Comedy Theatre--there’s a steady rise in quality and adventurousness.

Indeed, this isn’t new for the Valley. The first wave of small local theater was triggered by outfits like Room For Theatre, the Megaw, the Back Alley, and later, the Gnu. All of them died (the old Megaw site in Northridge is now a vacant lot), as every theater eventually does. The encouraging sign is that a second wave is coming in, offering about as wide a range of programming as one might hope for.

Symbolic of the second wave is the year-old Valley Theatre League, which includes, by member estimates, two-thirds of the Valley’s theaters. League founder David Cox says that the group mission, above all, is to develop a Valley audience. One league project ready to go public: a weekly program on local shows for cable-access television.

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The real show, though, is on stage.

While the West End Playhouse and Center Stage do musicals, NoHo Studios does gay theater and the nearby Playhouse West regularly celebrates Vietnam veterans. You sit in a living room to watch a play at the California Cottage Theatre, while you sit in a bucolic canyon amphitheater to watch a play at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. Very soon on Glendale’s Brand Boulevard, you’ll be able to walk out of a Broadway musical at the big, renovated Alex Theatre, and go a few blocks to see Federico Garcia Lorca or Oscar Wilde at A Noise Within.

With the new wave is a mini-wave of larger theaters, starting with the 1,500-seat Alex. Perhaps the most anticipated--because it is making the gradual leap from a small to large theater operation--is the January opening of Actors Alley Repertory at the two-stage El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. Whether Actors Alley’s risky move upward will determine the fate of the NoHo arts district is uncertain. But the move fortifies the clear message that there is theater--37 of ‘em--on This Side of the Hill.

The Theaters

Acme Comedy Theatre, 5124 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 753-0650.

In the wild, woolly and overpopulated world of L.A. improv and sketch comedy, Acme has emerged as a consistent group that shows off some good writing and bright actors. The guiding hand here is M.D. Sweeney, originally of the Groundlings, and like that Melrose group, Acme has rookie and veteran teams playing different nights in a nice, comfortable theater, complete with intriguing original artwork in the lobby. And with the Eclectic Cafe a few doors away, you can’t beat the location. 50 seats. Street parking. (Handicapped access) Actors Alley Repertory at the El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 508-4200.

After 20 years as an actor-driven company based in tiny theaters in Sherman Oaks and North Hollywood, Actors Alley is set to make the riskiest move any small theater in town has tried since Los Angeles Actors Theatre turned into downtown’s L.A. Theatre Center. On Jan. 15, Actors Alley will officially open the doors of El Portal in the middle of the NoHo arts district to reveal two spaces--a permanent 99-seat space and a theater that can expand from 99 to 199 seats and beyond. (The premiering plays will be Peter Lefcourt’s “The Audit” and Elliott Nugent’s and James Thurber’s “The Male Animal.”) With financial support from the Community Redevelopment Agency (a $200,000 loan plus a $50,000 matching grant) and a special producing contract with Actors Equity allowing more larger theater shows with each ensuing year, Actors Alley has a lot of support--and observers wondering if it can pull off the unprecedented project. Depending on what happens, the future of the fledgling arts district may be bright--or cloudy. Before the January gala opening will be a holiday show, David Field’s “Legendary Christmas.” Public parking lots and street parking. (Handicapped access) The Actors’ Company at Burbank Little Theatre, George Izay Park, 1111 W. Olive Ave., (818) 954-9858.

Just when you’ve given up trying to find the funky, squat 41-year-old building called the Burbank Little Theatre (it couldn’t be near the baseball diamonds, could it?), there it is, right in the middle of the park. The theater’s resident troupe is The Actors’ Company, much younger than its home, and almost as funky. The range of company-generated work is all over the map, from topical political theater (“The Living Newspaper”) to inventive multimedia creations (“XTV”). The future looks to be all over the map, too: A November play called “The William”; a musical about jazzman Hoagie Carmichael and a female variation on “This Is Spinal Tap” to arrive in early ‘94; and, later, “One Little Miracle,” a musical the company is spending a year to develop. 98 seats. On-site parking lots adjacent and north of the theater. (Handicapped access) Actors Forum Theatre, 3365 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Studio City, (213) 850-9016.

This actor-based group has been quietly and infrequently producing plays since 1975 in a location not known for being very quiet. The actor-members select the work they want to do (recently was a revival of William Inge’s “Come Back, Little Sheba”), or they fill the space with workshops and acting classes. 48 seats. Lot parking (across Cahuenga) and hard-to-get street parking. (Handicapped access) Alex Theatre, 216 Brand Blvd., Glendale, (800) 883-7529.

At the forefront of the mini-explosion of larger Valley theaters is the January, 1994, reopening of this theater, formerly a wonderful movie house. Like El Portal, the new Alex is a reality partly because of Community Redevelopment Agency support (in this case, the Glendale agency), funding the $6.5-million restoration. The other key player is the Alex’s managing company, Theater Corp. of America, which manages the Pasadena Playhouse. All the money and work are meant to show off a large, 1,452-seat house complete with a split-level balcony and done up in--honest--Art Deco, Greek and Egyptian styles. The style on stage will be all musicals, starting with “Sayonara” (Jan. 27-Feb. 13), then Juliet Prowse in “Mame” (March 17-April 3), and “Fame” (May 19-June 5). Plentiful parking in adjacent lots and structures, and a generous selection of nearby restaurants. (Handicapped access) Alliance Repertory Company, 3204 Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, (818) 566-7935.

With a rear alley entrance and its location on a sleepy section of Magnolia Boulevard, the Alliance is nothing if not inconspicuous. But appearances deceive: Inside has been--all too sporadically--some of the most interesting small theater work around, including Kevin Arnold and Gus Buktenica’s “Rage!” and Robert Spera and Sherman Howard’s one-act, “Tracks.” Since 1987 and its acclaimed “Iron City,” the Alliance has leaned toward newer work, but its current show is a lesser Clifford Odets work, “The Big Knife.” 49 seats. Large rear parking lot.

American Renegade Theatre Company, 11306 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 763-4430.

Once a funeral home, this verdant, Spanish-style place is much livelier now, housing one of the Valley’s most active companies. The artistic quality may suffer from too many shows, and a work developed in-house like Michael Creith’s “Hobo’s Lullaby” proved to be a critical and commercial non-starter. But the company--led by co-artistic directors David Cox and Elizabeth Meads--is moving toward adventurous work like Christopher Durang’s “The Marriage of Bette and Boo.” And with Cox serving as a leading voice in the Valley Theatre League and the NoHo arts district, American Renegade will be making plenty of noise. 2 spaces: 72 and 50 seats. On-site parking. (Handicapped access)

Apex Playhouse, 139 N. San Fernando Road, Burbank, (818) 566-7325.

Talk about great timing: Soon after the Golden Theatre closed earlier this year on what had been the moribund Golden Mall in Burbank, and soon after the mall area revived with the opening of nearly a dozen restaurants, cinemas and the Media City Center, a group called Peak Productions moved into the theater and dubbed it the Apex. The current show (the Cole Porter tribute “Red, Hot and Cole”) sounds right in the Golden Theater musical tradition, and the interior hasn’t been changed much, either. But the group says it wants to move away from the theater’s musical comedy identity. 84 steeply raked seats. Public lot and structure parking nearby. (Handicapped access)

Art of the Dance, 11144 Weddington St., North Hollywood, (818) 760-8675.

The name implies a dance space, and, for the most part, that’s what this 10-year-old space in the NoHo arts district (abutted by the Television Academy) has been. But director Maureen Kennedy Samuel reports that a new name is in the offing--Arts Extension Theatre--that reflects a shift away from dance and toward more theater. Something not likely to change is the focus on family shows. An evening of one-acts is planned for March. 65 seats. Limited on-site and street parking. (Handicapped access)

California Cottage Theatre, 5220 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys, (818) 990-5773.

Some actors write a novel while they’re out of work. Others wait on tables. Roy Brocksmith decided to start a theater in his living room, and as far as he and his wife, Adele, know, California Cottage Theatre is the only one of its kind in the country. You’re greeted by a country bumpkin, served homemade cookies and coffee, then asked to sit down on a sofa or chair. When the show starts, you may be in the middle of the action. At the very least, this is intimate theater to the nth degree. After a few months’ hiatus, Roy and Adele are about to present Claudia Allen’s comedy, “Ripe Conditions.” 35 seats. Arrive early and you can find a parking space on Sylmar. (Handicapped access)

Center Stage, 20929 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills.

One of only two year-round theater operations in the West Valley (the other is the nearby Richard Basehart Playhouse)--and the only one anywhere in which you walk through a children’s bookstore, the Enchanted Forest, to get to your seat. Although the place is buried deep inside an ugly Ventura Boulevard commercial strip, the shows on stage tend to be attractive, cheery musicals like David H. Vowell’s “The Home Front Blues.” The current show is another nostalgic musical, Gene Casey and Dick Woody’s “Sock It to the ‘60s” (Ticket info: (818) 509-9376). 87 seats. Parking lot at the front door. (Handicapped access)

Chamber Theatre, 3759 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Studio City, (818) 760-9708.

At 37 years old--when it housed Company of Angels’ first production, Arthur Schnitzler’s “La Ronde”--this is the Valley’s longest-running theater. It’s also one of the prettiest, from the charming, rustic archway sign that’s such an anachronism on this auto-stuffed stretch of Cahuenga, to the courtyard garden and the plush seating. But because it is a rental house (and sometimes co-producing with visiting artists), the quality of work here ranges from David Steen’s remarkable “A Gift From Heaven” to Sol Biderman’s maligned “To Kill a Mandarin.” 45 seats. Park in the lot across the boulevard (don’t even think of finding a street parking spot). Call in advance for wheelchair access.

Chandler Theatre, 12443 Chandler Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 780-6516.

One of several spaces that is an acting workshop-classroom by day, and a theater by night. The Chandler, slotted in a forlorn mini-mall next to a pet grooming store and a trophy shop, is far from any kind of theater district. But with artistic director Michael Holmes in charge, the tiny theater has exhibited a taste for serious work, such as Stephen MacDonald’s “Not About Heroes.” Non-Holmes rental shows will appear from time to time. 34 seats. On-site lot parking.

Company of CharActors, 12655 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 508-4538.

Actor Herb Mitchell (who plays the executive in the Paine Webber commercials opening, “We measure success one investment at a time . . . “) operates Company of CharActors as a pair of performing spaces and as a teaching facility for actors and directors. Mitchell himself occasionally appears in shows (as in the just-closed “Coaches”). The theater doesn’t hide its identity as a showcase house--and it showcases acting, not big productions. It’s lodged down the hall from Theatre East and above the Sports Center bowling alley and Jerry’s Famous Deli, making it an ideal date-night theater. 65 and 32 seats. A busy on-site parking lot, but there’s always a space here or in the lot west of Jerry’s.

Gene Bua Theatre, 3435 Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, (818) 842-8384.

Formerly the Venture Theatre, this space is synonymous with one show: “Pepper Street,” which opened the converted storefront in 1984 and continued (with a break for an Equity production in 1987) until 1990. The operating-producing husband-and-wife team of Gene and Toni Bull Bua haven’t found a hit to match “Pepper Street’s” long run, but then, what theater has? The home of the Buas’ acting class program, the theater is blessed with an unusually large stage and cursed with restrooms you can get to only by walking around the side of the building. It has been used by visiting companies such as L.A. Bridges Theatre Company of the Deaf; meanwhile, the Buas’ “Across From Cindy’s Corner” reopens Jan. 15. 75 seats. Street and lot parking across Avon Street. (Handicapped access)

Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 769-7529.

First things first. Group Rep has survived through 20 years when countless other theaters faded away. It is a bustling membership organization with more than 100 actors, 25 playwrights and a technical staff. It averages six shows a year, drawing an audience to a mucky neighborhood. It does this in a stand-alone, two-story building, with one of the Valley’s most comfortable seating areas. But Group Rep is no longer one of the vital small theaters in town, because of a highly erratic production record under artistic director Lonny Chapman. Pallid comedies developed at Group Rep like Larry Eisenberg’s “Nautilus” don’t bode well for the future, although a nice work like Sam Adamo’s “Spaghetti and Apple Pie” gives one cause for hope. Quality control, please. 94 seats. Check out the Hirschfeld drawings in the restrooms, and the lobby cards listing every Group Rep show from Day One. Get there early for the limited on-site parking, which is much, much better than the street. (Handicapped access)

Gypsy Playhouse, 3321 W. Olive Ave. Burbank, (818) 954-8458.

This infrequently used theater shares an aging building with the Professional Dancers Studio. The former home of The Actors’ Company, the Gypsy would seem to be in show-biz heaven: It is a block away from both NBC Studios and Warner Bros. 48 seats. On-site parking.

Hidden Hills Playhouse, 2459 Long Valley Blvd., Hidden Hills, (818) 992-7791.

When this theater puts on a show, which isn’t often, it can be an adventure for the audience. The shows can star such unlikely actors as evening soap queen Morgan Brittany, and on one rainy night, the hospitable staff served intermission goodies in the seating area. All of which made it worth the trek up the well-named Long Valley Road from the freeway. 80 seats. Wide-open street parking.

Interact Theatre Company at Theatre Exchange, 11855 Hart St., North Hollywood, (818) 773-7862.

A young company in a historic building. Once owned by the Van Nuys and Lankershim families, the structure was used as a land office, a cattle showplace, a stock exchange, and when Hart Street sliced it in two, the remaining half became Theatre Exchange in the ‘60s. After several intriguing years under the guidance of Rob Zapple and Matthew Faison, the wonderful space lay dormant until the ’92 entry of Interact. An actors group with a literary taste ranging from Woody Allen to Dylan Thomas to Richard Dresser, Interact has just opened what is only its second full production, Dresser’s “Splitsville.” The best theater coffee bar in the Valley, maybe in the city. 58 seats. The company is trying to arrange for security parking; until then, park at your own risk.

L.A. Connection Comedy Theatre, 13442 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 784-1868.

One of the lucky groups with a coveted, mid-Valley Ventura Boulevard location, the 16-year-old L.A. Connection made its reputation improvising dialogue over old movie footage in cinemas like the Nuart. The live show in this storefront space can be uneven; the audience generally sits in two separate sections, which discourages camaraderie. But when the best from the company’s pool of 100 members performs the movie dubbing bit, this is a fun Ventura Boulevard spot. Restaurants galore nearby. 99 seats. Park on Ventura, or north of it. (Handicapped access)

Lancaster Performing Arts Center, 750 W. Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster, (805) 723-5950.

Nearing its second anniversary, this theater complex (built by the city of Lancaster for $10.5 million) is proof that there is culture in the high desert. Broadway-style shows have done infinitely better than sparsely attended visits by the San Francisco Mime Troupe and A Traveling Jewish Theatre, but there’s life here beyond musicals: The Lancaster-based Cedar Street Theatre is now in residency, with a series of shows in both the main 758-seat theater, and the new Black Box Theatre (with flexible seating up to 125) where it is currently presenting Robert Anderson’s “I Never Sang for My Father.” Shows are sometimes shared with Palos Verdes’ Norris Theatre. Upcoming: Access Theatre’s “Storm Reading” (starting today); Mummenschanz (March 10); Michael Learned in Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite” (April 27-28). Parking lots behind theater. (Handicapped access)

Limelight Playhouse, 10634 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 990-2324.

Just when you thought the Valley couldn’t handle another storefront theater, along comes the Limelight. Opened in May, 1992, by Dan Hirsch, who also runs NoHo Studios and the Whitefire, the Limelight is frequently a rental house hosting shows of wildly varying quality. It may become better known, however, as the home of the Onstage Theatre Company, led by director Mel Shapiro. 44 seat. Park on the street--with care.

NoHo Studios, 5215 Lankershim Blvd., (818) 990-2324.

Hirsch’s other North Hollywood space, this is a genuine loft affair looking down on the Lankershim-Magnolia intersection heart of the NoHo arts district. There’s even a (kitschy) wall painting on the side of the theater’s building proclaiming the new district. Recently opened, the studio has already made a mark for itself as the key Valley space for gay theater, with Michael Kearns’ “Off” and the just-closed “Portrait of a Gay Mormon” by Daniel McVey. It’s very much a part of a fledgling alternative cultural scene on Lankershim. 49 seats. Non-security parking lot behind building.

A Noise Within, Glendale Masonic Temple, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, (818) 753-7750.

The best-kept secret in Los Angeles theater is this gifted company. Not only is it managing to do what Gordon Davidson at the Mark Taper Forum has long dreamed of and rarely realized--classical repertory programming--but doing it with excitement, resourcefulness and a vigorous sense of taking risks. The company core comes out of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre training program, and the schooling was obvious from the first show in 1991, “Hamlet.” Most critically, no coasting is allowed here: Standards rise with each production, along with the urge to dare disaster, as when the group pulled off an extraordinary staging of all four acts of Shaw’s “Man and Superman” earlier this year. A Noise Within’s season is divided into fall and spring groupings of three plays each, in rep. The current group is typically broad and fascinating: Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Blood Wedding,” and Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.” The pew seating (for 99) can rub an audience the wrong way, and going to Glendale for first-class theater may still be an alien concept. But with the revitalization of Brand Boulevard, the imminent opening of the nearby Alex Theatre and its musical programming to complement Noise Within’s seriousness, and plans for Masonic Temple renovations that will create a 500- to 600-seat theater, this is a company with a long future. Public parking lot behind building, and street parking. (Handicapped access)

Odessa Theatre, 10426 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 752-9324 or (818) 752-0059.

When Jeff Seymour suddenly closed the doors on his respected Gnu Theatre in June--and word spread that the place had been gutted--no one expected any theater at the Magnolia location for a while. Surprise: Out with the Gnu, in with the Odessa, as the Epic Theatre Company moves in its first production, James Kennedy’s “Wrecks,” on Dec. 2. Kennedy, a veteran playwright with Los Angeles Actors Theatre, is co-artistic director of the resident company with Reese Howard. They report that the theater wasn’t gutted, but that with a fresh paint job and expanded seating for 70, the Odessa won’t duplicate the look of the Gnu. Parking prohibited on Biloxi Street, but there’s plenty elsewhere. (Handicapped access)

Playhouse West, 4250 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (310) 285-3311.

Like many other Valley theater operators, Robert Carnegie runs Playhouse West as a school and a theater. But unlike at other schools/theaters, the students here (some of whom are taught by actor Jeff Goldblum) may spend a full year rehearsing new plays slated for the theater’s repertory programming. Another resident teacher, director Sanford Meisner, is a sign of this theater’s origins in the Group Theatre tradition of Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler. Playhouse West sparks attention most for its long-running pro-veterans drama, “Welcome Home, Soldier” and shows with messages to the right of Hollywood’s predominant liberalism. 45 seats. Street parking. Call in advance for wheelchair access.

Richard Basehart Playhouse, 21028-B Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 704-1845.

A first glance at the Victory strip mall adjacent to Warner Center makes you wonder if there’s a theater here. Yet right around the corner from Flooky’s, BBQ-Pit-Stop and Shalom restaurant (try their world-class felafel) is the modest Basehart Playhouse. It’s been regularly staging new works and revivals since 1988, with a faithful clientele starving for theater west of the 405. The safe revivals (Neil Simon, Agatha Christie) usually get a better treatment here than the new work, like Scott Seiffert’s “Backstabbing.” The one resident group, Los Angeles Shakespeare Company, has left. But 1994 will bring William Inge’s “Picnic” and a new play to be announced. 99 seats. Parking on-site and in adjacent lot. (Handicapped access)

Road Theatre Company, 14141 Covello St. 9D, Van Nuys, (818) 785-6175.

Most companies wouldn’t have survived the internal split within Road Theatre in 1992, when it was located in a remote industrial park next to the Burbank Airport. The place was hard enough to find without the membership warring with each other over matters like fund-raising and future plans. When the smoke cleared, the Road folks had moved to another hard-to-find industrial park, this time down a long stretch of Covello east of Van Nuys Boulevard. This year’s programming is just as adventurous as ever (Leon Martell’s “Mooncalf,” for instance), and its current offering “The Walkers” by Barbara Lindsay promises to be anything but tame. A group to watch. 49 seats. Plenty of on-site security parking. (Handicapped access)

Theatre East, 12655 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 760-4160.

This 32-year-old, 125-member company is mostly designed to workshop material for other venues. Yet the rare shows for the public, such as “Dead End on Sunset,” can be memorably good. The dreadful low-ceilinged environs are memorably bad, but somehow, you can’t hear the crashing bowling balls and pins from the downstairs Sports Center alley. Pre- or post-show nosh is easy, what with Jerry’s Famous Deli in the same building. 96 seats. Lot parking on-site and next to Jerry’s.

Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Universal City, (213) 851-4839.

Another of the senior Valley outfits (31 years and counting) Theatre West, unaccountably, is east of Theatre East. The company’s Off-Broadway-scale house (at 180 seats) is unique in Los Angeles’ smaller theater universe, where 99 seats and under is the rule. Most stagings are of the workshop variety, but the two-to-three full productions a year are often generated by the group’s acting workshop, not the playwriting workshop--most notably Chazz Palminteri’s “A Bronx Tale” and Leslie Caveny’s “Love of a Pig.” You won’t believe the number of familiar faces in the lobby gallery of past shows--the place feels like an actors hall of fame. Security parking across Cahuenga at Hanna-Barbera Studios. (Jaywalking is unavoidable.) (Handicapped access)

Third Stage, 2811 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, (818) 842-4755.

This isn’t a theater that gives off the best first impression: The exterior is beyond ugly, the lobby is a tight fit, the seating is cramped, the restrooms are backstage and the stage itself is best for a one-person show. Nevertheless, there’s been an operating theater in this location for 25 years (before it was Third Stage, it was called the Players Theatre). And the most current work is a critically lauded staging of Arthur Kopit’s “Road to Nirvana.” Don’t judge a theater by its cover. 50 seats. Street parking.

Two Roads Theatre Company, 4348 Tujunga Blvd., Studio City, (818) 766-9381).

Artistic director Mark York founded this converted storefront, located on a quaint Studio City block, as an acting and directing teaching facility in 1988. But the urge to put on a show took over. It was here that the Acme Comedy Theatre was hatched before it moved to North Hollywood, and where some well-received shows (such as the just-closed “Favors” by Laura O’Hare) have enjoyed long runs. Understandably York and managing director Janie Mudrick would like to expand the small space to do big plays like Maxwell Anderson’s “High Tor,” but at least Two Roads is in a nice neighborhood with good restaurants and coffeehouses. 48 seats. Parking behind theater and on the street. (Handicapped access)

Victory Theatre, 3324-6 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank, (818) 843-9253 or (818) 841-4404.

For a long time since it opened in 1979, the Victory was virtually the only East Valley theater with a public profile that extended beyond the neighborhood. It was one of the few local theaters with a production in the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival (“Back to Back”). Soon, it was hardly alone in this part of the Valley, where attention shifted to theaters like the Gnu. The Gnu is no more, though, and the Victory keeps going, with shows by visiting directors like Jules Aaron (Richard Polak’s “Meet the Wilsons” and Sage Allen’s upcoming “Cut Flowers”). The adjacent Little Victory Theatre is meant for workshopping and experimental pieces, some by the Bare Bones Productions group. 91 and 48 seats. Park in the public library lot across the street.

West End Playhouse, 7446 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys, (818) 904-0449.

When this theater houses rental productions--which is often--there’s no telling what will be on stage. When owner-operator Ed Gaynes is producing a show here, chances are it will be a musical that enjoys a long engagement. That’s certainly true for Gene Casey’s “Crazy Words, Crazy Tunes,” and that’s Gaynes’ hope for his new production of the Richard Maltby-David Shire musical, “Starting Here, Starting Now.” One of the few theaters in the Valley’s often-forgotten mid-section. 83 seats. On-site lot parking (no security). (Handicapped access, except for bathrooms).

Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 990-2324.

Located in a prime Valley nightlife spot (count the number of restaurants from the theater’s front door if you don’t believe us), the Whitefire has always been a space with an identity crisis. Once, it was run by writer-director David Beaird (“Scorchers”); then, it was taken over by one of Beaird’s students, Dan Hirsch. Oddly, the large, high-ceiling interior has seldom been exploited for its full theatrical potential. And one of the most memorable Whitefire shows, by Penn and Teller, was nearly 10 years ago. Currently, the big show is Ulla Anneli and Robert Fisher’s musical about homeless kids, “Children in the Street.” The late-night show is Stefan Haves’ “Vaudevillage.” 70 seats. Parking on Ventura and streets north. (Handicapped access)

The Wild Side Theatre, 10945 Camarillo St., North Hollywood, (818) 506-8838.

Acme Comedy Theatre isn’t the only comedy house in the NoHo arts district. Owner-founder Sam Longoria’s homey space, combined with the ever-funky Iguana Cafe next door, makes this one of the Valley’s true Boho hangouts. The general rule on the Wild Side’s raised platform stage is improv (though visiting shows, such as Christian Anders’ “The Man Who Created AIDS” and Aleksei Arbuzov’s “My Poor Marat,” share the space as well). It may be the only local theater producing its own nationally syndicated radio show titled, naturally, “The Wild Side Radio Show” (the local radio outlet is yet to be determined). It’s also the only theater serving fresh popcorn in the lobby. 48 seats (some in better condition than others). Parking in the rear lot; valet parking across Camarillo (only during summer months). (Handicapped access)

Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, (310) 455-2322.

Begun by the late actor Will Geer as a haven for fellow blacklisted actors, the Theatricum was home to Woody Guthrie during his last years. It has evolved into a summer haven for Shakespeare and revivals in one of the city’s most beautiful theater settings. One stroll in the nearby Shakespeare garden will take your mind off the mediocre Shakespeare on stage; this past season ended, though, with a critical and audience hit, a revival of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.” A new, small space called The Acorn, next to the on-site parking lot, serves as a workshop theater, and during the off-season, the Theatricum is home to many children’s programs. 350 seats (cushions and blankets a must). If the lot is full, park along Topanga Canyon Boulevard. (Handicapped access)