Plays from the crypt

The spirit of theater is alive and well in Ojai, thanks to a local theater group’s recent decision to take possession of the area’s mortuary.

The nonprofit Theater 150 has been staging shows in Ojai for little over a decade, but this year, Artistic Directors Deb Norton and Chris Notolli decided the group had outgrown its original space at 918 E. Ojai Avenue.

Notolli said the group — which hosts theatrical and musical performances, as well as a regular series of workshops and classes — decided to move to the space that previously housed Clausen’s Funeral Home at 316 E. Matilija St. after the building’s original owners offered them a special price for the property. After raising most of the $30,000 required for renovations on the building, the company moved into the mortuary this past fall.

“We figured out that it would cost about $65,000 to move,” Notolli said. “And we whittled it down to what we needed to survive, which was about $30,000. So we started an ad campaign, and we basically stole the poster from 300 … and we said we were looking for 300 brave souls to donate $30 each, and now we’re almost there. People have been mailing checks in, and stopping by and coming up to us at intermission to give us the money.”

Notolli said the company then had to secure permission to renovate the old building, which required painting and the addition of handicap accessible bathrooms, among other things.

”It’s been really great. The whole town has just been so helpful,” Notolli said. “We went before the Planning Commission, and in Ojai, the Planning Commission are gods when you want to get anything done. And I went up there, and I was sick as a dog … and they just smiled at us, like we were holding cake and it was theirs. And they just said, ‘Yes.’ ”

Now, with its deep red walls and simple black box main stage, it’s hard to imagine that Theater 150 currently lives in what used to be a home for the dead. Although the cement on the floor, unfinished steps and the smell of new paint remain as reminders that the building is far from finished, Notolli said the group has already planned the next phase of renovations for the former funeral home.

“It was a mad scramble to get seats and get the bathrooms done,” Notolli said. “Next, we want to paint the floors and paint the seats. I think we’re going to end up with an Asian theme, but it’ll be an incremental thing.”

One element of the renovations requires more than just mere carpenters, Notolli said. He said the company has been bringing local spiritual leaders through the space, to ensure no spirits are left over from the building’s days as a funeral home.

“We had a Chumash woman come through,” Notolli said. “And she was the first person to smudge it. And we have a Buddhist ceremony coming up, and we’ve reached out to the Catholics and the Protestants, so we’re getting a lot of people wanting to bless the space.”

Richard Kuhlman, who directed the company’s recent Christmas play Inspecting Carol, said he has encountered supernatural activity in several theaters, but not in the new Theater 150 space.

“As far as I know, we haven’t run into anything,” Kuhlman said. “I think the building is happy that we’re here. It’s housed a lot of sadness and we’ve kind of turned it around topsy-turvy.”

Notolli said the space was not the only thing being turned “topsy-turvy” in the past couple months. He said the company staged Inspecting Carol while also renovating the new building and moving the existing operation from the old building to the new.

“The community really got together around a completely stupid idea of ours, which was to build a building and put together a show all at the same time,” Notolli said. “When we first said we were going to be building and putting on a show in a few months, and this was the biggest show we’ve ever done, people were panicked. But when it was done, and they saw that we did it, everyone was really happy with how it turned out. People have been saying this is the funniest show they’ve ever seen, and their faces hurt from laughing so much. It’s been sold out every night, which really shows how much people support us.”

Indeed, on the show’s closing night, a packed house patiently navigated the unfinished audience area and stood silently in long lines for one of the building’s few bathrooms. But, even more than their patience, the audience brought enthusiasm, as they chimed in for a chorus of Christmas carols around the piano in the lobby during intermission, and stayed after the show to toast the cast with glasses of wine and plenty of positive reviews.

Ojai resident Diana Rossetii said she has been a regular patron of Theater 150 since long before its move. She said she feels like Inspecting Carol, which was performed on a three-fourths thrust stage with cast members moving freely around the audience, showcased the new space perfectly.

“It was fabulous, it was just terrific. They’ve used the space wonderfully,” Rossetti said. “You feel like every seat is a good seat. It was a gift.”

Notolli said the building, which can seat between 80 and 120 people at a time in the main stage area, was specifically designed to be as versatile as possible. He said the company commissioned a carpenter to build hinged risers for the main stage that can be put together according to the needs of a particular production.

“There’s a kitchen and library for writing classes, a medium space for acting classes and the main stage,” Notolli said. “In the main stage, we wanted it to be very flexible. There are these risers, and they can be configured any way we want them to be.”

Paula Morris was visiting Ojai from Los Angeles last week and decided to attend the closing night performance of Inspecting Carol after seeing a flyer for the play at her hotel. She said she felt the theater’s versatility allowed the cast to experiment in interesting ways, as they sat in the audience pews, entered and exited through the same risers the audience did and performed on the same level at which the first row of the audience sat.

“It was really innovative,” Morris said. “As a member of the audience, it feels very intimate.”

Cherie White, who was also visiting from Los Angeles, said she too felt the way Inspecting Carol was staged showcased the space’s flexibility well.

“It seemed like a good use of the space,” White said. “The audience was kind of surrounded by the action.”

Kuhlman, who traveled from Los Angeles to direct the play, said he designed the play’s blocking to take advantage of the immediacy of the audience and actors in the new space.

“I love the space. I think the space is very creative,” Kuhlman said. “The acoustics are a lot of fun, and it’s a very exciting space. I would love to come back. I’d come back and do anything in this space.”

Kuhlman may get the chance, as Notolli said he hopes the new venue allows Theater 150 to grow and expand its regular repertoire. He said Theater 150 is poised to compete with other local professional theater companies, such as the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura.

“Rubicon Theatre started as a professional equity house, and from the beginning that’s what they’ve been,” Notolli said. “We started more as a theater lab, and as a place for actors. But, with the new space, and Deb and I as artistic directors, we’ve been moving more towards being an equity house, which is what we wanted. It’s great, because people can come see shows here that are professional quality, with local actors and some professionals who are from Los Angeles, and they can see a really high quality performance without having to travel, without having to leave town or go anywhere.”

Notolli said the new space has already inspired the company to grow beyond what it usually offers Ojai’s theatergoers. He said the company used to stick to staging shows individually, when people could find the time and energy to put them together. But this year, he and Norton decided to do things differently.

“This is our first season, and we’ve never done a season before,” Notolli said. “But Deb and I went before the board, and we said we wanted to put together a season in advance this year, and get subscribers and get people really excited to see what we’re doing here.”

In that spirit, Notolli said, the company has already started putting together its next performance, a one-man play called I Am My Own Wife, written by Obie Award-winning Quills author Doug Wright. Directed by Gregg Daniel, the show follows the true story of German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who lived through both Nazism and Communism, while achieving success as a famous antiques dealer. The play will run from Jan. 11 through 26, and will be followed by the world premiere of Arthur Kornhaber’s A Matter of Convenience, which opens on April 4.