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LID LIFTER: The Heights Players open the fall season casting EvanThompson (seated) as Henry II and J. Giels as John in %u201c The Lion inWinter,%u201d now through November 18. (Jeff Gould photo)Brooklyn Theaters Offer Wide Scope B Y U N IT S H F I IIF H mncioAir %u00ab... %u00bb> BY LINUS GELBERIf Brooklyn theater lacks Manhattan%u2019s chic and tinsel, at least there is something warm and personal to the small theater troupes.An evening at the theater in Brooklyn can include classics, comedies, musicals, original scripts, esoteric plays and experimental work. There are established groups as well as struggling ones; traditional repertories as well as larger, open-casting companies; professional and preprofessional troupes as well as community theaters, content to serve the area in a non-profit capacity.One common characteristic of local theater companies is budget, there isn%u2019t much of it. Most companies work out of donated church or community center space, and some are without a base at all. Popular musicals are less frequent than comedies and dramas, in most cases because the rights and royalties involved with musicals are much more expensive.Small theater companies promote local talents, picking up actors, directors and unknown writers from their communities and allowing them to work and produce onstage. In many cases, this is necessitated by an atrophied budget, but the result is theater that is varied, innovative and alive.MIME LIGHTSThe Mimelights troupe is part of the New York Pantomime Theater, a state supported organization that coordinates smaller troupes. Much of Mimelight%u2019s work is done through libraries and school assembly programs: %u201c Schools are our bread and butter, so we can continue to work at mime,%u201d says director Joe Zwerling. %u201cOur repertoire is increasing, our pieces are growing more complex; we%u2019d like to give a perspective on the potentials of mime. People are getting tired of robots and imitations of Marcel Marceau.%u201dThis April, Mimelights will play at the April McCarter Theater in Yale; between now and then, they are looking for work. %u201c We%u2019ve had tremendous reactions,%u201d says Zwerling. %u201c Mime goes beyond words. It%u2019s not merely body movement and illusion; it%u2019s the spirituality behind the illusion. When you see mime, you get an experience.%u201dTHE LANDMARK PLAYERSWhen the Landmark Players premiered last year, \h e%u201d our thrrtrr would b** in %u00bbplace not bombarded with theater,%u201d says director John Cooke. %u201c Comedy was our mainstay%u2014we wanted to establish our theater before hitting the audience with anything too heavy, that might out them to sleep. But we want to break away from the mold that many companies fall into, that you have to do mostly children%u2019s plays, ormusicals, or comedies.%u201dThey seem to be succeeding; Landmark is just finishing up a Halloween %u201c Frankenstein%u201d stint, and will put on two one-act plays sometime in November, %u201c Curtains%u201d by Gloria Gonzales, and %u201c Public Eye%u201d by %u201c Equus%u201d author Peter Schaffer. %u201cThen,%u201d Cooke says, %u201cwe%u2019ll do a few musicals, as well as heavier dramas: we have planned %u2018Man for All Seasons%u2019 and %u2018Godspell.%u2019 We%u2019re basing our choice of theater on our audiences.%u201dTHE HEIGHTS PLAYERSThe Heights Players have been performing in Brooklyn for 23 years. They have rehearsal and performance space, and room for workshops, and can even work simultaneously on more than one production: %u201c Sometimes,%u201d says Publicity Director Dennis McConnell, %u201cwe can have one play into heavy rehearsals in the theatre, and another one doing auditions upstairs.%u201d%u201cThis year,%u201d says McConnell, %u201c we wanted to do a very Americana year, which didn%u2019t work out. Then we were going to do all comedies, which draw good audiences, but that didn%u2019t happen either.%u201d What did happen was Eugene O%u2019Neill%u2019s %u201c Ah, Wilderness,%u201d which opened this season; up and coming include James Goldman%u2019s %u201c Lion in W inter,%u201d Agatha Christie%u2019s %u201c Mousetrap,%u201d and two children%u2019s plays, %u201c The Shoemaker and the Elves%u201d and %u201c Simple Simon on Googly Island,%u201d both by Heights Player Hal Lynch. %u201c We always alternate between kids%u2019 shows and adult shows,%u201d McConnell explains.Twice a year, in January and June, the Players hold workshops for beginning writers, actors and directors. \could do more workshops,%u201d says McConnell. %u201cThere are different directors, different talents, you see three or four different one-act plays in one night%u2014it%u2019s all very exciting.%u201dPENNY BRIDGE PLAYERS%u201c We're a theatre for children-a professional theatre for children,%u201d says Jane Stanton, director of the Penny Players. %u201c We started out doing nine-week summer programs, and now we%u2019re working the whole season.%u201d Penny Bridge does much of its work in schools and day care centers, in many cases for underprivileged children. %u201c Some of them have never seen live theatre before, and we bring it to them. That%u2019s our idea.%u201dStarting November 7, Penny Bridge will perform an original adaptation o f %u2019Rumpelstiltskin. %u201d %u2018 %u2018Generally, we do a show in the Heights and then take it on tour,%u201d says Stanton. %u201c We go to Manhattan, Staten Island, other parts of Brooklyn, all over.%u201d Beyond %u201c Rumpelstiltskin,%u201d plans get fuzzy: There will be a Christmas show at the Lincoln Center Library, but Stanton isn%u2019t sure what it will be.Penny Bridge is definitely opening acting workshops for children in January: there will be classes for children 7-10, 11-14, and teenagers. And this year they will begin Family Circle Theatre, a series of classics which will include %u201c Little Women,%u201d some Shakespeare, and perhaps a musical. %u201c Family Circle,%u201d says Stanton, %u201cis intended to get older kids to go out to the theatre with their families.%u201dCARROLL DANCE THEATRE COMPANYChandra Oppenheim from Carroll Gardens is. 10-years-old. Eight-year-old Colette Russen is also from Carroll Gardens; she celebrated her eighth birthday with an on-stage party and a live audience, just after appearing in the Carroll Dance Theatre Company%u2019s production of %u201c A Wrinkle in Time,%u201d an adapted children%u2019s science fiction story. The two girls are part of the first phase of a children%u2019s participation program that the Company, directed by J. Geils, is initiating.Funding these days is rough, and the company operates out of Carroll Gardens church basements, usually St. Paul%u2019s and the Norwegian Seaman%u2019s Church, although plans are underway to make a permanent move to the South Congregational Church on Court Street. Performances range from playing Ibsen%u2019s %u201c Peer Gynt%u201d at the Norwegian Society%u2019s 150th Anniversary celebration of Ibsen Day, to performing %u201c Mother Nature,%u201d an original musical about picking up litter, at Lincoln Center, to appearing at street fairs, schools, libraries, parties, festivals%u2014 %u201cwhatever we can book ourselves into.%u201d For this season, the company is currently working towards establishing theatre programs in schools, doing readings and dramatizations, and involving children in their productions through Carroll Gardens workshops. %u201c We%u2019re trying to do stuff for people,%u201d explains Geils. %u201c We do a lot of freebies.%u201dRSVP COOPERATIVEThe RSVP Cooperative is finishing up its first session of theatrical workshops, but you%u2019re just in time to get in on the ground floor for session two%u2014the workshops, open to all ages, vary from lighting and stage management to play analysis and acting classes. Workshops are held out of the home-base St. Augustin%u2019s Church at 47 Sterling Street, where the last production, an original in-the-round adaptation of %u201cJack and the Beanstalk,%u201d complete with modem-dance beans, was performed. Meanwhile, the cooperative is screening scripts for their February season.The Coop is a repertory company, which director Bernadette Caruso describes as %u201can exciting theatre alternative, as opposed to casting show-by-show. It leads to a cohesive group to work with, and allowsTheatre schedules, workshops, plans and even locations can change suddenly and drastically: it%u2019s best to check before making long-range plans or dinner reservations. The Brooklyn Arts and Culture Association (783-4469) has information on most theatrical and cultural happenings around Brooklyn, and can locate theatres on request. Other helpful numbers are:Brooklyn Bridge Theatre Company: Robert Gainer. 737-8169 or (service) 288-0900Carroll Dance Theatre Company: J. Geils, 852-7551Company Community Theatre; Rob Rosenthal, Greenwood Baptist Church 7th Ave. & 6th St., 499-1379Gallery Players: Old First ReformChurch, 126 7th Ave., '788-6362 Mimelights: Mimelight, 238 6th Ave., Bklyn 11215, call Joe Zwerling, 499-5469RSVP Repertory Theatre Cooperative: Bernadette Caruso, 768-1985 The Heights Players: 26 Willow Place, Bklyn Hghts, 237-2752 The Landmark Players: Emanuel Episcopal Church, 2635 East 23rd St. 435-9030The Penny Bridge Players: Assump tion Church, Cranberry St. & Hicks 855-6346 or 625-4139 Alonzo Players: Cecil Alonzo 622-9058Encore Studio: Gloria Golfin, Com munity Center, 415 7th St., 837-0647 Everyman Company of Brooklyn 725 Union St., 857-7753the group to move forward in accordance with its wants and needs. We want to do all kinds of theatre: children%u2019s, modern, classical, readings, s>varit.oarc\\e%u2014everything.%u201d The RSVP Cooperative is currently recruiting members, as well as scripts, %u201c until we reach a stable number of 25. Then we%u2019ll stop, but until then we%u2019re open.%u201dGALLERY PLAYERSLast year, the Players presented a program which included Moliere, Shakespeare and Brooklyn Heights author Richard Engquist. The Gallery Players%u2019 season this year opened with Agatha Christie%u2019s adaptation of her mystery novel, %u201cTen Little Indians,%u201d and is now moving into its second^ play, Sandy Wilson%u2019s %u201c The Boyfriend.%u201d They plan to begin workshops soon for inexperienced directors and neophyte actors in the Old First Reform Church, but after that plans are indefinite. %u201c We always get in trouble when we plan too far ahead,%u201d says director Mary Ruth Goodly.Opening December 8 will be %u201c The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew,%u201d a play by Britisher Robert Bolt, author of %u201c Man for All Seasons.%u201d Goodly describes %u201c Bolligrew%u201d as %u201c a sort-of in-between, part for children, part for adults. It%u2019s a family play.%u201d Other candidates for the rest of the season include %u201c Arsenic and Old Lace,%u201d %u201c Antigone,%u201d and %u201c A Midsummer Night%u2019s Dream.%u201d %u201c We try to keep our season as well-rounded as we can,%u201d says Goodly. %u201c We try to do one children%u2019s play, one musical, one comedy, one drama, one classic...you pick the next.%u201d Gallery also recruits original scripts, play suggestions and actors. %u201c We%u2019re not a repertory company, but we do have a core of people,%u201d explains Goodly.BROOKLYN BRIDGE THEATRE COMPANYThe Brooklyn Bridge Theatre Company%u2019s first production was a double bill at Henry%u2019s End restaurant/gallery, a performance of Howard Brenton%u2019s %u201c Saliva Milkshake%u201d and Peter Hanke%u2019s %u201c SelfAccusation.%u201d Later at Henry%u2019s End and Manhattan%u2019s Open Garage they staged open rehearsals of Robert Auletta%u2019s %u201cGuesswork,%u201d which they most recently performed at the Yale Repertory Theatre. %u201c We%u2019re interested in forming a professional company that will do plays with a humanist and social context, plays that say something for our time,%u201d says director Robert Gainer. %u201c We have our most difficulty choosing plays; we have to say, %u2018Why do this one? Why this?%u201d %u2019No mere dabblers, they. Upcoming plans include %u201cGeorge Washington Crossing the Delaware%u201d and %u201c Gold Standard,%u201d by poet Kenneth Koch, %u201cHitting Town,%u201d by Britisher Stephen Poliakoff, another Brenton play called %u201c Weapons of Happiness,%u201d and a reworking and restructuring of %u201c Guesswork.%u201d Eventually, the company would like to produce a work called %u201c Memories of an Amnesiac%u2014Erik Satie,%u201d which will be an original theatrical systhesis, a %u201ccollage of theatre, music, mime and painting.%u201d%u201cWe%u2019re still in the infant stage,%u201d says Gainer. %u201cWe%u2019re still getting together for the first time. It%u2019s a year of beginning; we%u2019re hoping to find some kind of base in the Heights, some kind of support from the community.%u201dCOMPANY COMMUNITY THEATRE%u201c We%u2019re in transition,%u201d says Lina Weihs of the Company Community Theatre. %u201c We%u2019ve been saying this for years.%u201d But this transition is a big one: their old home, the Greenwood Baptist Church, got a new pastor, and the Company got booted out. \director Rob Rosenthal, %u201c so all our plans are still in the working stage.%u201dCompany has been around for four years. %u201c We do very well at the box office,%u201d says Rosenthal. %u201cWe have a good following in the neighborhood; regulars and other people.%u201d Last season the Company put on %u201c Peter Pan,%u201d \enstein,%u201d Tennessee Williams%u2019 %u201c This Property is Condemned,%u2019%u2019Bertoldt Brecht%u2019s %u201cThreepenny Opera,%u201d %u201cGodspell/Superstar Revue,%u201d an original children%u2019s musical called %u201cChocolate Fever,%u201d and recently played %u201c A Phoenix Too Frequent%u201d by Christopher Fryeaf the Brooklyn Museum.r%u00bbc uocu iu uu nliuwa wiili a technicalgroup of 33 and a cast of 40,%u201d says Weihs. %u201cThree hundred people would come, and we%u2019d turn some away because the Fire Department wouldn%u2019t let us have that many. But we%u2019re a community non-profit group, and we can%u2019t pay exorbitant rents.%u201d%u2022%u00a3* THE PKCEX!X, Mwvvmwwf 2