Ben Donenberg

Ben Donenberg, producing artistic director of Shakespeare Festival / LA, is aware of the irony. Perched on a couch in a sequestered nook of the historical downtown bastion known as the L.A. Athletic Club, the producer can't help but savor the incongruity. After all, this is hardly the kind of setting in which you'd expect to find one of L.A.'s most successful theatrical populists.

Before there were trendy lofts, coffeehouses and bacon maple doughnuts on the streets near Los Angeles' skid row — back when graffiti wasn't considered "art" in downtown Los Angeles — Ben Donenberg had the idea that theater could improve the neighborhood. "In New York, no one would normally walk in Central Park after dark because it's dangerous," the then-30-year old impresario told this newspaper in 1987. "You put up a Shakespeare festival and thousands of people flock to the park.

Central Park, on a summer evening in 1981. A not-yet-famous John Goodman and Mandy Patinkin were dueling during a dress rehearsal for the New York Shakespeare Festival's "Henry IV, Part One," directed by the not-yet-famous Des McAnuff. Suddenly the sword flew out of Goodman's hand and appeared to land on the noggin of an even more obscure young actor named Benjamin Donenberg. The festival's legendary producer, Joseph Papp, dashed onstage and asked Donenberg if he was OK.

I found Christopher Knight's piece about the National Endowment for the Arts politically naive ["Can He Bring the NEA Out of Hiding?" May 14]. The NEA has its critics and most of them fail to appreciate that the Endowment currently enjoys its highest level of bipartisan support among elected officials in many years. This is precisely because the former chairman, Dana Gioia, understood that the Endowment is funded by taxpayer dollars and therefore has the responsibility to support art that speaks to as broad a patchwork of American people as is possible.

I found Christopher Knight's piece about the National Endowment for the Arts politically naive ["Can He Bring the NEA Out of Hiding?" May 14]. The NEA has its critics and most of them fail to appreciate that the Endowment currently enjoys its highest level of bipartisan support among elected officials in many years. This is precisely because the former chairman, Dana Gioia, understood that the Endowment is funded by taxpayer dollars and therefore has the responsibility to support art that speaks to as broad a patchwork of American people as is possible.

Before there were trendy lofts, coffeehouses and bacon maple doughnuts on the streets near Los Angeles' skid row — back when graffiti wasn't considered "art" in downtown Los Angeles — Ben Donenberg had the idea that theater could improve the neighborhood. "In New York, no one would normally walk in Central Park after dark because it's dangerous," the then-30-year old impresario told this newspaper in 1987. "You put up a Shakespeare festival and thousands of people flock to the park.

What's a nice Jewish boy like Ben Donenberg doing with a crush on William Shakespeare? "Shakespeare is my obsession," admits the actor-turned-entrepreneur. "I don't care if he really existed or not; I just love his plays."

Don't show up late to Shakespeare Festival/LA's vibrant new production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," now playing outdoors on the plaza of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. You'll miss the fabulous opening number: the entire cast tearing up the stage to the fierce syncopation of Lionel Hampton's "Central Avenue Breakdown."

Renewed: Showtime has ordered a second season of its drama "Dexter," starring Michael C. Hall. The new batch of 12 episodes will premiere in 2007. Arts advisors: Ben Donenberg, artistic director of Shakespeare Festival/L.A., and Frank Price, former Columbia and Universal studio chief, have been nominated by President Bush to the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts.

What's in a Name: The upstart Shakespeare, L.A. group, at odds with the more established Shakespeare Festival/LA over the similarity of the two names, has changed to the Los Angeles Shakespeare Company. Does that satisfy the bigger group? Its director, Ben Donenberg, said the company's lawyer pointed out that the new moniker could be shortened in headlines to LA Shakespeare, so before pronouncing the dispute dead, he'll consult with his board and with that lawyer, who is now on vacation.

Don't show up late to Shakespeare Festival/LA's vibrant new production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," now playing outdoors on the plaza of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. You'll miss the fabulous opening number: the entire cast tearing up the stage to the fierce syncopation of Lionel Hampton's "Central Avenue Breakdown."

Ben Donenberg, producing artistic director of Shakespeare Festival / LA, is aware of the irony. Perched on a couch in a sequestered nook of the historical downtown bastion known as the L.A. Athletic Club, the producer can't help but savor the incongruity. After all, this is hardly the kind of setting in which you'd expect to find one of L.A.'s most successful theatrical populists.

Central Park, on a summer evening in 1981. A not-yet-famous John Goodman and Mandy Patinkin were dueling during a dress rehearsal for the New York Shakespeare Festival's "Henry IV, Part One," directed by the not-yet-famous Des McAnuff. Suddenly the sword flew out of Goodman's hand and appeared to land on the noggin of an even more obscure young actor named Benjamin Donenberg. The festival's legendary producer, Joseph Papp, dashed onstage and asked Donenberg if he was OK.

What's a nice Jewish boy like Ben Donenberg doing with a crush on William Shakespeare? "Shakespeare is my obsession," admits the actor-turned-entrepreneur. "I don't care if he really existed or not; I just love his plays."

Shakespeare Festival/LA is scrambling to find the money to pay for a new venue for its free downtown performances this summer, in the wake of a decision by the Department of Recreation and Parks to withdraw city funding for the use of Pershing Square, the organization's venue since 2000. The festival's producing artistic director, Ben Donenberg, said that finding a venue is less a problem than finding the money to pay the show's running costs.