Drama Logue Awards

In 1984, American Legion Post 43's Liberty Theatre company was thriving at its facility on Highland Avenue in Hollywood. Then came "Tamara." When the producers of that show needed a home for their production, they cast their eye on the Hollywood post. Built in 1929 by architect Eugene Weston Jr., it would be ideal as the poet Gabrielle d'Annunzio's opulent palace--the setting of "Tamara."

It's midnight in Tijuana, and the border town is hopping. Jose Armand, a Los Angeles theater producer, is guiding a cadre of associates through the touristy Avenida Revolucion, a boulevard about to vroom into high gear. Drunk American jocks tote six packs; donkey-cart drivers offer Polaroids and the promise of immortality; and lost suburbanites who've been separated from tour groups whine helplessly. "It's T.J.," Armand comments to his L.A. compadres . "And anything can happen."

Susan Dietz, artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse, was sitting in her tiny basement office just after a staff lunch in honor of her 42nd birthday. There was a knock on the door, and in walked two smiling men with a huge present. She jumped to her feet and ripped off the wrapping paper to find . . . a fake window. She'd always said she wanted a window, explained David Houk and Donald Loze, the real estate developers whose theatrical affiliate manages the Playhouse.

Just across the street from the Wishy Wash Laundry and Manila Panaderia, in a south Silver Lake neighborhood that has seen better days, is a nondescript door of the type you might notice but never stop to investigate. The wrought-iron fence that surrounds it is less than inviting and the bright blue Cell2 sign out front gives no clue as to what's inside. In fact, it doesn't even look as if you can get inside. The space was once a clothing store.

Jeff Seymour, despite appearances, isn't always calm and controlled. The director recalls one problem-plagued preview of David Mamet's "A Life in the Theatre" when the challenge of orchestrating 26 scene and costume changes left him rocking in a fetal position on the patio behind his Gnu Theatre, trying to figure out why he wanted to do the show in the first place. "I made a mistake, I made a mistake," he remembers muttering to himself.