Professional actors, directors elevate Jewish Repertory Theatre of Nevada

Theatrical prose deserves pros.

Performers and directors with union cred. Training not just in the theater, but "The Theater." Resumes with entries both big-screen and small. Faces that make audiences wonder, "Where have I seen that actor, actress or (if it was a saucy R-rated flick) body part before?"

Community theater has little to no access to them, can't afford them, can't attract them. ... Actually, one can.

"(Co-founder Norma Morrow) made it clear she wanted to bring an Equity company and all professional people to Las Vegas and I applaud her for it," says Tony Award-winning director/producer Christopher Hart, son of legendary playwright Moss Hart, about the Jewish Repertory Theatre of Nevada.

Honoring Dad, Hart directs the company's production of "Light Up the Sky," his father's acid-tipped comic valentine to the theater at Summerlin's Adelson Educational Campus, opening Wednesday with a pro-strewn cast headed by Catherine Hicks ("7th Heaven").

"All the people we're working with on this show are first-rate," adds Hart, whose 2009 Broadway resurrection of "Hair" won the Best Revival Tony. "The show will be so much better for it."

Among long-standing local troupes, only Nevada Conservatory Theatre regularly invites professionals to take roles (and work with student actors), some being guest artists (G.W. Bailey, "The Closer" and "M*A*S*H"), some being faculty members (Michael Tylo, "Guiding Light" and "All My Children").

Yet newbie Jewish Repertory Theatre of Nevada, which bowed in 2010 with staged readings of "Last Night of Ballyhoo" and "The Sisters Rosensweig" and advanced this year to full productions of Neil Simon's "Rumors" and now Hart's "Sky," has quickly and quietly become a source of polished productions with professional performers.

"Rumors" was cast with an array of pros, led by veteran, craggy-faced character actor Stephen Macht (Trevor Lansing on "General Hospital," "Raid on Entebbe" and tons of TV and movie roles). "Ballyhoo" brought another handful such as Joel Brooks, whose appearances range from "Three's Company" to "Six Feet Under," plus a memorably hilarious "M*A*S*H" guest gig as a wounded Italian soldier who develops a mad crush on "Hot Lips" Houlihan.

"I started on Broadway but I haven't done (much theater) since I played the ingenue in 'Tribute' in 1978," says Hicks, who co-starred in that play opposite Jack Lemmon and is best known as Annie Camden for 11 seasons on "7th Heaven" and in movies such as "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," as the whale-loving biologist.

"I got a call saying I was on the short list (for 'Sky') and I prepared an audition. I love film, but when I got the offer, I really liked the theatricality of it."

Supporting "Sky" actors boast credits including "Mad Men," "Boston Legal" and "Gilmore Girls."

"They're all our friends. I've been in the theater community in Los Angeles and New York for my whole life," says Morrow, who founded the Las Vegas company with actress Charlene Sher, and who, partnering with the Smith Center, persuaded Broadway star Tovah Feldshuh to book an engagement of her one-woman show, "Golda's Balcony," at the center next April. The company also sponsored Jake Ehrenreich's one-man "A Jew Grows in Brooklyn" at the Suncoast last January, and will present the comedy "Jewtopia," working with co-author Bryan Fogel.

Unlike operators of other companies that arrive in town with grand ambitions and then vanish, Morrow's made good on her promises to grow into a professional-quality theater.

"They come because they're excited about what we're doing, it's another professional theater we're building and that's what Actor's Equity wants, they want their actors working."

Paying union scale, housing and travel per diems, and covering the cost of sets, costumes, lighting and other necessities, Morrow insists that nothing is donated.

"It's all personal finances and we're wiping our brow," she says. "We've gone out on a limb because we believe in it and we know the audience is there."

True, though Morrow admits they're largely older patrons who are Las Vegas transplants from major theater cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Younger audiences have yet to be significantly tapped.

"Sky" is a backstage comedy that salutes and skewers theater types in its story of a troupe that shreds the work of a young playwright (a stand-in for Moss Hart) during a Boston tryout.

"You've got a leading lady who is a big star but also a little shallow, not on top of things intellectually and can startle you with her brilliance onstage," Christopher Hart says. "The producer has moments where he can figure everything out, then he's willing to throw everything away and throw in dancing girls and comics to sell the show and sell himself out. Even though it was written before I was born, it still has a very contemporary feel."

Authored in 1948, "Sky" derived from Moss Hart's painfully funny experience of penning a melodrama, but having audiences respond instead to the comic relief characters, prompting him to switch to a satire.

"The actors rebelled at his rewrites," Christopher says. "He had a hell of a time getting the show to New York without a full-scale revolution."

Starring as the temperamental leading lady, Hicks says the show lured her back to the stage, where she began -- but also is nerve-racking for her.

"Theater is a big train and you can't get off," she says. "It's a little scary. I'm too nervous to enjoy the audience. I love film, the camera, the intimacy of it all."

So ... why step back on the boards?

"She's a Turner Classic Movie character, and I love those movies of the '30s and '40s," she says. "And the character is created in the lines. There's more poetry in stage writing and this is full of rhythm and flow and loveliness."

Poetry handled by pros.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.