A NEW PICTURE OF NOHO TWO ENTERPRISING ARTISTS FIND THEATER AND RELIGION IN NORTH HOLLYWOOD - BUT WILL THE NEIGHBORHOOD'S PRAYERS BE ANSWERED?

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

They wanted a space for worship and, eventually, a theater company of their own.

Instead, thanks to some savvy financial planning, James J. Mellon and Kevin Bailey wound up with all that and ownership of the building in which to make it happen.

Goodbye American Renegade and - several hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal and city-financed renovations later - hello NoHo Arts Center.

The first season at the newly opened NAC got under way with the mid- October opening of Mellon's musical ``Dorian'' based on Oscar Wilde's ``The Picture of Dorian Gray.'' Still to come are another musical and a pair of plays including - in February - both parts of Tony Kushner's epic ``Angels in America,'' co-produced by the Attic Theatre Ensemble. A production is also running in the NAC's smaller performance space. And Mellon's Church of Religious Science ministry - which began out of Sunday morning meetings at the Renegade - is flourishing.

The building's exterior has almost caught up to the bustle indoors. The NoHo Arts Center partners closed escrow on the Renegade in April and the city's Community Redevelopment Agency accelerated their efforts to complete the outside of the building in time for ``Dorian's'' opening. That didn't happen, but the new owners - with third partner Doug Hutchinson - are hardly griping.

``Now the city's after us to take over another theater,'' says Mellon, ``and we're like, 'You know what? I don't think I have enough lifetimes to take over another theater.' This is daunting.''

Daunting, but critical, according to NoHo theater proponents. Located at the intersection of Lankershim and Magnolia Boulevards, the 6-year-old Renegade is one of the larger and more visible theaters in the district. The Road Theatre Company, Deaf West and the Company Rep are all up the street on Lankershim Boulevard while the El Portal Center for the Arts and Theatre Tribe - all established companies - are on Lankershim in the other direction.

Solid artistic neighbors deserve an equally committed force operating the building at 11136 Magnolia Blvd., the new owners say.

``We always make the case that some of the best theaters in the city are right off this corner,'' says Bailey. ``I think there's so much great potential happening right at this intersection to make this a real cultural center right here in the next couple of years. It's not going to happen overnight, but the city has made a great investment in not wanting these little theaters to go away.''

``Deaf West is getting a Tony award this year (for general excellence) and that theater only has something like 60 seats, but the New York community doesn't treat it that way,'' adds Mellon. ``We've got Max von Essen and Armelia McQueen in our cast. These are Broadway actors and they're not treating this experience as (Equity) waiver. We're trying to change the consciousness of what theater can be.''

``Dorian,'' a contemporary updated version of the Wilde short novel that Mellon co-wrote with Duane Poole (book) and Scott DeTurk (music), comes to New York following workshops in L.A. and New York and a full production at the Denver Center.

Set in New Orleans, the musical has beautiful young Dorian Gray (played by von Essen) uttering a fateful wish never to experience pain or emotion. Instead his portrait incurs all the slights and blemishes.

The show won't, Mellon and Bailey acknowledge, be everybody's cup of aesthetic tea, but the production dovetails smoothly with the mission of the NoHo Arts Center and its production company, Open at the Top Productions.

``Our desire with this city is to create a West Coast version of Playwrights Horizons where we workshop, develop and produce new musicals and plays that we then want to take on,'' says Mellon. ``Which is why we're opening with 'Dorian,' because we already spent $2 million on the show at the Denver Center. We own a theater now, and we have to open it with something we're proud of and feel personal about.''

The two men, partners in life as well as frequent collaborators, sat for an interview in the refurbished offices atop the NoHo Arts Center a few days before ``Dorian's'' opening. Mellon and Bailey are both East Coast natives (the former hails from Philadelphia, the latter from Rochester, N.Y.). Both are actors, although Mellon has moved toward writing, directing and ministry and away from performance. Bailey, who played the role of evil uncle Scar in Disney's ``The Lion King'' both on Broadway and in L.A., appears in ``Dorian'' as well.

They originally came to L.A. in the early 1990s to produce the original musical ``An Unfinished Song'' at the Tiffany Theatre. Mellon, who was looking to develop a ministry in L.A., quickly took to the West Coast, although they kept a New York apartment and also lived at points in between.

``I joined the people who do the 'Greater Tuna' shows and was on the road and doing regional theater. (Mellon) was living in L.A., and I was sort of a nomad,'' recalls Bailey. ``During that time, he fell totally and madly in love with L.A., much to my chagrin. I said, 'Well, that's well and good for you, but we're not giving up our New York apartment. So you can have your dose of L.A., and then we're going back.' ''

Mellon eventually located a house in Studio City. As the partners were in the process of selling their New York apartment, Bailey was cast in ``Lion King.'' He went from that show into the Broadway revival of ``Annie Get Your Gun.''

Then fate intervened again.

``I would have moved back to New York,'' says Mellon. ``I was kind of down and not that crazy about acting in shows anymore, I had done so many. Two months after we had moved to L.A, he got his first Broadway show. Then after we got pregnant, that ended it. 'OK, I'm a daddy, and I'm here.' ''

Mellon and Bailey share custody of 5-year-old twins Will and Nora with the children's biological mother and her partner. All four parents live in close proximity to the theater the dads now call home.

``I have to say that fatherhood puts everything else in perspective,'' says Mellon. ``We could be having the worst technical nightmare in this theater and Will and Nora will wander in and want to get a Domino's Pizza and sit in the theater and eat, and the whole world changes.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

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(1 -- 2) At left, James Mellon, right, and Kevin Bailey have transformed the former American Renegade Theatre into the NoHo Arts Center, which is off and running with its inaugural production, ``Dorian,'' above, starring Armelia McQueen and Max von Essen.