A vibrant theater, culture scene.

The first half of the 2007-2008 theater season comes to an end this month. So far, it and the entire local culture scene is one of the most impressive in more than 35 years Hopefully this is a harbinger of good things and not just a last-drink-before-the-hangover-starts moment. The nation's economy will bring an answer for that.

There are positive notes all over town. New theaters in a number of neighborhoods are offering ever more performance space. More actors seem to be doing impressive work in the smaller companies. I view with a shudder the fact that there's still another plan out there for the Gateway Mall in downtown St. Louis--a sculpture garden. And yet....

We've been kissed by a lot of frogs and awakened the following morning next to just one more of them, but perhaps this is the time that a handsome prince or beautiful princess will inhabit the space. I'm very fond of sculpture parks; I've visited a number of them in this country and in Europe and always am pleased to note that some sculptures, especially the large ones, look better in an outdoor setting. Laumeier is a perfect example, where the Alexander Liberman sculpture is perfect in its location.

I'm also charmed by the Botero piece in Clayton and never fail to smile at the second-greatest piece of public art in St. Louis (the Gateway Arch is a permanent No. 1), Milles' commemoration of the meeting of the rivers that stands from the time when St. Louis was a pioneer in public art.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the newest Gateway Mall plan was its seemingly studied dismissal of the Richard Serra sculpture downtown. I'm not a great fan of that particular work, but St. Louisans can enjoy a Serra that is both brilliant and approachable at the Pulitzer Foundation on Washington Avenue. His sculptures in other locations appear in perfect balance with nature and the world around them.

But the plans, and the articles by David Bonetti in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that made it appear that the two-block area would be charming and attractive once landscaping and construction were completed, made no mention of the Serra, located on the next block to the west. It was as if the city fathers were hoping--in the way they approach so many issues--that if they ignored it, it would go away. Bonetti said this was not the case, just that the Serra was outside the purview of the planners. Typical of St. Louis planners: Take a very small purview, so as never to be accused of having large dreams.

Emily Pulitzer, who is responsible for both Serras and who has held a prominent role in support of the city's cultural institutions, said she did not feel slighted by the action of the city fathers.

"It's placed exactly where the artist wanted it," she said of the Serra, and added that what the block needs, before, during and after the new sculpture garden is put in place, is proper maintenance. The trees are meant to soften the harsh lines of the sculpture and to have the entire block be seen as the combination of all its parts--the steel, the trees and the grass.

The arrival of the new year and the concurrent closing of Highway 40 for two years will create plenty of difficulty for every organization in its path, whether non-profit or totally commercial. But the theater community, which often seems to revel in its position as the Fabulous Invalid, is forging right ahead, which is most admirable. Three new theaters have opened since September. Well, they're not new, of course. The St. Louis Actors Studio, New Line and Stray Dog are housed in renovated old buildings, the latter two in converted churches. Please don't forget that St. Louis has not seen a new building, constructed specifically to serve as a theater, since the Fox some 70 years ago. The Rep and the Edison were built as multi-purpose structures with the same unfortunate type of tactical flaws that overcame the beauty intrinsic in Edward Durrell Stone's next-to-last Busch Stadium. Even the Fox was designed primarily for movies, though subsequent renovation has made it work well as a legitimate house.

But the St. Louis Actors Studio, a tripartite arrangement of veteran St. Louisans William Roth, Milt Zoth and David Wassilak, has put together a charming space at 356 North Boyle Ave. and opened it with a powerful Edward Albee drama. Longtime musical theater producer and director Scott Miller's New Line Theater has become the prime tenant at the Ivory Theater, in deepest south St. Louis at 7622 Michigan Ave. Unfortunately, the sales deal between new owner Pete Rothschild and the Archdiocese of St. Louis has some restrictions that may cause producers to tread carefully. Gary Bell's Stray Dog Theatre has taken up residence at Tower Grove Abbey, another church at 2336 Tennessee Ave. All three also offer performance space for rent when the prime company is not at work.

Sadly, local media has been reducing the time and space for stories about theater, making it more and more difficult for them to earn publicity. This is in addition to less review space.

The Kline Awards have helped, but the more working theaters there are, the more stress there will be on judges who are already in short supply. On a personal note, I was a judge for the Klines in their first year, but I saw too many potential opportunities for conflicts of interest and unethical behavior or for the perception thereof, and dropped out.

As always, there will be a lot going on during the holidays, and the New Year will bring people out with new energy and many new productions. And think about how grateful we all should be for a high-energy theater season--it will help distract us from the election season, which will be upon us non-stop and will most likely be ugly.

Joe Pollack is a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist