BEYOND BELIEF CORNERSTONE THEATER'S BIGGEST SHOW YET BRINGS ITS FAITH-BASED SERIES TO A CLOSE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

Opening the Ford Amphitheatre's 2005 summer season Thursday is a Cornerstone Theater Company bridge show, with - fittingly - the word ``Bridge'' in the title.

But given the scope of the undertaking and the number of communities being brought together in a single production, however, James Still's play ``A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters'' is more a Golden Gate-like expanse than a mere pedestrian foot bridge.

How about 57 actors and 52 community partnerships representing 10 communities of faith in Los Angeles uniting in a single evening? Cornerstone could hardly pare things down, considering the breadth of its 4 1/2-year Faith-Based Cycle (FBC), which ``A Long Bridge'' officially brings to an end.

The cycle - delving into the question ``How does faith unite and divide us?'' - began with the ``Festival of Faith'' in October 2001 and most recently staged the Hindu partnership ``As Vishnu Dreams'' in December 2004. Along the way, Cornerstone ensemble members partnered with L.A. Jews, Catholic immigrants, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, African-American Christians, Baha'i and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender people of faith.

FBC plays have been staged at legitimate theaters, decommissioned churches, town halls and, beginning Thursday, the 1,241-seat Ford Amphitheatre, which was originally constructed for religious pageants. The Ford will be the largest venue ever used for a Cornerstone production.

For ``A Long Bridge,'' which follows the circular structure of Arthur Schnitzler's ``La Ronde,'' Still added two communities that the Faith- Based Cycle hadn't previously included: atheist/nonbelievers and Tongva/Native Americans.

``There was a larger story we wanted to tell,'' says director Bill Rauch. ``So many atheists had been vocal about the lack of representation within the cycle, so that felt important. And the ground under our feet had belonged to Native Americans long before the rest of us were here.''

In ``La Ronde'' (later adapted by David Hare as ``The Blue Room''), a series of daisy-chain sexual encounters forms a perfect circle, with each character having two encounters and then disappearing (prostitute beds cab driver, who seduces an au pair, who sleeps with a student, etc.). ``A Long Bridge'' has people of a given faith having two nonsexual encounters with groups from a different faith and circling back to the beginning.

``Coming up with the order was one of our biggest challenges,'' says Rauch, ``because you tell different stories based on juxtaposition. In the end we came up with an order that reflects roughly the order the groups were established in L.A. County.

``I'm not doing anything anyone hasn't done before in terms of structure,'' adds Still. `` 'La Ronde' suggests a movement of moving forward, and there's an accumulation of experience and knowledge and emotion in that structure for me as well. It was pretty exciting when I found my way to that.''

The creation of ``A Long Bridge'' was essentially a three-year endeavor for Still, who held regular meetings and ``story circle'' sessions with faith-based communities while the earlier FBC productions were in development or under way. Members of a given community would come together and talk about faith and culture, sometimes bringing food and always sharing stories.

Still's work essentially paralleled the Cornerstone play-building method. Originating in 1986, the ensemble traveled the country creating site-specific entertainment - often based on a classic play - within communities that had previously had little exposure to the arts. Since settling in L.A. in 1992, the company has turned the bulk of its creative attention to communities within the city.

Coming on the heels of other multiple-play endeavors, the concept for the Faith-Based Cycle was hatched as the company's BH cycle (set within communities with the initials B.H.) was coming to an end.

``(Company member) Page Leong was the one who said, 'What about religious communities?' and we all said, 'Yes!' '' recalls Rauch. ``We didn't anticipate that it would take us 4 1/2 years and that the subject would be so rich we'd just keep adding communities. We could rededicate ourself as the Faith-Based Theater Company and do nothing but that for the next 50 years, but of course that's not the way.''

The next cycle, when it's announced, will be hatched by Rauch and his successor. After 20 years with the company, Rauch - Cornerstone's co- founder and artistic director - will be leaving the company by March 2006 to take a position as professor of theater at UC Irvine and various freelance directing assignments. His final Cornerstone ensemble assignment will be an adaptation of Shakespeare's ``As You Like It'' in the winter and, in 2006, he will helm a production for the Guthrie Theatre's inaugural season in its new building on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

``Perhaps I'll run a theater again someday,'' says Rauch. ``But, frankly, after being part of Cornerstone, I'll be pretty darned picky where I apply to run a theater. It's hard to imagine what will follow this.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

A LONG BRIDGE OVER DEEP WATERS

Where: Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday; through June 12.

Tickets: $10 to $20. Call [phone].

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Photo:

Naveed Merchant, left, Jennie Hahn, Page Leong, Emily Goulding and Andrew Cohen rehearse ``A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters,'' Cornerstone Theater Company's final production in its Faith-Based Cycle. The show explores the connections made between people of different religions.