CATES ON A 'HOT' NEW GEFFEN.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

A new age at the 10-year-old, Westwood-based Geffen Playhouse begins tonight. After 18 months of renovations, the venue reopens with a production of ``Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.'' While Tennessee Williams' play might have been stage-able at the Geffen of old, it would not have resembled the production that breaks the seal on the new Geffen. Some $17 million worth of refurbishments affords you a lot of Southern Gothic.

The baronial Pollitt mansion, where Brick and Maggie wage their sexual warfare, now offers a second-floor bedroom with a staircase leading up from a garden below, a configuration that previously would have been unthinkable. The backstage areas are fairly palatial as well.

``We had three tiny dressing rooms before, and Jason Alexander joked that when he did the play 'Defiled,' he shared his with a rat,'' recalls Geffen's producing artistic director, Gil Cates, nostalgia noticeably absent. ``Now ('Cat's') John Goodman has his own dressing room. So does Brenda Fricker. Everybody's got a lot of room and showers to clean up.

``It's the same for the audience. We've got bigger seats, larger men's and ladies' rooms. There's no way we would not have done this show, but (the renovation) makes the theater-going experience for the audience and the performers much better.''

And Cates is just talking about the Geffen's mainstage. The theater also has a brand-new second stage, the 117-seat Audrey Skirball Kenis Theatre, which opens Friday. Following the opening of ``Cat'' tonight, the Kenis cuts its ribbon with Rick Cleveland's solo play, ``My Buddy Bill.'' Designed as both a rehearsal space and a venue for smaller, experimental works, the Kenis has the same configuration as the Geffen mainstage.

An improved Geffen has been a dream since 1995, when Cates and his board of directors came aboard to transform the former Westwood Playhouse into the Geffen. Originally the site of a former Masonic clubhouse located directly across the street from the UCLA Medical Center, the theater has long been in need of code-compliance upgrades. Architect Ronald Frink was commissioned to develop a master plan that suggested several improvements, but not the addition of a second stage.

Rather than take the plunge on major renovations before the Geffen had established itself as a viable artistic force, theater administrators elected to wait. More than eight seasons later, and with the result of successful fundraising in the coffers, Frink was asked to redo and greatly expand upon his master plan. By that time, Frink also had become an avid Geffen theater goer.

``Gil is one of those rainmakers in the industry,'' says Frink. ``He has such a can-do attitude, and he inspires people to participate and do the best things they can. I became thoroughly indoctrinated, being a fan of the Geffen and of Gil, and I started going to the theater regularly.''

Frink also returned to the master plan. Workers broke ground in the summer of 2004, with Geffen productions temporarily moving to the Brentwood Playhouse.

Other Geffen changes are less dramatic, say administrators, and that's their beauty. Along with improved sight lines and acoustics, additions like improved temperature control and noise buffering are also new.

Gone are the center aisle and the stairway that led patrons into the theater. The mainstage has new seats and 23 more of them, increasing the audience capacity to 522. The majority of us won't see the backstage amenities: roomy dressing rooms, elevators and wing space. No longer will shows with large casts require the rentals of port-a-potties or actors dashing through the lobby to make an entrance on the other side of the stage.

The stage is now fully detachable, allowing multilevel scenes to take place simultaneously. Scenes involving stairways and trap doors - once nearly impossible - are now easily accomplished. The below-stage basement, suitable for storage, is now a passageway for performers to get from one side of the stage to another. With greatly expanded wing space and a load-in area, larger cast shows - including musicals - can also become part of the Geffen's future production slate.

If Geffen audiences are dazzled by the additions, theater administrators will be delighted. But if theater goers comment that seeing a show in the spiffed-up Geffen isn't unlike seeing a performance in the pre-renovated Geffen, that works, too.

``One thing that we heard from a lot of people,'' recalls Frink, ``is, 'Don't ruin this wonderful old building.' We were really committed to trying not just to clean up and make an old building safer. We wanted to weave together a new facility that complements the old.''

Jennifer Mudge, who plays Maggie the Cat in ``Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,'' is impressed with the new playhouse and all the pageantry surrounding its opening. She confesses, however, that she hasn't taken to the under-stage passageway.

``I like going out to the lobby,'' says Mudge, ``The carpet smells so new and beautiful.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

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(6) Among the many improvements to the refurbished Geffen are a fully detachable stage, which allows multilevel scenes to take place simultaneously. Seating capacity has increased to 522.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer