CURTAIN SET TO RISE ON NEW STAGE\'Our Town' to break in arts center.

Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer

The first time theater major Nicole Immel stepped onto the stage of Moorpark College's new Performing Arts Center, she cried.

"All I could think was, I want to be here," said Immel, who took a tour of the $10 million theater for the first time last semester. "I kept looking out at those 400 empty seats, then I'd close my eyes and picture them full. It was an amazing rush."

A former history major, Immel changed her major to theater a year ago. She has been cast to play the part of Emily in Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town," which opened at the Moorpark theater Thursday night.

For weeks, the 38-member cast has perfected their show as they anxiously anticipated performing for the first time on the college's new theater stage, which they began rehearsing on just two weeks ago.

But before they could grace the stage of a building many have spent years waiting for, the cast patiently worked night after night in the Forum - a large, converted lecture hall - with seats to accommodate an audience of just under 200.

For years, the drama students have grown used to the smaller theater, with a meager lighting system and one small dressing room.

Director Les Wieder remembers 12 years ago, when he was forced to stage "The Wiz" in the Campus Center because it was larger than the college's theater. In 1979, the drama students performed "Jesus Christ Super Star" on the lawn of the college campus, where bleachers were set up for the audience to sit.

"Now, we have all the real facilities as a professional theater would have," said Wieder. "It's a big dream that finally came true after all these years."

The performing arts building, which went under construction in January 1994, includes a 400-seat auditorium, a 100-seat drama laboratory, a dance studio, classrooms, offices and a scenery workshop.

With maroon carpeting and mauve accents, the complex also includes a speech library and videotape room. Where lighting has been used in the 175-seat Forum to indicate moods and scene changes, the performing arts building with its 70-foot-tall fly tower can hoist and lower elaborate sets on cables.

Thomas Lenk, a theater arts major, said he remembers visualizing himself in the new theater before it was built.

"There used to be a chain link fence up around it," said Lenk, 19, who portrays George in Moorpark's current production. "I used to just hang on the fence, and look at the building and wish I was inside."

The complex now towers over smaller classrooms and offices as the largest building on the Moorpark campus.

A team of faculty members originally got behind the project, intended to end the constant need to conduct searches for adequate performance stages and to eliminate rental costs, school officials said. But it wasn't until state voters approved bonds in the late 1980s that the money was available to build the multimillion-dollar building.

Moorpark's complex is one-fourth the size of the Thousand Oaks venue. While the Civic Arts Plaza has staged Broadway shows, headline performers and regional theater, the Moorpark complex is intended primarily for choral and musical concerts, theater performances, musical shows and dance concerts featuring student artists.

Aside from the theater's aesthetic appeal, many drama students believe the new atmosphere brings out a different side of their performance.

"In a small theater, you can be much more subtle with the audience, and it's much more intimate," said Joe Sanfelippo, who is portraying the stage manager in "Our Town."

"But when you're on the big stage, there's this huge space to fill. You gotta be bigger and stronger," Sanfelippo said. "It brings your performance way up."

Wieder believes the new theater also brings out a side of professionalism in the actors.

"When they walked out on that stage, suddenly there was a big difference," Wieder said. "Everyone got really juiced up. They've always been enthusiastic, but everyone is even more excited about working in a brand new facility. They feel like they are coming to work in a real, professional environment. That makes them want to give it everything they've got."

THE FACTS

WHAT: The Moorpark College production of "Our Town," the first play to be performed in the college's new Performing Arts Center.

WHEN: Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 25, 26, 27; Feb. 1, 2, 3. Curtain is at 8 p.m. each evening.

WHERE: Moorpark College Performing Arts Center, Moorpark campus, 7075 Campus Road.

COST: $10 for general admission; $8 for any student; $6 for Moorpark's associated student body cardholders, seniors and children.

INFORMATION/TICKETS: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo (1--color) Nicole Immel as Emily Webb and Thomas Lenk as George Gibbs will perform in the 38-member student production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" to be staged in Moorpark College's new $10 million arts facility built with voter-approved bond funds. (2) Nicole Immel and Thomas Lenk walk down the aisle as Emily and George. (3) Thespians Chapin Hayslett, left, and Oscar Antonino tease the groom.