NOHO; VALLEY ARTS DISTRICT READY TO CELEBRATE WITH WEEKEND PARTY.

Byline: Reed Johnson Daily News Staff Writer

Forty-eight hours from now, when the jugglers and the jazz musicians have gone home, and the chorizo-on-a-stick stands have packed up for another year, the NoHo Arts District will get back to business.

Namely, the theater business.

During the annual weekend street fair known as the NoHo Theatre & Arts Festival - co-sponsored by the Daily News - it's easy to forget that North Hollywood's NoHo Arts District wasn't conceived primarily as a place to bargain-hunt for greeting cards and boutique candles, or to witness sweaty displays of Turkish belly dancing.

Six years after the district was born, live theater remains its main mission, its raison d'etre.

This weekend, that mission will be reflected in more than 100 free performances at the festival by some 50 theater companies and producing organizations from around metropolitan Los Angeles.

Averaging about 45 minutes apiece, the offerings will include everything from a musical about one of the space shuttle Challenger astronauts to a nine-women comedy set in a beauty salon, to political satire, puppets, scenes from Gilbert & Sullivan's ``Patience'' and a piece called ``Cacti & I,'' presented by Theatre Unlimited and described as involving ``comic cacti rustling and voodoo.''

Besides these events, held at 13 NoHo ``host'' theaters, there'll also be free outdoor performances by doo-wop and folk groups, clog-dancing and Celtic music, a food festival, an open-air arts and crafts fair and a Kids Court.

Hot dogs and pizza will be consumed, prepubescent faces will be painted, ear cuffs and pottery will be purchased, and Baptist choirs will make a joyful noise. Last year, police estimated total attendance at around 35,000 over the weekend.

But when the two-day frenzy ceases Sunday night, the theater community will resume the greater, unending challenge of putting together new seasons of plays, selling subscription tickets and attracting new audiences. That's when the NoHo Festival really pays for itself as a high-profile form of group advertising, organizers say.

``It's a numbers game, and when I talk to some of the other theaters, they tell me they've gotten a lot of people as subscribers or repeat customers based on their initial contact with the festival,'' says Edmund Gaynes, festival co-chairman and president of the 45-member Valley Theatre League, which is presenting the event in concert with the Universal City-North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

To encourage repeat business, the league again will be selling summer theater discount passes between noon and 6 p.m. both days. The passbook, which costs $40, consists of 10 passes that may be used at any of 24 participating Valley theaters. Books will be on sale at the Valley Theatre League tent near the intersection of Lankershim and Magnolia boulevards.

``The whole purpose of it (the festival) is for people who may not be aware that there is a large, vital theater community, not only in NoHo but throughout the Valley,'' says Gaynes, who also runs the Two Roads Theatre in Studio City and has produced shows off-Broadway.

``The theaters are the main reason for the festival. They are the main draw, so many people who come clearly are interested in theater, or they wouldn't show.''

When local grass-roots arts activists and the city's Cultural Affairs Department dreamed up the district, they envisioned a free-spirited community of resourceful bohemians mixing with office workers, small business owners and coffeehouse connoisseurs.

NoHo was to be the city's largest publicly supported arts zone. Later, the City Council got into the act by passing a zoning change making it possible for artists to live and work in the same space without having to wade through bureaucratic red tape.

Since then, a once-grim stretch of Lankershim Boulevard has morphed into an unpretentious cultural hub, the eye of a 1.5-square-mile area containing some 20 theaters, mostly small, Equity-waiver houses with fewer than 100 seats. It's also home to art dealers, used-bookstore owners, the tattooed and the fashionably sullen, commingling with white-collar employees of Disney's Interactive division and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which anchor opposite corners of Lankershim and Magnolia.

This NoHo - the workaday NoHo - is more than a once-a-year happening. It's a round-the-clock yet low-key hangout where you can witness live performances five days a week, buy a nouveau-Gothic painting at Dark's Art Parlour, stop in for joe at Eagles Coffee Pub or the Eclectic Cafe and peruse an exhibition of fine-art prints at the Lankershim Arts Center.

So far, it hasn't turned into Times Square or Manhattan's illustrious Soho arts district, with which NoHo's boosters draw frequent comparisons. But it's a neighborhood with a style all its own. Enjoy your visit.

THE FACTS

What: Sixth annual NoHo Theatre & Arts Festival.

Where: Lankershim Boulevard, between Magnolia and Chandler.

When: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Admission: Admission to the festival is free, but you will need to obtain free tickets to attend any performance at the 13 festival ``host'' theaters. Tickets are available at the Valley Theatre League's Theater Tent at the corner of Lankershim and Magnolia on a first-come, first-served basis. While most theaters are within walking distance, a free shuttle also will be available.

Where to park: Both off-street and on-street parking are available throughout the festival area.

Information: Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

8 Photos, Map

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) PLAY ON

NoHo stages a festival that's more than a show

(2) Visitors to this weekend's NoHo Theatre & Arts Festival can have a seat with the Lucille Ball statue at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

(3) The Bitter Truth Theatre, 11050 Magnolia Blvd.

(4) The Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd.

(5) The NoHo Actors' Studio, 5215 Lankershim Blvd.

(6) Actors Alley at the El Portal, 5269 Lankershim Blvd.

(7) SSSHHH! PERFORMANCE IN PROGRESS

(8) Lankershim Bl - Magnolia

Phil McCarten/Daily News

Map: No Ho Arts District