OWNER STRUGGLES TO KEEP MOORPARK PLAYHOUSE OPEN.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Daily News Staff Writer

It was once the hub of a town that was once the hub of agricultural east Ventura County.

It has weathered a bit, changed its look a few times, and even had a brief stint as a furniture store, but the 70-year-old Magnificent Moorpark Melodrama and Vaudeville Co. has withstood the changing times.

It is now facing another challenge as its owner fights to keep it open and viable, after nearly losing it when her new tenants stopped paying rent on the building.

``I love this stupid theater,'' said Linda Bredemann. ``A lot of people advised me to file bankruptcy and walk away, but I couldn't. This theater just gets in your blood and becomes your life.''

To pay the mortgage and to keep the theater afloat, Bredemann has changed the name to the Moorpark Playhouse and will widen the scope of entertainment to include Broadway productions, concerts and acting classes.

The end of an era is expected today when the ornate sign is taken down after nearly 16 years and replaced with one bearing the new name.

Bredemann has also planned a benefit concert that will bring cast members from the past and present together to sing hits from Melodrama productions from the past 12 years.

``We don't want to see the theater die,'' said Kathi Janca Gravino, who will perform in the ``A Pocketful of Memories'' benefit. ``Everybody is like family here.''

She and her husband, Damian Gravino, met at the theater, and she said they wanted to come back to help save it.

Bredemann must raise from $30,000 to $50,000 to keep the theater open for the next few months.

``The goal is to pay the ($500,000) mortgage off, so I don't have to worry about losing it like I do,'' she said.

Actors said the change from melodrama to more mainstream theater will probably be good for the theater in the long run.

What will not change, they said, is the audience participation that is so much a part of the genre.

``The audience members like to interact with the actors, and I don't think (Bredemann) is going to let that die,'' Damian Gravino said.

Longtime Moorpark residents who said the theater has long been a focal point of the city were saddened to hear about the financial trouble.

``I wish her all the success she can have to try to get it on a paying basis again,'' said James Whitaker, whose father opened Whitaker Hardware nearby on High Street decades ago.

The building, then called El Rancho, was built in 1928 and was the east county's first movie theater.

In the 1950s, as more theaters sprouted up and television kept patrons home, the theater was opened up to the community for stage productions.

Over the next three decades, the building housed a Spanish-language movie theater, an evangelist ministry, a furniture store and finally a theatrical group called The Horizon Players.

In 1983, it was bought by Kirk Aikens, who turned it into the Moorpark Melodrama and offered a variety of plays done in the melodramatic style - complete with villains to boo and hiss at, and heroes to cheer for.

Bredemann first visited the theater on Mother's Day 1985 and became a regular. She and her husband, Harvey, bought the place from Aikens the next year.

After Harvey's death in 1997, Bredemann decided to lease it to another couple, with the idea that someday they would buy it.

That deal quickly turned sour, when Bredemann had problems collecting back rent. For their part, the couple said they withheld rent because she would not make lighting and electrical improvements.

Bredemann took the theater back in July and decided she'd give it another try. Because the new operators received the name as part of their contract, Bredemann cannot legally use it any longer - hence the name change.

For the same reason, she also changed the name of her production company to Walk In Time Theatre productions.

Coming back to the theater has not been easy, she said. Bredemann had to sell her house to pay the mortgage and is now living in a rental in Camarillo.

She has had to borrow against her credit cards to get the rights to the songs for the theater's inaugural production, ``The Fantastiks,'' planned for September.

The benefit concert will be held at 8 p.m. Friday, and 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $15. For more information, call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) Performers rehearse songs for this weekend's concert to help the Moorpark Playhouse, formerly Magnificent Moorpark Melodrama.

(2) Choreographer Adrea Gibbs leads a dance routine for the ``A Pocketful of Memories'' fund-raising show for the Moorpark Playhouse.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News