THEY'LL BE DANCING IN THE STREETS NOHO ARTS FEST FEATURES THEATER - AND MUCH MORE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

Like an annual rite of spring, all the world will be a stage - or on stage - in North Hollywood this weekend during the 13th annual, two-day NoHo Theatre and Arts Festival.

Then again, with 22 performance spaces within a square mile centered around the intersection of Magnolia and Lankershim boulevards - with at least two more on the way - when isn't the world of drama-saturated NoHo a stage?

Answer: when it's also an indoor and outdoor mega street fair with adult and family activities spilling out on every bit of pavement on Lankershim Boulevard from Camarillo Street to Chandler Boulevard. Not up for acting or improvisations? Try out your steps at the tango festival, assemble a craft at the Kids Kourt or lend a step to the 5K Health Walk benefiting ovarian cancer. Up for a little music? How about sitting in on a performance by the Platters or a Neil Young tribute band?

Historically under the auspices of the Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, this year's NoHo fest has been handed over to Bill Lomas, whose Pageantry Productions produced the Hollywood Christmas Parade and the Irish Fair at the Fairplex in Pomona.

``It used to be a localized, very small little theater street festival,'' says Bruce Spiegel, a chamber liaison. ``As it has grown, it's become a bit of a monster to handle. We really wanted to develop the NoHo Theatre and Arts Festival into a major arts festival and have it lose that 'just another street festival in the Valley' feel.''

That's where Lomas comes in.

``I came to last year's festival and spent a day going up and down, looking at all the things I'd change and all the things I didn't like,'' says Lomas, the festival director. ``There were a lot of things that were right. They had good acts on stage and a good layout. I've taken that nucleus and dressed it up.''

Expanded it, too. This year's festival covers nine blocks of Lankershim. There are now four outdoor stages (doubling last year's number), an expanded Kids Kourt and a lecture stage.

The fest will have an international component as well, via a visit from the Limpopo Multicultural Dance Troupe of South Africa and the Toy Theater Ensemble of St. Petersburg, Russia.

So you don't want to leave the area for theater? Fine and good, this year the festival brings out-of-town theater to you. To that end, in addition to the 11 NoHo theater companies offering their own presentations, the performance spaces will host visits from companies journeying in from Silver Lake (the Knightsbridge Theatre), Venice (Pacific Resident Theatre) and Hollywood (the Open Fist), among others.

``We've gone through some growing pains,'' says Nancy Bianconi, the NoHo Festival's theater director. ``This year, since we tripled the size of our festival, we thought it important to invite some companies outside of NoHo.''

The past 12 months have seen some major theater-related growth in NoHo notes Bianconi. The troubled El Portal Center for the Arts has a regular tenant in James Blackman, who is completing his first subscription season in the rechristened San Fernando Valley Playhouse. The American Renegade Theatre has reopened as the NoHo Arts Center, which, in addition to offering its own slate of productions, is also providing a temporary home to the Interact Theatre Company. Two new companies have leased space and should be joining the neighborhood soon.

``We're making this a destination, Lomas says of NoHo, ``bringing people to know that NoHo is the off-Broadway of Los Angeles.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

NOHO THEATRE AND ARTS FESTIVAL

Where: North Hollywood Arts District.

When: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets: Admission is free. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.Nohoartsdistrict.com.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- 4 -- cover -- color) NoHo rising

Theater and arts festical gets BIGGER and BETTER

(5) no caption (people dancing)

Map:

NoHo Festival