By Megan Ma
 JOE HU/TOWN CRIER Diane Tasca, founder and artistic director of Pear Avenue Theatre in Mountain View, got her acting start in university theater and has sought greater artistic freedom since. |
Tucked into a row of warehouses off Shoreline Boulevard in Mountain View, a small theater has ignited a burgeoning Peninsula art community that demands to be taken seriously.
Word has gotten out, and for serious art patrons and rebellious artists alike, Pear Avenue Theatre, in its fifth season, may offer a refreshing outlet for new and classic works that don’t quite stand on the creative fray but don’t cross the avenues of big budget musicals, either.
Founder and artistic director Diane Tasca, an actress by trade, scouted out and opened the theater space in 2002. The community response has been enthusiastic, she said.
The theater company seeks to offer classic works and new plays by local playwrights and to bridge the possibilities between community theater and a more experimental venture, said playwright and dramaturg Sharmon Hilfinger, who supports the company through her non-profit Boot Strap Foundation.
Tasca said she has considered expanding the theater commercially and physically, but in the end she decided to keep it small.
“I knew that if I kept it small, I’d be able to handle the bottom line - classic serious plays and new plays,” Tasca said. “I’d rather ensure continued growth artistically.”
Growing up outside Philadelphia, Tasca said she began acting in high school productions, primarily because she could “memorize lines and had a loud voice.” Her mother, who was “always interested in theater,” encouraged her. But it wasn’t until Tasca became a doctoral student in English literature at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign that she began winning lead roles.
In 1978, Tasca moved to New York City with her husband and son and took acting classes and auditioned for roles. Of course, the actor’s life was anything but glamorous. Seedy, makeshift theaters where actors doubled as janitors and the artistic scene was “daunting and intense” contrasted sharply with the comforts of the “sparkling clean” university theater life she was used to, Tasca said. She played mainly serious roles, and “mothers and drunks” seemed to be her forte, she said with a laugh.
Meanwhile, between acting gigs and her editing job at Macmillan Publishing Company, hardy New York life planted an idea in her.
“I was drawn to the idea of having more autonomy over works I wanted to see done, and for seeing the creative process all the way through,” she said.
When Tasca and her family moved to Palo Alto in 1992, she started looking for theater space and chose the current Pear Avenue warehouse in Mountain View for its size and high ceilings.
Tasca gathered a group of local theater artists, a crew and other eager savants willing to work on a shoestring budget. Through grants and her own checkbook, Tasca and crew managed to garner an audience.
Tasca narrowed the mission of staging authentic, challenging plays to three essentials.
“To me, it’s more about good actors, a good script and a director. To spend thousands of dollars on a gorgeous set is nice, but if you want to save, that’s where you do it,” she said.
As with any professional theater, all actors and crew members are paid a stipend. The theater has done well thanks to a loyal following of subscribers and a steady stream of talented actors from all over the Bay Area who line up for auditions.
“We’re drawing actors serious about their careers and work,” Hilfinger said.
Critical recognition is trickling in as well, Tasca said.
Currently, Tasca is starring in one of her favorite roles, Mary Tyrone in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”
The Pear’s future path promises more of the intellectually hefty, serious dramas that have marked the past few seasons, and Tasca said her “bottom line” for artistic success and recognition remains hopeful.
“If you’re any good, you’ll get work of some kind. You just have to be patient,” she said.
For more information, visit www.thepear.org.
