Troupe Gets Council OK on Theater Lease

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — South Orange County Community Theatre’s three-year search for a home ended Tuesday night as the San Juan Capistrano City Council unanimously approved the lease of a vacated downtown telephone building.

The vote allows the troupe to use the space on a year-to-year basis indefinitely, or until the city goes forward with its plan to turn a large portion of the downtown area into a Historic Town Center.

Under that town center plan, the former Pacific Bell building, which is less than a block from Mission San Juan Capistrano, would be converted to either a parking lot or commercial site.

If the troupe is forced to vacate in the future, city officials have indicated that the performing-arts space designated in its proposed civic center might be available.

Other lease terms for the building, which is on El Camino Real next to the historic Blas Aguilar Adobe and to the rear of the Swallows Inn, include a 120-day termination notice and a stipulation that the building be used for city-designated activities at least 25% of the time. The theater company will be charged token rent of $1 a month (the wrong amount was reported Tuesday). The troupe also will have to submit to the city a parking plan.

Theater officials say they hope to create a performance space with about 100 seats. First production at the new theater, to be called the Camino Real Playhouse, is “Trapped by the Treacherous Twins,” a melodramatic comedy scheduled to open April 1.