A Love of the theater: Kids to get a new way to enjoy the stage

Imagine a successful career in publishing, television and theater all beginning with a childhood Chanukah present.

That's the skinny on Douglas Love, the producing artistic director of FamilyStage, a new S.F.-based theater series.

A joint venture with the Shorenstein Hayes Nederlander theatrical organization (SHN), FamilyStage makes its debut with the Bay Area premiere of "Holes," based on Louis Sachar's award-winning young adult novel.

Love, 38, says his lifelong passion for theater started with a Chanukah gift from his grandmother when he was 8. It was a copy of the famed best-selling children's album "Free to Be You and Me" by Marlo Thomas.

"It was created for kids to know they can grow up and be anything they wanted to become," remembers Love. "That really paved my road." He calls himself "the poster child" for the album.

Love not only went on to befriend Thomas and write the stage adaptation of "Free to Be You and Me" — when he was just 19, but he stayed in the children's entertainment field, penning 20 books and producing shows for TV.

But the theater was always his artistic anchor. "I was brought to the theatre from a young age," says the Milwaukee native. "Sharing this experience live in front of us was so exciting and magical. Those are the fondest memories of my childhood."

One of his early theater jobs was serving as assistant family-program director at the Jewish Community Center in Milwaukee. He credits his bubbe for much of his own theatrical flair. "She was a Sophie Tucker-type," he recalls, "bawdy and funny. I think of her all the time, and I think about what would make her laugh."

He put that to good use in his Disney Channel series "Out of the Box" and HBO animated series "Jammin' Animals." Now, he hopes to delight local audiences of all ages with FamilyStage.

"We're pioneering some new ground," he says. "It's a new category of theater, a steppingstone to Broadway productions and a way for kids to experience live theater at a quality and content level that really resonates."

The stage version of "Holes," written by Sachar, was commissioned by Seattle Children's Theater some years ago and previously workshopped by Love in Denver. The fancifully comic story was a hit as a novel and as a Disney movie. Love sees it as the current generation's "Tom Sawyer."

The inaugural FamilyStage series continues next year with "Rock Odyssey," a retelling of the Homeric epic (complete with 10-foot-tall Cyclops and six-headed sea monster) and "Kabuki Gift," which draws on elements of the ancient Japanese theater style to tell a tale of two minstrels. Love himself wrote the book for the latter.

Hoping to make it easier for kids to see the productions, Love and SHN launched the "Gift of Imagination" program, in which local corporations adopt a school and send a class to the theater. "We're looking to make this a true arts education institution."

Newly relocated to San Francisco, Love is already in love with the Bay Area. But he hit the ground running with FamilyStage, and squeezes in sightseeing only on those rare days off.

"We have this cause to expose kids to live theater," says Love. "Imagine the very first time they see a theater as beautiful as the Orpheum, and all the bells and whistles that go along with our production. They will be theatergoers for life."




"Holes" plays 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with 12 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. matinees Saturdays and Sundays, Sept. 30 through Oct. 9 at the Orpheum Theater, 1192 Market, S.F. Tickets: $12-$50. Information: (415) 512-7770 or http://www.shnsf.com.