ARTICLE
The once debt-heavy Chance Theater company now boasts a string of hits and a $350,000 budget
by Paul Hodgins, OC Register
March 1, 2008
 Like a lot of twenty-somethings, Oanh Nguyen had vague career plans, but they hadn't gelled into anything serious. Then his friend Jeff Hellebrand got cancer.
"There was a day when I visited him in the hospital and he'd lost all his hair and he weighed about 90 pounds. And that kind of really ." Nguyen trailed off for a moment as he wrestled with the memory. "Anyway, after he got back on his feet we decided to do something about our ambitions."
Nguyen, Hellebrand and their friends started a theater company - then as now a difficult, some would say foolish, way to make a living. But Hellebrand's brush with death was the impetus they needed to reach for their life's dream.
Now nearing its tenth birthday, their creation, The Chance Theater of Anaheim Hills, has blossomed into one of Orange County's fastest-growing and most respected companies. Also one of its most fearless: more than a third of the 100 or so plays and musicals produced at Chance in the last 10 seasons have been world premieres.
Nguyen, Hellebrand and their cohorts were a ragtag group - recent graduates of theater programs at Fullerton College, Santa Ana College, USC and Cal State Fullerton - bound together by their belief in the power of the stage.
"We really didn't have any set plan," Nguyen said. "I was doing some TV commercials and others were just working from show to show, looking for something that would grab their attention"
From the beginning, Chance was a communal concept. Its first project was an original play co-written by its 16 members. "We rented a tiny space in Orange, produced it, and it did well," Nguyen recalled. "That surprised us."
Nguyen described the work, "Undeclared," as a highly personal group autobiography. "It was about a bunch of people who just couldn't figure out what they wanted to do. It had a talking muffin in it. That part I remember well!"
A few shows later, other actors wanted to get involved, and a loyal audience was forming. Nguyen and his colleagues were encouraged. "We said, 'Why not go for it?' We found a small space we could afford. I'd just finished a 7-Up commercial, so I had some cash." It was lent to the company as seed money.
That year, the energetic ensemble produced 14 original works. Some company members fell away after the first season; the quality of the productions improved as the quantity dropped. Local theater leaders such as South Coast Repertory's Martin Benson were consulted. But the group didn't want to be a copy of SCR.
"We always remember that the motivation for this group was our friend surviving cancer," said managing director Casey Long, who joined Chance for its third production. "We've always aimed to do work that's personally important to us and that can inspire a conversation with our community."
The finances were touch and go for a while. The company racked up a $75,000 debt on credit cards by the end of its second year. "My wife, Erika, would bounce (the debt) around from card to card to make sure we didn't end up paying any interest," Nguyen said. "It was kind of scary."
 One of the company's proudest moments was climbing out of debt and becoming a not-for-profit organization. "That happened at the end of our fourth season," Nguyen said. "When we started we promised ourselves we'd be out of debt in five years. If not, it was a sign the community didn't need us."
"In those first four years we weren't getting many donations," Long said. "We clawed our way out of debt on ticket sales." Clearing that hurdle allowed them to move in 2003 into their own space, a 3000-square-foot, 49-seat venue in an Anaheim Hills strip mall.
The company's history is marked by many theatrical milestones as well.
It enjoyed its first hit in January, 2000, when a production of Robert Preston Jones' "The Stroop Report," a play about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in World War II, gained widespread attention. Nguyen said people came from as far away as New York to see the show.
In 2003, The Chance received a commission from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to stage the debut production of "Lee Miller: The Angel and The Fiend." In 2006, its world premiere of "The Rover" was filmed - the first installment of a series on public TV station KOCE called "Storefront Theatre Live." Later that year, Chance participated in celebrated playwright Suzan-Lori Parks' ambitious, multi-venue experiment, "365 Days/365 Plays."
Though Nguyen carries the title of founding artistic director, the company has retained its egalitarian and all-inclusive ways.
"This is not your typical theater company where the artistic director sits on high and says, 'These are the shows we're doing this year,'" said Jonathan Josephson, Chance's literary director. "Every company member is welcome, indeed required, to submit suggestions for plays we might do in the coming season. They're expected to read and see plays, keep up with what's new out there and what projects might be right for our ensemble."
Each of the 29 company members is required to read every submission.
Chance stages eight shows per season now. Patrons can choose from two four-play series - one more mainstream, the other more experimental. Open auditions are held for every show.
"There's no pre-casting," Long said. "The actors in our ensemble have to audition just like everybody else."
Since early in its life, Chance has strived to treat its members professionally. "We've always paid our actors and designers, even when we were in debt," Long said. Chance doesn't have an agreement with Actors' Equity, the professional stage performers union, but one of its near-term goals is to land a limited Equity contract.
If the theater's recent numbers stay on track, that goal should be achieved soon. Nguyen proudly outlined his company's rapid growth: "The budget for this year is $350,000. Last year it was $290,000. When we first moved into the new theater five years ago, it was $100,000." The increase is based mostly on ticket sales, Long said. More than 300 people pay a "sustaining membership" - a monthly contribution for at least a year that entitles them to see shows as many times as they want.
Chance's upswing means that its members' dream of a permanent, proper theater might not be so far in the future, either. Nguyen and Long speak confidently of a two-venue complex with a 500-seat main stage and a fully professional company.
"We have money in the bank," Nguyen said. "We told our board, 'This is our dream. We're serious about this.' I own a web design business and still do some acting on the side. I was in 'Rush Hour 3' and other films. But if everything goes according to plan, I won't be doing any of that for much longer."
Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or phodgins@ocregister.com
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Critic's Pick
The Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills, which has grown steadily in its decade of existence, is now without a doubt the best stage company in north Orange County. Its 10th-anniversary season starts with a bang - lots of them, actually. Stephen Sondheim's darkly funny masterpiece, "Assassins," opens this weekend. 
This year marks the 10th anniversary of those awards, the 10th year the critics of
Back Stage West have voted on the best of Southland theatre. 
