"Imagination Is King"

by Ingrid Hoffmeister
for an article appearing in Ranch and Coast Magazine

Chosen two years ago as the new artistic director of North Coast Repertory Theatre (NCRT) in Solana Beach, David Ellenstein is proving to be the talented and timely addition NCRT has been waiting for. Hired to replace Sean Murray, Ellenstein arrived ready and prepared to take NCRT to new heights. As this article goes to publication, their five-year dream of finding a new site for their beloved theatre will have actualized. Signed at $1 a year for 55 years is the land lease for the new theatre complex, which will include a theatre school with classrooms, rehearsal space, and a set shop. The site, named Cedros Crossing, spans across both sides of the Solana Beach Train Station on Cedros Avenue. It will become NCRT’s new home along with a variety of restaurants and shops complete with underground parking for 500 cars.

Ellenstein is clear that he didn’t come to NCRT for it to remain constant. “When I arrived at NCRT it was ripe for what I wanted to do — take it to a new level of professionalism. I told the board that hired me I’d be here for three years, and if we’re moving in an exciting direction, I’d stay. My plan is to set up a five-year deal with Equity Actors Union, where I can increase the number of Equity actors hired for each show incrementally. We just have to find a deal that works for us.” As theater folks say, “going Equity“ usually means an advance in artistic quality, but also a big jump in the budget.

The cost is high, but NCRT plans to raise $10 million to $12 million to manifest their dream, and with numerous partners involved, the estimated completion date varies from three to four years, depending on who you ask. “We will develop two theatres,” says a thrilled Ellenstein. “The smaller theatre will be a moveable black box with 150 seats, and the other a thrust stage for 350 with a three-quarter wrap, providing the intimacy that our patrons love about our current theatre.” As Ellenstein chats, he reveals a high sense of positive regard for his loyal patrons while expanding their artistic vision.

Marilyn Tedesco, past president and a current trustee of NCRT’s board of trustees, acknowledges that Ellenstein has a clear and compelling artistic vision. “He cares about NCRT and appreciates the vital role it plays in stimulating the hearts and minds of community theatre-goers of all ages. As artistic director, his extraordinary ability to translate his broad knowledge about theatre and his finely crafted talent as an actor, along with his depth of experience as a director, attracts national talent to our stage. This is apparent in the critically acclaimed quality of NCRT’s productions,” says Tedesco.

At the current NCRT location, tucked into a corner of the Lomas Santa Fe Plaza shopping mall just off Interstate 5 in Solana Beach, I meet Ellenstein one chilly April morning. Sitting on the empty stage, the nip in the air only dissipates through Ellenstein’s warm charm and rich tone of voice, which radiates like a trained Shakespearian actor. Running through the veins of this 47-year-old is the blood of the theatre.

Exposed to the theatre at a very early age, his father, Robert Ellenstein, a well-known character actor, director, and theatre man, took the young Ellenstein with him to theatre and television rehearsals as well as numerous movie sets. “At a very early age I was introduced to the theatre world filled with people of imagination who didn’t live cookie-cutter lives,” recalls an indebted Ellenstein. “Our house had an open door policy and people stopped in at all times because my father was an acting teacher.” As early as age five, Ellenstein preferred accompanying his father to rehearsals over playing outside. “I loved seeing Shakespearian and Greek plays and remember watching my father doing the national tour of Irma La Douce with Juliet Prowse. I looked up, saw my dad performing, and knew he was having a good time. I’d never noticed anyone else having so much fun. My father seemed more alive than most other people, and that’s what I wanted.”

At Horizons Performing Arts School in Santa Monica, Ellenstein followed his calling by spending his high school years playing leading roles. The positive experience made him choose a less conforming path after graduation. Instead of going to college, he attended a professional summer school program at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts in Canada. He returned home to Los Angeles at age 18 to take his first television job, a small part in a mini series, Once an Eagle. By 19, he had his Screen Actors Guild card and by 20, his Equity card. This led him to his first Equity job, a season of four plays at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival. “I took over for a young actor who left for Hollywood,” says Ellenstein with a grin. “His name was Tom Hanks.”

Throughout the ’80s Ellenstein acted at regional theatres, going to the larger theatres to make a living. However, like many actors, he took odd jobs between auditions, including the cliché waiter job and a position as driver at Hugh Hefner’s Los Angeles Playboy Mansion. “I drove the bunny girls around and did some shopping for Hefner,” he recalls with the grin of that light-hearted 20-year-old. During the same period and with his father’s encouragement, he started to direct. “My father said, ‘The more strings you have in your bow the better chance you have of making a living in the business.’” He followed his father’s good advice and footsteps by taking acting lessons from Stella Adler, his father’s former teacher. He then pursued careers in acting, teaching, and directing.

California State University, Northridge (CSUN) hired Ellenstein during the early ’90s as guest faculty to direct a play and teach acting class. “It’s a strange thing,” smiles Ellenstein, “I never got a college degree despite lots of advice saying if I ever wanted to teach I needed one — I’ve now been guest faculty in nine different colleges.” While teaching at CSUN, Ellenstein met his wife, Denise Young. “She was in a play I directed,” he says, “but we didn’t become involved until a couple of years later and married in 1994.” Ellenstein and Young have two sons, three-year-old Jamie and one-year-old Will. Ellenstein admits that having children has changed him a lot. “They have put everything into perspective and shown me what is important in life,” he reflects.

Ellenstein’s passion and penchant for theatre, combined with rich acting, teaching, and directing experiences,have brought Ellenstein some hefty credits. Before joining NCRT, he served as artistic director of the Los Angeles Repertory Company, founded by his father in 1966 and artistic director of the Arizona Jewish Theatre Company. Ellenstein also served as artistic consultant and director for the Streisand Festival of New Jewish Plays in La Jolla.

A veteran of over 100 theatrical productions, some Ellenstein directorial favorites include: Long Day’s Journey Into Night at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, The Chosen at Arizona Jewish Theatre, Hamlet at Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival, Thousand Oaks, Romeo and Juliet at the Nevada Shakespeare Festival, and Conversations with my Father at the Portland Repertory Theatre.

Ellenstein’s conversations with his father have clearly left their mark. “My father was my inspiration. He set the tone for believing that the imagination is king — especially for an artist. What is great about the theatre is the art of communicating,” he says. “You hope you might spark something in the hearts and minds of the audience so they might leave the theatre with a different mindset. Perhaps you re-ignited some hope or dream, rekindled their imagination, or even provoked some insight they hadn’t considered before.”

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