By Pat Sherman/
SDUN Assistant Editor

With only 35 seats, North Park Vaudeville & Candy Shoppe is San Diego’s smallest venue for live theatre—though its courage and heart may be its largest.

Tucked in an inconspicuous, aging commercial row off El Cajon Boulevard, the company opened with an old-timey candy shop at the front of the house—and a sweet dream of giving unknown and untested playwrights a shot at success. 

Husband and wife owners Jeff Bushnell and Summer Golden (who were married in the theater) produce the kinds of plays that tend to keep meek audiences at home with the remote control. 

“We are not interested in doing what’s typically done and seen at community theaters,” said Bushnell, a flight instructor and retired Continental Airlines pilot who converted the former barbershop into a theater eight years ago with Golden. 

Bushnell said he’s proud of the productions the company has taken risks on, including a play titled “In the Blood,” a lesser known offering by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. 

“It’s the story of an unmarried homeless woman raising her five bastard children underneath a bridge in the city, and the people that she interacts with—a doctor, minister, social worker and her ex-boyfriend—all of whom sexually abused her,” Bushnell said. 

“This was an inspiring story…but it was really a brutal story to look at,” Bushnell said. “We took a chance, we paid the royalties on it and we didn’t hardly have 10 people a night come and see it. But what it does and what we like is that it exposes a part of society that needs to be understood. How many times are you driving around town here and you see all these homeless people? Nobody knows anything about them, but they have a story to tell, too.” 

Though the theatre company operates as a for-profit venture, Bushnell said that after paying royalties (about $75 per performance) and an occasional $50 to $60 stipend to actors, the company barely has enough to cover expenses. 

Ticket prices are kept at $14, though audiences’ willingness to part with their money has diminished during the down economy, Bushnell said. 

“That’s next to nothing—three beers at a local bar; three packs of cigarettes,” Bushnell said. “You’d think people would take a chance sometimes—and sometimes they do.” 

Audiences are creatures of habit and don’t typically like to gamble on playwrights and actors who haven’t paid their dues somewhere else, Bushnell said. 

“We take people of all persuasions and that is a little bit different,” he said. “Our mission is to get people involved in theatre and to get new work done that’s never been done—and that is highly risky. If somebody’s never heard of a play before, unless they’re really interested in the theatre, the chances of them coming out are pretty slim.” 

As part of their mission of inclusivity, Bushnell and Golden offer theatre instruction for people with mental and physical challenges, giving them a shot in the footlights they may not otherwise receive. The actors in their “Stars” program include those with cognitive disabilities, Down syndrome, autism and other mental challenges, from teenagers to adults. 

The program is divided into four classes, depending on a student’s level of impairment. The cost is $5 per class. Actors are referred to Golden through organizations such as the Down Syndrome Association of San Diego and The Arc of San Diego, which works to create opportunities for people with disabilities. 

Golden, also a playwright, got the idea for the program while living in Oregon. While working on one of her plays, she met an actor with Down syndrome. 

“She was a great actor and I got to be friends with her,” Golden recalled. “Later I found that it was really hard for her to be cast in anything. 

“There’s so many people that are out of the mainstream, yet they want to act and really have talent. I wanted to give people that opportunity.” 

Louis Flam, who goes by the stage name “Luigi,” was introduced to the Stars program in 2005 through friend and fellow Stars actor Rachel Goldbaum. 

Flam, who has Down syndrome, has directed a couple of plays and also performs in the Stars’ advanced group. He also does improv with the company. 

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“I’m kind of a lounge act singer, (from) Simon & Garfunkel to oldies and hop-hop like Will Smith,” he said. “Summer gave me a job because I have a whole collection of music…more than 1,000 CDs. I have good ideas for what goes with the play. 

“We don’t judge people,” Flam stressed. “A lot of people have autism and that’s okay. A lot of people have Down syndrome and that’s okay.” 

Actor Philomena Schubert, who lives near the theater, serves as assistant director for one of the beginning Stars troupes. 

“You have to really work with them,” Schubert said of the students. “They can’t concentrate and keep their mind on everything (so)…they need a lot of coaching, even when they are performing.” 

When students get frustrated or can’t remember their lines, Schubert continues to offer encouragement. 

“They get out there and they just come right to,” she said. “They’re such loveable people. I tell everybody I see I wish they could come see them and know what it’s like.” 

At times, Stars actors audition for and land a role in one of the company’s regular productions. 

Claude Salomi, from the Stars advanced class, wrote a play about his experience immigrating to the United States from Iraq as a child. Salomi also appeared in the theatre’s mainstream production of “Lost in a Desert World” by folk singer Karl Williams.

“He’s paralyzed from the waist down and he’s almost blind, but he’s determined,” Bushnell said of Salomi. “He’s such an inspiration.” 

Prior to meeting his wife, Bushnell said he had almost no interaction with the mentally and physically challenged. 

“I have been really blessed getting to know them and understand them,” he said. “I wish the rest of the world was like them. They are so loving and caring and accepting that it makes the rest of society sometimes look a little screwy.” 

Golden also offers Stars students instruction in tap dance and ballet. Depending on their level of ability and interest, Stars students may write and produce their own plays, with editing help from Golden. 

“I guide them but I ask them to be as independent as possible,” she said. 

For beginning and lower-functioning students, Golden writes scripts especially for them.

“I generally make the scripts about what they would like to be in their life—a bride or a nurse or a doctor,” she said. “These are people that are probably not going to get married and have careers, but they can do it on stage.” 

People who have a loved one or relative who may be interested in participating in the Stars program should call Golden at the theater for an interview. Classes are offered Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 

Meanwhile, North Park Vaudeville & Candy Shoppe is getting ready to highlight a cornucopia of uncharted dramatic terrain during its eighth annual North Park Playwright festival, Oct. 1-24 at the theater at 2031 El Cajon Blvd. 

The festival features 10-minute short plays. Submissions have come from playwrights as far away as Siberia, Slovakia and Australia. The winning submissions are chosen by the company’s team of directors. 

“We get about 200 to 300 (scripts) a year sent to us from all over the world,” Bushnell said. “It’s the only (playwright) festival left in San Diego now, and we involve everybody from first-time actors and directors to literally movie professionals. 

“Some of the playwrights are published and others have never written a play in their life and we get their first play. Some of our stuff has come off beautifully…and others, maybe the play wasn’t written well or whatever, but our goal is to give it a chance.” 

The playwright festival will be Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.