Jerry and Lynn at a friend’s house 2006.

Jerry and Lynn Pearlman of Salinas share a deep love of community theatre and a desire to break down the Great Wall of Separation between Monterey and Salinas theatre audiences. "People here drive over to shows at MPC and PacRep, but Monterey people don’t seem to want to come to us," Lynn said last month. "It’s a real shame. Western Stage has got so much to offer, and they’d benefit from seeing what’s going on this side of the gap."

Lynn Pearlman knows whereof she speaks; she and Jerry have been active, participating supporters of the Western Stage since its beginnings back in the early 1970s.

Even with all the funding restraints on arts programs, the Pearlmans think the quality of work and the commitment of staff continue to improve at the Western Stage. And their interview isn’t the first Spotlight column to pinpoint the puzzling insularity of Monterey audiences. Salinas resident and Pacific Rep actor Tim Hart noted in a March 2005 interview that when people learned he drove nightly to Carmel from Salinas, they acted as surprised as if he’d said he was commuting from Marin County or Montana.

GUYS AND DOLLS Salinas Performing Arts 1974

For Jerry and Lynn, live theatre has always been a family affair. "When we first came here in 1971," Lynn recalls, "our daughters Deb and Karen got involved in a production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Salinas High School. Well, they came home and said, ‘They need Poppas in the show!’ So, they dragged us over there. I worked backstage while Jerry was on stage as a Poppa. . . The next year, all five of us were in MAME. Our son was young Patrick, Jerry played Beau, and the girls and I were in the ensemble."

Well and truly bitten by the theatre bug even before the Western Stage was officially launched in 1972, the Pearlmans quickly became active and enthusiastic supporters, on stage, off stage and out in the auditorium.

Jerry credits Neil Simon’s LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR and GOLF WITH ALAN SHEPARD with supplying his two favorite roles. He particularly values his continuing association with veteran actor Hal Peikin. They’re currently together in INHERIT THE WIND, and Jerry once blew Hal off into orbit by crossing his eyes as Peikin was singing, “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” in GUYS AND DOLLS.

"I've logged in 26 different plays at the Western Stage, and Lynn has been in a number of them, but not quite as many. . . The best thing about any of it is the people you get to work with. I’ve learned such a lot from every single show I’ve done.

"Back in the early days, when Ron Danko was Artistic Director, we did TWELVE ANGRY MEN, only we changed the title to TWELVE ANGRY JURORS because there were some women in the cast. . . Ron arranged for us to get training from a local judge. We went to his courtroom, and later in the month we went down to Soledad Prison to do the show with the fellows there just sitting around us as we performed. They really seemed to enjoy it - and they didn’t hesitate to offer on-the-spot comments. While you were acting, you’d hear, ‘Hey, that guy’s really got it right!’ or ‘She oughtn’t to have done that!’ . . . It was a real learning experience."

WORKING The Western Stage 1984

Asked about memorable on-stage catastrophes, the Pearlmans supply the familiar, desperate ad libs worked up while you wait for a character to unjam a zipper in the wings instead of making a scripted entrance. Even more desperate were Jerry’s recent efforts in ON THE TOWN to slide a "Miss Turnstiles" poster into a stubborn wall slot that just kept dropping the poster onto the floor of a New York subway train set.

ANYTHING GOES The Western Stage 2005

Then there was the time Ron Danko, acting the role of Felix in THE ODD COUPLE, so broke up Jerry and a small ring of other actors grouped behind Danko, that they moved furtively, one by one, off into the wings to stifle their laughter and get back in character. "It’s the sort of thing you should never, ever do on stage," Jerry admitted, "but at least we all managed to be back in time for the end of Ron’s monologue. The audience was in on it, of course, but Ron didn’t have a clue that anything unusual had happened.

"There’s nothing like live theatre for families and children," Lynn believes - and Jerry agrees. "It offers a change for people who are looking at nothing but TV and movies for their entertainment. When they can see something live it’s somehow much more rewarding. Watching live people on stage, audiences are able to project themselves into what’s happening up there and become active participants in the performance."