'Star Wars' actor Alden Ehrenreich's mission to make L.A. a 'theater city' involves a 119-year-old trolley station

Alden Ehrenreich should beryllium tired. He’s conscionable returned from Italy aft astir 3 months of filming crossed Europe. He’s disconnected to the Philippines for his adjacent movie tomorrow. But arsenic helium sits nether a blooming citrus histrion astatine the entranceway of his caller theater, he’s flooded with energy. He could rhapsodize astir unrecorded theatre for hours if you fto him.

The actor, who starred successful his archetypal movie — Francis Ford Coppola’s “Tetro” — portion inactive successful precocious school, conscionable wants to play.

After much than a decennary successful the industry, helium longed to find a abstraction to bash conscionable that. He yearned for the uninhibited creator exploration of his precocious teens and aboriginal 20s erstwhile helium was a portion of theatre groups with friends.

“That consciousness of state and play is benignant of our birthright. It’s innate to us,” helium said. “It’s benignant of artists’ job, successful a way, to combat for and support that freedom.”

So helium bought a historical substation successful Cypress Park, determined to marque it an creator hub wherever helium and others could get backmost to youthful creativity that’s often “quelled” by manufacture expectations, Ehrenreich said. Huron Station Playhouse, which celebrated its brushed opening past fall, has go his “pride and joy.”

The L.A. autochthonal had a marathon twelvemonth successful 2023 — appearing successful “Cocaine Bear,” “Fair Play,” champion representation victor “Oppenheimer” and writing, directing and starring successful the abbreviated movie “Shadow Brother Sunday” — and he’s not slowing down anytime soon.

In conscionable a fewer months, he’ll look successful Disney+’s Marvel miniseries “Ironheart.” He says helium not lone loved his character, but his collaborators too. He’s besides acceptable to prima other chap “Star Wars” alum Daisy Ridley successful “The Last Resort,” look successful the fearfulness movie “Weapons” and prima alongside Helen Mirren successful “Switzerland,” an adaptation of the play by the aforesaid name.

With a strenuous enactment and question schedule, Ehrenreich said helium felt the request for an creator location base. When helium came crossed a gathering that predates the Hollywood sign, helium knew helium recovered the cleanable abstraction to reinvigorate himself and different Angeleno artists.

“This has been highly adjuvant for me, conscionable psychologically,” helium said.

“You extremity up surviving this precise itinerant existence. And this,” helium said, motioning to the blades of writer extracurricular the theater’s entranceway he’d been fiddling with portion speaking, “could not beryllium more, not that. To beryllium capable to enactment emotion and attraction and maturation into thing that continues to beryllium determination is truly helpful.”

Alden Ehrenreich said helium hopes to nonstop a play speechmaking astatine Huron Station Playhouse successful betwixt large films.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Ehrenreich wanted a spot wherever creation could beryllium produced without the unit of commercialized success.

“What concern does, understandably, is absorption connected results. ‘How overmuch wealth is this going to make? Who’s going to spot it? Blah, blah, blah.’ And erstwhile you’re focused connected results, you can’t truly play due to the fact that each gesture, each determination that you marque has this baggage connected apical of it,” helium said. “The existent magic and joyousness of these things doesn’t ever past the infrastructure of the concern side.”

That being said, Ehrenreich has appeared successful a fig of big-budget projects that were taxable to that commercialized pressure, including his starring relation arsenic Han Solo successful the 2018 “Star Wars” prequel, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which underperformed astatine the container office. But helium appreciates some the large workplace accumulation broadside of his resume and the theatre side.

“It’s harder than it’s ever been nowadays to lone bash 1 [genre oregon style] for a batch of antithetic reasons,” helium said. “The astir important happening is that you inactive get to usage the musculus of the happening that you truly attraction the astir about. It besides is imaginable successful immoderate of those commercialized environments, erstwhile it’s helmed by idiosyncratic who has a truly idiosyncratic vision, for those things to beryllium genuinely creative.”

Another portion of his ngo to “reenvision L.A. arsenic a theatre city” is to marque Huron Station Playhouse a watering spread for artists. After play readings past autumn that launched the theater, formed members and theatergoers mingled and conversed connected the patio extracurricular the building. Ehrenreich said this is simply a important portion of however helium hopes the Playhouse volition found a collaborative creator assemblage successful what tin often consciousness similar an isolated city.

The patio of Huron Station Playhouse functions arsenic a gathering abstraction for artists aft play readings, with the enactment lasting hours aft curtain call.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

“A batch of actors lone conscionable each different astatine parties thrown by Hollywood entities, agencies oregon companies. I could conscionable idiosyncratic who’s the astir breathtaking creator to maine successful the world. The speech we’re gonna person determination is not gonna pb to the large American novel. It’s conscionable not,” helium said. “I conscionable ever felt benignant of bare for that. And I deliberation successful L.A., it has to beryllium a small spot much of a combat to carve retired that ground.”

When helium began searching for commercialized existent property successful L.A., Ehrenreich said this was the archetypal spot that came up connected Google. The aforesaid idiosyncratic who, years earlier, had performed successful archetypal plays — written by friends — nether a operation airy successful an abandoned house, had yet recovered a imperishable abstraction to forge the theatrical hub he’d been dreaming of for his hometown. He got the keys to the Huron Substation successful 2021.

The Huron Substation was built successful 1906 successful Cypress Park to person the Los Angeles Railway Yellow Cars to a higher voltage. A relic successful a municipality wherever not overmuch is implicit a period old, the gathering inactive maintains the archetypal brickwork, though immoderate spots carnivore the remnants of a occurrence successful the ‘80s.

The 45-foot ceiling and exposed wood beams would beryllium the stars of the abstraction if it weren’t for the elephantine chandelier lighting the main floor.

Ehrenreich brought successful furnishings and decor with the assistance of his mom, interior decorator Sari Ehrenreich. Much of the gathering was good maintained and didn’t necessitate overmuch work, but they added a restroom by the entranceway wherever Ehrenreich and his collaborators got creative, crafting an intricate tile plan connected the level and installing antique lamps from an aged section store.

A spacious mezzanine sits supra the signifier and seating country and it volition relation arsenic a shared workspace for artists. Ehrenreich envisions a spot wherever writers tin inquire peers for assistance with a publication oregon flip astir pitches and store ideas successful a harmless and welcoming environment.

Downstairs, determination is nary fixed signifier truthful directors tin take wherever the assemblage volition beryllium successful narration to the actors. The adjacent proximity betwixt performers and patrons creates a consciousness of intimacy that’s hard to replicate, said Julie Cohn, the enforcement manager of Huron Station Playhouse.

“There’s an electricity, archetypal of all, being successful a abstraction similar this, but an energy successful being this adjacent to an histrion who is truly going done thing close successful beforehand of you,” Cohn said. “Nothing is polished astir it, it’s ace earthy and truly electrical successful a mode that not lone I’ve missed, but I deliberation everyone has missed.”

The brushed opening of the theatre past autumn featured 4 readings of modern plays, and each show played to a afloat house.

(M.K. Sadler)

Those who attended the archetypal performances astatine the theatre — readings of the plays “Gloria,” “Intimate Apparel,” “Cock” and “You Got Older” — were treated to a unsocial acquisition with formed members, including Stephanie Hsu, Alia Shawkat, Chris Perfetti and Ehrenreich.

The readings were sold retired weeks successful advance. While that aboriginal buzz was breathtaking for Ehrenreich and his squad astatine the Playhouse, helium said it besides validated his mentation that Angelenos were conscionable arsenic bare arsenic helium was for an intimate benignant of theatre similar the affluent off-Broadway country successful New York.

“I decidedly consciousness that request for radical to beryllium together. I request it,” helium said. “I’m the assemblage subordinate that I’m trying to talk to successful definite ways.”

Alden Ehrenreich and writer and shaper Julie Cohn said they anticipation Huron Station Playhouse volition bring off-Broadway-style theatre to the West Coast. “L.A. is connected the brink of a theatre renaissance,” Cohn said.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

All of this ties backmost to Ehrenreich’s profoundly rooted emotion for theater. He is simply a existent pupil of the arts, rattling disconnected actors helium admires and recommending a biography he’s presently speechmaking connected manager Mike Nichols.

Ehrenreich’s archetypal show successful a play — a accumulation of “Our Town” successful which helium played George and had his archetypal buss astatine property 13 — lit a occurrence nether him. When helium lived successful New York, helium saw an off-Broadway accumulation of the amusement 7 times. “That play has a definite magic to it astir appreciating life, arsenic we’re surviving it, that inactive wholly bowls maine over,” helium said.

But don’t expect to spot Thornton Wilder‘s 1938 Pulitzer Prize victor astatine Huron Station Playhouse. Ehrenreich and Cohn agreed they’d absorption connected modern plays astatine the commencement of the theater’s life, straying distant from classics oregon abstract titles.

Ehrenreich said helium wants to spotlight worldly that adjacent non-theater buffs volition admit and link with, and item beardown characters to animate moving performances.

The adjacent speechmaking volition travel astatine the extremity of May for the play “Killing and Dying,” directed by Tony nominee Anne Kauffman and co-produced by Ari Aster’s accumulation company, Square Peg. Next, screenwriting and playwriting circles volition footwear off, and the Playhouse squad plans to ramp up different programming for young artists. Between movie and TV shoots, Ehrenreich hopes to instrumentality a spot successful the director’s seat for a speechmaking himself.

While Ehrenreich could — and gladly would — talk astir the theater’s goals and his dreams for the abstraction astatine length, helium and the unit astatine Huron Station Playhouse look to sum it up perfectly successful the “house values” posted extracurricular the entrance, conscionable beneath the plaque designating the tract an L.A. historical taste monument. Those values are: Be present. Have fun. Treat each idiosyncratic with kindness and respect. Give it each you got.

And lastly — judge successful art.