Riordan, Chick to Play New Roles

There’s no love lost between City Councilwoman Laura Chick and Mayor Richard Riordan, who make only the barest efforts to hide their icy relations.

But for one night, all will be forgotten as the two take the roles of bittersweet lovers in a reading of A.J. Gurney’s play “Love Letters.”

The reading is part of a fund-raiser for the Madrid Theatre, a 499-seat community theater now under construction in Canoga Park.

“It’s a great cause,” said Noelia Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the mayor. “It’s a great community. The mayor loves the Valley, and for one night he will love Laura Chick.”

Chick was similarly dry when asked about the reading.

“If this works maybe we should have a similar reading for all the politicians in the region--make it a big love-in,” she said.

The mayor and the councilwoman share interests, and a well-known animosity. The mayor, who has made public safety a priority, has often clashed with Chick, head of the powerful Public Safety Committee of the City Council. Charter reform and budget disputes have fueled further hostility. As Rodriguez put it, “It hasn’t always been hugs and kisses and la-la land.”

Nonetheless, when a brainstorming session with theater supporters produced the “Love Letters” idea, both politicians jumped at the chance to play the longing lovers.

“We are flesh-and-blood human beings who have had our moments of difference,” said Chick. “But we are also just regular people . . . I had a sense of humor about this and so did he.”

It helps that the Madrid Theatre, a $2.8-million federally funded redevelopment project, is something on which Chick and Riordan agree.

Scheduled to open in May, the theater at 21622 Sherman Way will replace an X-rated movie house that was destroyed in the Northridge earthquake.

The Jan. 27 fund-raiser for the theater will also feature other performers.

But organizers credit the “Love Letters” reading for helping draw a sellout crowd of 750, and raising $300,000 in performance-support money for the Friends of the Madrid Theatre.

Neither Chick nor Riordan ruled out the possibility that the reading may yield better relations in the future. “We even plan to rehearse,” she said.