Richard Jay Simon is a gambler. Not the kind who spends every spare hour in a casino, though he's good enough that he once played in the World Series of Poker, and he has a Fantasy Football team in a league with other South Florida theater types.
Simon's biggest gamble: He bet he could create a successful professional theater company. In Broward County -- far West Broward, yet -- not the most welcoming place for aspiring theaters. And it would be in a black-box space in his former high school.
Sounds risky, right? But as the growing, enthusiastic audience at the Mosaic Theatre in Plantation would be only too happy to tell you, don't bet against a dreamer who does his homework.
''I did a year of due diligence before I decided to start the theater,'' says Simon, who launched Mosaic in May 2001 at his alma mater, American Heritage School.
'I got a grasp of the theatrical landscape. I asked a million questions. I had a map of Dade and Broward in my bedroom, with pins in it representing every existing theater, so I could figure out what was missing. There was nothing in West Broward, and there weren't many theaters doing Off-Broadway plays. So I just thought, `If you build it, they will come -- if you do good, solid work.' ''
Simon's journey from idea to reality hasn't been simple or trouble free. In 2007, for example, he reluctantly dropped his planned production of the controversial My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play about a young American activist killed while trying to help Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, because of protests (to the school, his board and himself) from Jewish groups and individuals.
''In the interest of protecting the organization,'' Simon says, ``I had to pull the plug.''
But this weekend, as he opens Mosaic's 37th production -- Conor McPherson's amusing, unsettling Broadway hit The Seafarer -- he can feel himself getting ever closer to the theater of his dreams.
SCHOOL DAYS
The son of dermatologist Paul Simon and his wife Mimi, who retains the soft accent of her native Alabama, Simon grew up in Hollywood and got interested in the arts at American Heritage. His teacher and mentor was Jim Usher, now chairman of the school's Fine Arts Department and the man who lured Simon back to Broward.
''We had nothing then. We worked out of a cafetorium,'' says Usher, who presides over a department with 27 full-time faculty members and the $28 million American Heritage Center for the Arts, where Mosaic makes its home.
'By the time Richard became a senior [in 1992-93], we had initiated senior directing projects. We stayed in touch all through his years at Ithaca College. I kept him up on the building. After he had graduated and been working a year or so, I said, `We have a black box. I'd really like a professional company stationed there, to create a great symbiotic relationship.' ''
Though Simon had charted his post-collegiate course by taking freelance directing jobs and working as an artistic associate at Chicago's Court Theatre so he could learn how a company crafts contracts and works with unions, he longed to produce and direct plays that made him feel passionate. So when Usher reached out, Simon decided to come home.
At the beginning, his parents helped a lot and were happy to do it.
''He called and told us he wanted to come back and fulfill his dream,'' says Simon's father, who sits on the theater's board. 'Our answer, without any hesitation, was, `Go for it.' It was the right decision. To see his passion, and the passion of the other artists he works with, is worth supporting -- emotionally, financially, in any way possible.''
Beyond the family backing, Mosaic's presence at American Heritage has been key to its survival and growth; without it, Simon says, ``we wouldn't exist.''
Founder and president William Laurie felt the school would benefit from having professionals on campus interacting with the students. The school gives Mosaic space rent free, along with free use of equipment, lighting, storage, Internet service, phone lines and office space. Laurie, who goes to most of Mosaic's shows, says, ``I really get a great deal of pleasure from seeing the work. Richard was one of my favorite students when he went to school here.''
SUM OF THE PARTS
Simon, 33, chose Mosaic as his theater's name because he liked the image of little elements coming together to form an artistic whole. He started modestly, and so did the size of his audiences. His 2001-2002 season, which included plays by John Patrick Shanley, Frank McGuinness and Lee Blessing, cost $60,000 and attracted 50 subscribers. McGuinness' Someone Who'll Watch Over Me was, he says, ''the greatest show Broward County never saw. Sometimes, we played to six or eight people.'' For the first few years, Simon didn't draw a salary, taking telemarketing and security jobs to support himself.
But from the beginning, Simon stayed focused on the kind of theater he wanted to build.
''Richard was acting according to what he wanted Mosaic to be,'' says Ken Clement, a member of the Seafarer cast, his seventh Mosaic show. ``I get treated better here than at some larger theaters. This has become the anchor of Broward theaters.''
Today's Mosaic is quite different. This season, which began with a hit production of August Wilson's Radio Golf, will also feature productions of Sarah Ruhl's dead man's cell phone, Winter Miller's In Darfur and Neil Labute's In a Dark Dark House. Mosaic's budget is now $400,000 (earned through ticket sales, grants and donations), and there are 1,800 subscribers to the 2008-2009 season in the 120-seat theater.
Though his audiences are still full of older theatergoers, many now come from Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties as well as Broward. And however edgy the play, they seem to embrace Simon's work.
''They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, yet Richard continually does it,'' Usher says. ``They keep coming back for more.''
Simon's success, say those who know him, has to do with much more than the backing of American Heritage and his family. They paint a picture of a tenacious, hard-working artist with a collaborative directing style, a penchant for picking strong scripts, a drive to work with the region's best actors and designers, and a vision of how Mosaic can continue to evolve.
Simon cites Joseph Adler, artistic director of GableStage, as an influence and a mentor. The two now sometimes compete for the same hot scripts, something that ''keeps me on my toes. I have to move quickly,'' Adler says with a laugh.
He adds: ``Richard has a rare combination of business skills and the ability to make wise aesthetic decisions. That's why he's come so far so fast.''
Other artistic directors -- Deborah L. Sherman of the Davie-based Promethean Theatre, Antonio Amadeo of The Naked Stage in Miami Shores and Paul Tei of Miami's Mad Cat -- also laud Simon's range of skills.
''Richard's work is so solid and competitive and worth leaving home to see,'' says Sherman. ``More people should look at how Richard has structured Mosaic -- how he casts, his design team, the shows he chooses. That's what a producer does. He's smart -- very, very smart. And he knows how to market his shows.''
Amadeo, whose parts at Mosaic have included the title role in The Elephant Man and the lead in Adam Rapp's provocative Red Light Winter, finds Simon ``an inspiration.
''As an actor, I love working with him,'' Amadeo says. ``He has faith in me and hires me because he trusts me. He treats me with dignity and respect.''
Tei captured two of the four Carbonell Awards that Mosaic won last spring, one for his lead performance in Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio, the other for his supporting work in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. He has also directed at Simon's theater and says frankly that outside of running his own company, ``If it weren't for Richard, I wouldn't be working a lot. These are all choice parts. Dream roles. I've been thankful to do them.''
Despite his relative youth, Simon sometimes comes off like a focused old soul. Mary Becht, director of Broward's Cultural Division, worked with Simon while he served as chair of the Cultural Executives Committee. She goes to his theater and says of his style as a cultural leader, ``He takes things so seriously. He always follows through.''
PLAY TIME
He's not all work, though. Tei says Simon is a great practical joker, someone who will give you ''a bottle of Jack Daniels that he's emptied out and filled with fire water.'' Simon's ''roommate'' at his Plantation home is Suzie-Q, a Greater Sulphur Crested Cockatoo that (unfortunately for Simon and his girlfriend) ''doesn't like women.'' Besides poker and Fantasy Football, Simon plays a fierce game of Ping-Pong.
For all he has accomplished, Simon isn't done dreaming. His long-range plans include trying to attract an elusive younger audience, hiring a development director, having his own 200- to 250-seat theater, and continuing to elevate his work by surrounding himself ``with people who are better than me, because it is a collaborative art form.''
Ultimately, he says, he'd like Mosaic's work to matter on a national level, like the theater at Chicago's Steppenwolf or Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage.
An impossible dream? Maybe so. But Simon's admirers wouldn't bet against him.
