Sean Murray, Cygnet Theatre’s artistic director, is indeed a man for all seasons. After finishing up his first season in the company’s new space at 6663 El Cajon Blvd. – a space shared with the Renaissance Theatre Company – he and domestic partner Bill Schmidt are jubilant about ending their first season in the black at a time when many local theaters in San Diego operate in the red. After a chaotic start that involved a total rebuilding of the inside of the theatre, the Cygnet is now an attractive mid-sized theatre space that is envied by other operators in the community. And the small company is taking on big projects – its upcoming season’s offerings include a mix of the cutting edge with the classic: Jeff Daniels’ Escabanada in da Moonlight, David and Amy Sedaris’ Book of Liz, Landford Wilson’s Burn This and Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Last year’s productions were a similar mix of ambition and experiment: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Fully Committed and Bed & Sofa. Cygnet’s newest offering, opening on Sat., Aug. 7, is called Las Meninas, a true story about the Queen of France during the reign of Louis XIV and her romantic relationship with an African dwarf.

The Gay & Lesbian Times recently caught up with Murray, who runs the artistic side of the organization (Schmidt runs the administrative side) to discuss what’s going on at Cygnet – and what they have planned for the coming season.

Sean Murray: I find that the theatre audience is changing, whether the audience is gay or straight. They are more demanding and they seem to want a wider variety of theater choices. At Cygnet we seem to bring in the avid theatergoer, many from the gay community, anxious for something a bit different than that offered by other theaters. However, we are not a gay theatre like Diversionary. We are attempting to reach out to the younger audience, our theater neighborhood [Rolando], and we want to keep our friends coming back into the theater, many cultivated from North County. [Sean was the artistic director for North Coast Rep Theatre in Solana Beach for four years.]

SM: Bill and I learned that you can have phenomenal critical success without great financial reward. It takes an awful lot of word-of-mouth to maintain your audience since advertising is so costly.

SM: Since my taste in the theatre is rather eclectic I tried to incorporate commercial pieces as well as some dramatic areas that have not been exploited. I want to include gay and women’s themes, as well as themes that would appeal to the off-Broadway crowd. I don’t mind a little bit of riskiness.

SM: Bill and I discovered this gem at the San Jose Repertory Theatre where we had gone for a workshop. We were amazed with a dramatic reading of Las Meninas. It’s truly a heart-breaking story of a child fathered through the liaison of a royal and a dwarf (court jester) called Nabo. But the story speaks to the universal subject of eradicating personal historical data. Much of the same thing has happened over the years to any number of races. Think about how much of black history has been re-written or erased by whites through history.

SM: The production has not been done often, principally due to the casting challenges. It’s somewhat problematic in finding a 24-inch individual to fill the role of the African dwarf. What we have done to accommodate this challenge is to give the audience the allusion to stature, by casting taller individuals in the other roles.

SM: We’ve got three San Diego premieres, a musical and two classics.

Las Meninas opens on Sat., Aug. 7. Call (619) 337-1525 for tickets.