Outside In Bringing Community Theatre and So Much More to Highland Park

Daniel Blinkoff’s vision of a community theatre at 5317 York Blvd in Highland Park started during a performance of “In The Eye of the Hurricane” that he attended with his wife Tamlyn Tomita in Puerto Rico.

At that time, the island was recovering from its own destructive hurricane. “I’ve never been in a theatre that was so attached to what was being said on the stage, and it related to this trauma that they had been through, and I thought, we need more of this,” Blinkoff told What Now Los Angeles. “[It was] such a localized effort to show people’s stories through art.”

Outside In Theatre will be much more than a theatre upon completion. While the 99-seat auditorium will be the focus of the project, Blinkoff’s vision for Outside In includes space for non-profits to meet, an event venue, and a no-cost eatery. He is currently working with local restaurants, food trucks and businesses to create partnerships to feed the community, especially children. They are also looking to offer free classes and WiFi. He also is currently working on the online streaming portion, a timely addition for the current conditions — like Outpost13, a live-streamed theater project.

Blinkoff comes from the theatre world of NYC; his mother wrote the music and lyrics to “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” He got his MFA from Yale and moved out to Los Angeles where he continued working in theatre and met his wife while they were both working at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Outside In was formed to honor his mother’s memory; she fought for the rights of actors through their union and funded rehearsal spaces in NYC for them to use. “She was always fighting for people who have less power,” said Blinkoff.

The name Outside In comes from Blinkoff’s childhood dyslexia, where he confused the phrase with “inside out,” and his desire to build inclusive theater with those deemed outsiders. “We want to create a space where those outside voices are welcome, invited in and enabled, within the structure that we’re building,” said Blinkoff, “that whole concept, the movement from the outside in appealed to us.”

“I think COVID and the tensions politically in the country exasperated and highlighted the need for what we’re trying to achieve with this particular space,” said Blinkoff. “One of the things that we wanted to do was coordinate with local restaurants and local shops to feed kids within the neighborhood.” He and his wife were also inspired by their work with Feed the Frontliners, where they fed the front-line workers most affected by COVID-19.

At the time of publication, Outside In won’t be built out for another year, but the concept is growing and evolving daily.

“Our first project is going to be a legacy project that celebrates people within the community and within the neighborhood,” said Blinkoff. “We’d like to get the high school students involved with that. Is this the most showy, attractive thing for a theater company to put up as their first production? I don’t know, it’s not a big musical, but it serves our purposes for what we want to do.”