Fullerton College Production : ‘Tracers’ Troupe Makes It to Scottish Festival

When a Fullerton College acting troupe was asked to restage a campus production of “Tracers” at this summer’s world renowned Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, the cast and crew said “Absolutely!” But by mid-June, they had only six weeks to find the thousands of dollars they needed to pay for the trip.

Determination prevailed. “Tracers,” a wrenching collage of true stories from the Vietnam War, will take the stage in Scotland on Tuesday.

“It’s an awesome feeling to be here,” actor Scott Crockett, 25, said on the phone Friday from Edinburgh, where the troupe had arrived early Thursday morning. Besides, he added, “I think (‘Tracers’) is a story that needs to be told so that my generation on down can appreciate the men and women who fought in Vietnam.”

The 18-member troupe--eight actors, nine crew members and director Pamela Richarde, a part-time drama instructor at the college--plan 10 performances at Edinburgh’s 45-seat Abbotsford Hall as part of the festival’s “Fringe,” which is devoted to smaller, offbeat companies. The group will return home Sept. 4.

The trip to Edinburgh was suggested by John DiFusco, who wrote “Tracers” with a group of fellow Vietnam veterans 10 years ago and who, he said, went to see the unheralded Fullerton production “on a whim.” He was so impressed that he endorsed it for the prestigious festival over another by a semiprofessional San Diego troupe.

“I’ve seen a lot of people do ‘Tracers,’ ” DiFusco said in June. “Of all the productions I have not been connected with, the one they did in Fullerton is probably my favorite. They were hot.”

Fund raising--the anticipated tab was $28,000--began almost immediately. The actors--Randy Strippling, Steven Spehar, Terry McNichol, Michael Mollo, Nicholas Boicourt Jr., Daniel Michelson, Bradly Whitfield and Crockett--were able to come up with $5,000 on their own. Together, the college’s Associated Student Body and bursar’s office gave another $9,000, according to theater department chairman Bob Jensen.

But hoped-for corporate contributions proved practically impossible to find.

“A lot of the corporations decided the play was too controversial and that it wouldn’t be in their best interest to support a play that deals with the Vietnam War experience,” Crockett said. “I sent out 68 letters to large corporations throughout the United States, and just about every one said ‘Thanks but no thanks.’ ” Avco Financial Services gave $250.

A benefit performance of “Tracers” raised $2,000, said Jensen, who had programmed the college production in the first place and who helped raise funds for the trip. The remaining $12,000 came from private donations--including more from the troupe members themselves.

“The staff and students are so proud of these young people” in the company, Jensen said. “We’re thrilled how honestly they approached the play, how open they have been and ultimately how committed they all are. They had to do a lot to make it happen.”

During rehearsals for “Tracers,” a group of Vietnam veterans spent several weeks working with the troupe. The veterans discussed their war experiences in depth and put the actors through a rigorous physical regimen. A rapport developed and deepened. Veterans attended performances, invited other local veterans along, galvanized the cast before the show, helped advertise the benefit and attended a send-off for the troupe last Sunday, Jensen said.

“It’s amazing how heartfelt the response of the veterans has been to the project,” he added.

The Fullerton troupe expects that the production will be a hit in Edinburgh, actor Crockett said, despite one slight technical difficulty: The troupe signed up for the festival, which attracts about 5,000 performers from around the world, too late to be included in the printed program. That means “we’ll be pounding the pavement to to get flyers out.”

“But I think we’ll do as well as we did in the States. We had a great response there. People were saying, ‘I didn’t know that’s what happened (in Vietnam).’ I wasn’t too much up on Vietnam either, prior to researching for this part. I just got so involved, and it became a personal goal to let the story be told the way it is and the way it happened.”

The troupe will discuss its experiences in Scotland during a “Theatre Hour” at the Fullerton College Studio Theatre Sept. 15 at 11 a.m. Admission: free. Information: (714) 992-7425.