THEATER

Tom Titus

* EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of four columns

chronicling the past year in local theater.

South Coast Repertory took another in a series of giant steps during

2001 when ground was broken for the new Judie Argyros Stage, to be built

adjacent to the company’s two-theater complex on Town Center Drive in

Costa Mesa.

Funds raised and donated for this significant expansion provide

further confirmation of SCR’s status as a top-quality regional

professional theater. The 37-year-old company continued its mission of

presenting outstanding and thought-provoking drama and comedy during

2001.

South Coast Rep produced 11 Mainstage and Second Stage productions --

excluding the two annual Christmas shows -- during the year, and the

time has come to review the 2001 offerings and select the cream of the

crop.

The best SCR show of the year turned out, in this reviewer’s opinion,

to be the first one -- Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance,” superbly

directed by Martin Benson. To quote this column’s review, “‘A Delicate

Balance’ is a veritable banquet for playgoers who enjoy a more cerebral

diet, yet it thoroughly satisfies those accustomed to conflict and

confrontation. . . . It’s a worthy work of depth and dimension.”

Runner-up honors go to John Guare’s frenetic satire “Bosoms and

Neglect,” once produced on the Second Stage, but this year spotlighted in

the main theater. Our review noted, “director David Chambers stirs this

roiling kettle of emotional broth vigorously. His cast responds with the

physical and emotional bloodletting that is both required and demanded

for this sort of a play to succeed as well as it does.”

Completing the top five at SCR are “Kimberly Akimbo,” directed by

David Petarca; “The Lonesome West,” directed by Martin Benson; and “Hold

Please,” directed by Mark Rucker. All three were new works that

successfully engaged audiences.

As for interpretive honors, SCR’s best portrayal by an actor in 2001

came from Tim Choate in “Bosoms and Neglect,” described in this column as

“a raging, white-knuckle performance.” Sharing best actress honors, both

from “A Delicate Balance,” are Linda Gehringer (“brilliant”) and Kandis

Chappell (“outstanding”).

Honorable mention among the actors must go to Mark Harelik for “The

Beard of Avon,” W. Morgan Sheppard for “The Homecoming” and Paul O’Brien

for “The Lonesome West.” Estimable actresses during the year included

Cindy Katz in “Bosoms and Neglect,” Marylouise Burke in “Kimberly Akimbo”

and Rene Augesen in both “A Delicate Balance” and “Hold Please.”

That was the year at South Coast Repertory. At this time next year,

the company will have two main stages on which to display its talent.

In the next installment of this year-end roundup, the three local

community theaters will move into the spotlight, followed in subsequent

columns by the three college theaters and the Daily Pilot’s man and woman

of the year in theater for 2001.

* TOM TITUS writes about and reviews local theater for the Daily

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.