Vanishing Along With ‘Landscapes’ : Stage: The struggling Orange County Coalition for the Theatre Arts expects its latest production, ‘Urban Landscapes,’ to be its last.

LONG BEACH —  Kent Hawkins, one of the founders of the scruffy Orange County Coalition for the Theatre Arts, was trying to sound cheerful about the upcoming premiere here of his latest original play, “Urban Landscapes.” But he was having a hard time.

“Sure, I’m happy that this black comedy is getting done. I think it’s a good play that tries to say something. But I’ll tell you,” he continued softly, “this is probably going to be the last thing OCCTA does. . . . As far as I can see, it would take a miracle to continue after this run is over.”

Hawkins, who organized the Coalition with his actor friend Steve Wilber more than three years ago and who now is its main mover/shaker, attributed the group’s condition to chronically poor attendance, a resultant trickling cash flow, an insufficient pool of actors willing to perform without pay, and a dearth of affordable venues in Orange County (which explains why this play is being presented over the county line).

Hawkins wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the Coalition could be revived, but he said it is unlikely. “It’s just too hard to keep up (with) all the demands something like this place on you,” he said. “I’m beat.”

The Coalition started in late 1988, with huge hopes to showcase new and emerging writers and actors, mostly from Orange County, and to present works that were “art-oriented,” meaning adventurous, or at least different from those that could be seen at most of the area’s more conservative playhouses.

The group has not created first-rate productions--inspiration often outpaced execution--but the dedication to an anti-traditionalist stance has been unwavering and admirable.

A rambling group, it has staged bargain-basement shows in the back room of a Fullerton photo studio, a Santa Ana City Hall auditorium, a spare room in a Costa Mesa industrial area, and now at System M Cafe, a hip-styled eatery in a redeveloped stretch of downtown Long Beach.

Not having a permanent home “has taken a lot of the momentum,” Hawkins said. “We’ve had to struggle all along just to track down places to set up. I don’t think I expected it to be easy, but I did think it would be a little easier than it has been.”

“Urban Landscapes” has brought its own share of headaches. Finding rehearsal time at System M Cafe--which features local musicians and performance artists as well as poetry readings--was the biggest problem, one that Hawkins is afraid may affect Thursday’s opening. “I hate to look at that performance as more of a dress rehearsal,” he said, “but that’s probably what it is.”

Hawkins was able to perk up some when talking about “Urban Landscapes” itself, which will continue every Thursday through July. The author of “A Bus Called Lust,” the parody of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” that was premiered by the Coalition last year in Costa Mesa, Hawkins characterized the new piece as “a metaphorical look at America in the post-Reagan years,” when failure has replaced the affluence of the ‘80s.

The setting is a gang-heavy section of Long Beach where poverty mixes with violence--an area, Hawkins said, that is not unlike his own neighborhood near downtown Long Beach. “I wouldn’t say where I live is quite that bad, but there are similarities. We’ve definitely got gangs and crime. I can hear them fighting on the streets, doing their business.”

The main characters in the play are Bill, an unemployed writer who wants to leave the country to find a better life abroad, and Betty, his long-suffering wife who is “just trying to hang on,” Hawkins said. “She’s upset that Bill doesn’t have a job, doesn’t want to have sex and that they don’t have any money.”

Thrown into this dynamic is a foreign exchange student who came to America with dreams of greatness. His views of this country are idealized and contrast with Bill’s; the two get into some heated arguments about the state of America and the world in general.

Hawkins characterizes the ‘80s as “a time that was an escape from reality, when people decided not to worry about our bigger problems. I really want to show the steady decline that occurred during the ‘80s. Things are really falling apart. I want to point that out.”

* The Orange County Coalition of the Theatre Arts will present “Urban Landscapes” by Kent Hawkins on Thursdays through July 25 (except July 4) at 8 p.m. at System M Cafe, 213A Pine Ave., Long Beach. Tickets: $7. Information: (213) 491-1256.