A Tale of the Revised S.D. Repertory Season

The West Coast premiere of Everett Quinton’s one-man adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” is the first of four new shows announced for the rest of the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s 1991-1992 season. In addition, Irene Maria Fornes will direct a bilingual production of her play “Abingdon Square,” Anne Bogart will direct Clare Booth Luce’s “The Women” and Rep artistic director Douglas Jacobs will direct “Mirandolina,” a commedia dell’arte play by Charles Goldoni.

These and three previously announced shows will make up the rest of a nine-play season for the Rep. “Unchanging Love,” which was to have opened Sept. 18, has been canceled.

The next show at the Rep will now be the previously announced “I Ain’t Yo’ Uncle: A New Jack Revisionist ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ ” a newly revised version of the San Francisco Mime Troupe production of Robert Alexander’s play, running Oct. 16-Nov. 2 at the Lyceum Stage. Don Chumley will direct.

It will be followed by “A Tale of Two Cities,” which begins with a female impersonator--yet to be cast--trying to quiet a crying baby that was left on his doorstep. He does so by telling the story of “A Tale of Two Cities” playing the roles of all 22 characters. San Diego Rep producing director Sam Woodhouse will direct the show, which will be presented Nov. 8-Dec. 7 at the Lyceum Space.

The company’s 16th annual “A Christmas Carol” will be directed by Scott Feldsher, artistic director of Sledgehammer Theatre, Nov. 30-Dec. 29.

The season continues with “Abingdon Square,” Fornes’ romantic triangle involving a young woman, her older husband and the husband’s young son. The show fills the previously to-be-announced Teatro Sin Fronteras slot, Jan. 10-Feb. 8, in the Lyceum Space. Fornes will direct an English version and the world premiere of a Spanish translation that she is writing.

“Ruby’s Bucket of Blood,” a world premiere musical by Julie Hebert, will play the Lyceum Stage on Feb. 22-March 14. Carlo Goldoni’s “Mirandolina,” an Italian comedy about a clever businesswoman who persuades several men to part with their hearts and their gold, will run March 27-April 25 in the Lyceum Space. The season closes with Bogart’s direction of “The Women” May 16-June 6 on the Lyceum Stage. The show, which was first produced in 1936, tells the story of feminist struggles in New York City’s upper-crust 1930s society. Bogart, the president of the Theatre Communications Group, was formerly head of the Trinity Repertory Theatre.

Finances are part of the reason for canceling “Unchanging Love,” which was to open Sept. 18, officials at the Rep said. The cancellation allows the financially strapped San Diego Rep to push production back another month, giving it more time to raise money to fund the season. Also, the production, which called for 12 characters and additional musicians, was deemed too expensive.

“Certainly the financial climate of the theater in America impacted us, and that’s one of the reasons I was looking for something that was smaller in terms of the cast size,” Woodhouse said. “I didn’t want to fall into the limitations of a one or two-character show, but this character (in “A Tale of Two Cities”) plays 22 roles. So, it’s a busy evening.”

Woodhouse said that, although he wouldn’t describe the season as being in danger at this point, “the challenges remain. We’re aggressively seeking underwriting for these projects, both in San Diego and all over the country.”

Two theaters that foster the work of handicapped artists, Performing Arts Theatre for the Handicapped (PATH) and Starmakers, are planning benefit performances.

“Happy Days” and “Father Dowling’s Mysteries” star Tom Bosley will headline “Bedside Follies,” a one-night production by PATH Saturday at the Carlsbad Community Cultural Arts Center. Bosley is on the board of PATH.

The show, a potpourri of comedy sketches, will raise funds for a new $1-million therapeutic treatment swimming pool, to be used by disabled North County residents at Scripps Memorial Hospital’s Rehabilitation Center. Call 942-7721 for further information.

Starmakers will present four benefit performances of “Renaissance Revels,” a collection of music, mime, dance and Shakespearean selections celebrating 16th-Century England, at the Hahn Cosmopolitan Theatre Aug. 21-22 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Receptions will follow the performances. The $10 admission will go to the Assn. for Retarded Citizens. Call 525-2696 for tickets.

PROGRAM NOTES: Jesse Haywood brings back an updated version of his one-man show about his life, “Rebel Without a Car,” to the Kingston Playhouse Tuesday and Wednesday, and Aug. 27-28. “Rebel” deals with Haywood’s journey through life, growing up gay, becoming an actor and learning to accept himself as a person living with the HIV virus. One dollar from every $12 ticket will be donated to AIDS research. For tickets, call 221-7126. . . .

“Shelly Garrett’s Living Room,” which is not written by its producer, Shelly Garrett, but by writer Charles Michael Moore, will play tonight through Sunday at the Spreckels Theatre. The story is of a merchant who returns to his depressed Michigan hometown, and it touches on issues of joblessness, immigrant ownership of businesses in black neighborhoods and domestic violence. . . .

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Song & Dance,” a portrait of contemporary romance sung in the first half and danced in the second, plays at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 12. Also coming up at Poway is the London-based Players’ Theatre production of “London Folies” on Nov. 9 and the Dell’Art Players Company production of “Malpractice: Or Love’s the Best Medicine” on Feb. 8. . . .

Teatro Lagrimas Risas, a new theater company, will open at The Fritz Theatre on Wednesday with Lynne Alvarez’ “Guitarron.” Call 466-4433 for tickets. . . .

Another new company, the Intrepid Theatre Workshop, will produce August Strindberg’s “The Ghost Sonata,” in a new translation by Paul Walsh tonight through Sunday. The company, composed of 10 college students from six states and four universities, will perform in Parker Auditorium at 750 Nautilus St. on the La Jolla High School campus. . . .

Lamb’s Players Theatre has extended “The Foreigner” at the Lyceum Theatre through Sept. 1.