Ethnic Diversity Takes Center Stage at SCR Gala

Social types who thought South Coast Repertory’s annual gala was only going to be about glitz and gab got a surprise on Saturday when “CosmoFusion” was staged in the courtyard of Plaza Tower and the ballroom of the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel.

This was a party with a political statement: Orange County’s cultural and economic diversity is something to be sampled, not snubbed.

Everywhere guests looked during the reception they saw street art: bottle-cap and candy sculptures, sidewalk drawings, double-Dutch jup-roping demonstrations, even skateboarders. In the ballroom, columns of brightly colored graffiti--the bane of the suburbanite!--bedecked the walls.

Chairwoman Janice Johnson summed up the gala’s thrust with a bold statement: “Orange County is so culturally diverse that Anglo-Saxons are not the majority in the schools anymore. If we don’t come together and find a common ground, we’re going to burn like L.A.”

“CosmoFusion,” Johnson explained, was short for cosmopolitan fusion , a term invented by the gala committee to sum up Orange County’s mixed ethnic heritage. “Here, we tried to take the best entertainment of city life and present it, thereby representing all of our wonderful ethnic groups in Orange County,” she said.

Hundreds of formally clad guests crowded the courtyard of Plaza Tower to sip wine and feast on hors d’oeuvres before filing into the ballroom for a repast that included grilled scallops in puff pastry, roast lamb loin and an almond sponge torte dubbed “Urban Graffiti.”

Table centerpieces were made of towering sunflowers displayed in see-through plastic tubes. Each table’s votive lights were wrapped in multicolored foil. And Cartier at South Coast Plaza provided the table favors: burgundy boxes of cream-colored stationery tied with gold ribbon.

Long considered the official launch of Orange County’s social season, the event saw guests dressed for social success. Among the knockouts: Carol Hoffman, a vice president of the Irvine Co., who wore a floral-print Victor Costa gown and a sprinkle of gold dust on her chest. “We saved the gold dust from the ‘80s,” deadpanned husband Larry.

In a Vicky Tiel tulip dress that rose well above her knees, Elizabeth Tierney made women with ankle-grazing gowns look frumpy. “Isn’t it fun?” Tierney said of the hot-pink silhouette that she paired with matching pumps. Her husband, Tom, thought so.

New SCR trustee Barbara Glabman wore a black lace sheath with a satin jacket that proclaimed “Lights! Camera! Action!” in sequins. Developer Kathryn Thompson sported emeralds (and matching contact lenses) with her glittering black-and-white ensemble. Sheila Prell Sonenshine wore a gold lace gown and black fox throw. And Jolene Engel wowed ‘em with the newest-of-the-new formal looks: a black tuxedo suit that plunged to reveal an even more plunging made-to-be-seen brassiere.

During the ceremonies, Johnson, who attended with husband Roger, told guests that proceeds from the event would exceed the gala committee’s goal of $100,000. “And it’s all because of you,” she told the beaming crowd.

Also making remarks were SCR directors Martin Benson and David Emmes. “The proceeds from this event ensure the launch of our new season,” Emmes said. (In this case, SCR’s 29th season. Watch for a blowout 30th anniversary celebration next year.)

“And the commission of plays,” Benson added. “We’ve won a Tony . . . and now we think a Pulitzer Prize would be nice.”

Also on the scene: SCR board president Thomas Sutton and gala committee members who included Kathleen Allen, Deeann Baldwin, Barbara Roberts, Dee Higby, Catherine Thyen, Kathy Merriman, Catherine McLarand, Olivia Johnson, Claudette Shaw and Gail Soderling.

Also among guests: Marvin and Pat Weiss, Leo and Ruth Cook, Gus Owen, Richard Engel, Orange County Supervisor Harriett Wieder with her husband Irv, Tina and Matt Schafnitz, Joyce and Tom Tucker, Pete and Barbara Bassi, Clark and Cindy Vitulli, Ron Merriman, Zee Allred, Frank and Marilyn Lynch, Tom and Marilyn Nielsen, and Charles and Kate Wheeler.