Theater

Tom Titus

WANTED: Building to rent in Costa Mesa, suitable for theatrical

productions, approximately 2,300 square feet, well-insulated with raised

ceiling for rental of between $1,000 and $1,200 per month. Contact Mario

or Joan Lescot at (714) 435-4043.

This ad, or something similar, may well be appearing soon on these pages.

Otherwise Costa Mesa may lose one of its finer theater groups.

The Theater District is looking for new -- and less-expensive --

quarters. The five and a half year old performing group is running out of

time at its present location, 2930 Bristol St. in the Lab Anti-Mall.

“We just can’t handle the rent anymore, not for this facility,” explained

Joan Lescot, who with her husband, Mario, started the Theater District in

May 1994.

Small wonder. Currently, the Lescots must ante up $3,000 per month, plus

$750 in utilities, for the lease of the building. Two fund-raisers have

netted the company several thousand dollars, but this hasn’t been enough

to keep the proverbial wolf from the door.

“We don’t want to leave Costa Mesa,” Joan Lescot insisted, “but we may

not have a choice. We’ve looked at facilities in Santa Ana and Fullerton,

but we’d rather stay here, near the base of our audience.”

The Theater District initially was born in an office complex on Superior

Avenue, taking the space once occupied by the Backstage Theater. After

five productions, the group changed its venue to the more spacious

Bristol Street location, which seemed like a good idea at the time --

until the first rainy season when the elements went pitter-patter on the

cold tin roof during performances.

Nevertheless, the group pressed on, and mounted some memorable shows in

the process: “Picnic,” “The Boys in the Band,” “Cabaret,” “Bus Stop” and

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” among them. The Theater District also

gave local audiences their first glimpses of less-familiar works such as

“The Sum of Us,” “Catfish Moon” and the hardy perennial “Light

Sensitive.”

The company presently has a richly comical version of A.R. Gurney’s

“Sylvia” on the boards. In December, “Light Sensitive” returns for its

fourth staging before the doors finally close for good at the end of the

millennium.

One factor that has distinguished the Theater District is its de facto

repertory company of skilled performers, returning repeatedly to tackle

new characterizations. These include David Rousseve, P.J. Agnew, Alice

Ensor, Jessica Learned, Deborah Conroy, Steve McCammon, Karen Mangano,

Christi Sweeney and Shannon Hunt, the latter pair currently sizzling in

“Sylvia.”

They keep coming back because of one primary factor -- Mario Lescot, who

directs virtually all the shows and imbues them with a strong sense of

emotional involvement. Lescot has created a rich family atmosphere at the

Theater District, akin to that spawned in the mid-1960s at the emerging

South Coast Repertory.

Now, however, the doors at the Bristol Street showplace will close, and

the Lescots are in the market for a new home for their growing family --

preferably in Costa Mesa. An industrial building would be ideal for

theatrical presentations.

Hopefully, some local property owner will respond to the phone number at

the beginning of this story. It would be a shame to see Costa Mesa lose

this estimable company.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear

Thursdays and Saturdays.