TOM TITUS -- THEATER PREVIEW

Another season, another world premiere from Richard Greenberg at South

Coast Repertory, this one perhaps a little closer to home.

As the Costa Mesa company heads into its 37th year of activity -- its

36th based in our backyard -- the idea of SCR leading off with a world

premiere isn’t exactly startling news. What tends to grab attention is

that it’ll be the fifth one from prolific playwright Greenberg to see the

first light of day in Costa Mesa.

He is the author of four commissioned original plays previously

produced by SCR: “The Extra Man” (1991), “Night and Her Stars” (1994),

“Three Days of Rain” (1997) and “Hurrah at Last” (1998).

If you’re looking for a common thread, don’t bother; they’re vastly

dissimilar works.

The fifth new Greenberg project, launching the 2000-01 season Sept. 8,

is “Everett Beekin,” a comedy spanning three generations and 50 years of

American history. The play opens in 1940s Manhattan with the arrival of

an immigrant family, then fast-forwards a half century to a location

which might be quite familiar to local audiences.

Here, the descendants of those immigrants have assimilated, but have

they progressed? Not according to one granddaughter, who finds her

transplanted sister conducting “historic” tours over a new bridge that

connects hotels with a shopping mall (like, perhaps, the one just down

the street from SCR?).

Directed by Evan Yionoulis, who also staged “Three Days of Rain,” the

show brings back a trio of familiar faces -- Jeff Allin, with four SCR

credits; Nike Doukas, with six; and Kandis Chappell, who has an even

dozen, including memorable performances in “A Streetcar Named Desire,”

“The Crucible,” “Hay Fever” and “Collected Stories.”

“Everett Beekin” is one of three world premieres scheduled on the

Mainstage this season, the others being “Kimberly Akimbo” and “The Beard

of Avon” as the last two shows on the SCR slate. With Greenberg’s

perception and the aforementioned trio of actors, this one should be

eagerly anticipated.

SCR’s opening shot of the new season is one of four shows raising

their curtains in the area on the post-Labor Day weekend.

The Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse kicks off its all-musical season Sept.

9 with a revival of the 1950s-era comedy “Bye Bye Birdie.” The same night

will see “The Wizard of Oz” bowing in at the Trilogy Playhouse.

And, just three days later, the Orange County Performing Arts Center

clears all the water off the stage from “Titanic” (now in residence) to

present the musical “Ragtime,” a story about the beginnings of the last

century -- you know, the 20th.

IF ONLY...DEPARTMENT

Last week, a young math whiz faced the $250,000 question on “Who Wants

to Be a Millionaire” -- and I’d have given anything to be in his shoes.

The question was: What actress was in the original 1968 cast of “Hair”

on Broadway? Answer options: Glenn Close, Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon or

Diane Keaton. The contestant guessed Midler and lost, bouncing him back

to $32,000.

I knew that Keaton was the right answer because I interviewed her for

a Daily Pilot feature after the former Diane Hall, an Orange Coast

College alumnus, made her Broadway debut in the role. At the time, Keaton

said she was returning to the Big Apple to star opposite Woody Allen in

“Play It Again, Sam.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Ask me that question for 250K, and I’d never work again -- except for

my Daily Pilot columns, of course.