TOM TITUS -- Theater

Orange Coast College has been a pit stop on the road to professional

theater for a number of its former students. Diane Hall starred in two

musicals there in the mid-1960s before changing her last name to Keaton

and earning an Oscar for “Annie Hall.” And David Emmes quoth “to be or

not to be” on the OCC stage before going on to co-found South Coast

Repertory.

If you’re wondering who the next OCC alumnus to crack the big time

might be, the smart money would be on Jessica Hutchinson, who has majored

in both quantity and quality during her brief year as a drama student. In

the past dozen months, she has performed in seven productions -- she

opens in an eighth, “The Memory of Water,” this weekend.

“Water” opens just two weeks after Hutchinson closed in OCC’s

production of “Oleanna,” which not only was her best performance to date,

but one of the college’s most impressive productions in recent years. As

a demented college student in David Mamet’s two-character drama,

Hutchinson delivered a superb study of a seething psychotic.

Such a high level of talent isn’t achieved overnight, and Hutchinson

has packed a good deal of training into her 23 years. Born in Santa

Clara, she moved with her parents to Hawaii when she was 10 and began

acting, singing and dancing on the islands.

After graduating from high school, she returned to the mainland and

enrolled in USC’s acting program, but left after two years. “I just

didn’t like it,” she says candidly.

She returned to her roots in Northern California and studied at the

American Conservatory Theater in an intense acting program, similar to

South Coast Repertory’s Summer Conservatory, before moving to Huntington

Beach and heading for OCC, which she says she loves.

“I didn’t expect this kind of quality program and welcoming

atmosphere,” she declares.

The feeling, from OCC’s standpoint, obviously was mutual because

Hutchinson was cast, in rapid succession, in “Tainted Justice,” “The

Mineola Twins,” “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” “Bullshot Crummond,” “The

Hostage,” “Lou Gehrig Did Not Die of Cancer” and “Oleanna.”

This weekend, she will enact one of three Irish sisters in “The Memory

of Water,” which she says is billed as a comedy even though it centers on

a funeral. “It’s going to be a tricky thing to pull off,” she admits.

“Water” most likely will be her swan song at OCC, because Hutchinson

is preparing to take the next step toward graduation from a four-year

school, possibly UC Irvine, and soon may dip her toe into the waters of

professional theater.

“I do hope to act professionally,” she says, though she’s unsure at

this point how she’ll be going about it and, indeed, which direction it

will take. Her talents also encompass musical theater -- she’s a trained

soprano -- and music composition.

She plays the piano and said she would ultimately enjoy composing film

scores. “I love music,” she declares. “It’s always been a part of me.”

What unnerves her the most is the “business end” of the pro scene,

which she instinctively shrinks from. “I’m in it for the craft,” she

asserts. “There’s something riveting about being in a play for two hours

and feeling it come to life.”

While Jessica Hutchinson continues to work on her craft, Orange Coast

College audiences are the beneficiaries. “I have a goal,” she professes,

“and I’ll know what it is when I get there.”

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* TOM TITUS writes about and reviews local theater for the Daily

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.