Theater -- Tom Titus

A pair of Pulitzer Prize winners will highlight the 2001-02 lineup at

the Newport Theatre Arts Center, while a mixture of old and new offerings

dot the schedule for Orange Coast College’s upcoming season.

The Pulitzer awards belong to Alfred Uhry’s “Driving Miss Daisy,”

scheduled to open Jan. 25, and Horton Foote’s “The Young Man From

Atlanta,” set to debut March 22. The latter will be a local premiere,

while “Miss Daisy” was glimpsed recently at the Costa Mesa Civic

Playhouse.

Leading off the Newport schedule Sept. 21 will be James Goldman’s

dramatic comedy “The Lion in Winter,” which focuses on England’s King

Henry II, his imprisoned wife and three rebellious sons.

It will be followed Nov. 16 by another bundle from Britain, the sex

comedy “Not Now, Darling,” by Ray Cooney and John Chapman, which features

young ladies running around in various stages of undress.

The two Pulitzer winners follow, with the musical “Sweet Charity”

opening May 31 to close out the season. “Charity” is a collaboration

between playwright Neil Simon and choreographer Bob Fosse and features

Fosse’s classic number “Hey, Big Spender.”

Newport Theatre Arts Center is at 2502 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach.

Information: (949) 631-0288.

OCC’s theater department, which bills itself as the nation’s most

ambitious on the community college level, will offer 11 productions

during the 2001-02 season, which will open Sept. 8 with a collection of

short comedies by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov in the Studio Theatre.

Lisa Loomer’s barbed comedy “The Waiting Room,” which takes on medical

ethics and sexual stereotypes, will make its local premiere Oct. 11 in

the Drama Lab Theatre under the direction of John Ferzacca.

An OCC student will stage Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” opening

Oct. 26 in the Studio Theatre.

The Ten or Less Festival, a collection of plays 10 minutes in length

or shorter, will be presented by the OCC Repertory Theatre beginning Nov.

9.

The Christmas season will be observed with a seasonal comedy,

“Inspecting Carol,” directed by department chairman Alex Golson in the

Drama Lab, which will open Nov. 30, and “Christmas is for Kids,” a

Repertory Theatre comedy set for Dec. 13.

Each season the college takes on Shakespeare, and this time the Bard

will be represented by “A Comedy of Errors,” opening Jan. 24 under

Golson’s direction.

The Repertory company has a collection of short plays by Joseph

Pintauro titled “Metropolitan Operas” on tap for a Feb. 9 opening.

Another local premiere, “Approximating Mother,” Kathleen Tolan’s

comical sketch of the childbearing process, will arrive March 7 with

Ferzacca directing.

After a hiatus of several years, the Rep will revive its “Old

Fashioned Melodrama and Ice Cream Social” on March 21 to 24 in the Studio

Theatre.

A full-length play, as yet unselected, will be offered in the Studio

Theatre from April 19 to 21, directed by an advanced OCC directing

student.

Golson will stage “John Brown’s Body,” a Civil War epic based on the

poem by Stephen Vincent Benet, opening May 2.

The college’s spring one-act play festival is carded for May 15 to 19

in the Studio Theatre with more than a dozen playlets scheduled for

presentation. The season will conclude with the usual complement of

summer productions.

* * *

CALLBOARD -- Auditions are underway for South Coast Repertory’s

Professional Conservatory, an intensive, eight-week summer training

program for serious acting students.

Classes are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from June 5 to July

28 under the direction of Karen Hensel. The classes are limited to 35

students.

Information: (714) 708-5577.

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

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.