TOM TITUS -- Theater

Less than a year ago, Deborah Bushman saw an audition notice for “The

Sound of Music” at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse in a trade paper,

walked in for the first time and won the leading role of Maria.

Now, after designing the costumes for Costa Mesa’s “Joseph and the

Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and both performing (as Cinderella) and

costuming “Into the Woods,” Bushman, who just turned 30 this week, finds

herself at the top of the theater’s administrative heap as its new

president.

“I really, really love this theater,” exuded Bushman, who was born

just outside Orange County and found her way back via Hawaii, New York,

Japan, Germany and San Francisco.

Bushman trained for her avocation at the University of Hawaii, where

she majored in history with a minor in theater. Her superlative voice

caught the attention of the producer of “Les Miserables,” who advised her

to move to New York and audition for the expansive musical.

She made it to the Big Apple, but she never sought out “Les Miz.”

“I was so intimidated with the size and scope of everything in New

York that I never followed up,” she said.

She did, however, follow up on her education -- at Columbia

University, where she met her husband, Ben, in 1995. They moved to Japan,

where Bushman performed in concert, recorded for commercials and gave

birth to their first child. After spending some time in Germany, the

Bushmans moved to the Bay Area, where a second child was born.

It also was where Ben contracted cancer, so a musical career took

second place to assisting in his care. When he was fully recovered, the

Bushmans moved to Orange County, where her sister, Karen Saluto, lives,

and the sisters started a costume design business.

When her kids started school, Bushman elected to resurrect her career,

and she took a major role in a La Habra production of “Tommy.” Next stop

was Costa Mesa and “The Sound of Music.”

“I just fell in love with the theater and the people, and I knew it

was the right place to be for me,” she declared.

Between her angelic voice and costuming skills, the feeling became

quite mutual. When “Into the Woods” came along, Bushman won the role of

Cinderella, her second experience with the Stephen Sondheim fractured

fairy tale. She had played Little Red Riding Hood in Hawaii.

Recently, playhouse president Lynn Reinert -- who has spearheaded

efforts to keep the theater in the black for several years -- felt she

needed a rest, and declined to run for office again. No one was more

surprised than Bushman when the gavel fell into her hands.

“We’ve got a great group of people about my age who are willing to

work really hard to keep the playhouse operating,” she noted. The theater

now has a 15-member board and last weekend’s third annual benefit concert

exceeded its financial goals.

“That gave us a good kick-start to the season,” she declared.

Unlike last year’s all-musical slate, the 2001-02 season includes only

one full-scale musical production, “A Chorus Line,” as the season finale.

Other shows on the schedule are the comedy-drama “Steel Magnolias”; “The

1940s Radio Hour,” a nostalgic play which features musical numbers; and a

vintage farce, “Charley’s Aunt.”

Deborah Bushman has a pair of large shoes to fill, those of

past-president Lynn Reinert. But her energy and enthusiasm -- not to

mention her singing and costuming talents -- mark her as a lady who’ll

get the job done.

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

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.