TOM TITUS -- Theater review

These are heady days for South Coast Repertory.

The theater company that once toured its plays out of the back of a

station wagon has broken ground on a $40-million project -- a third

theater in its Town Center Drive complex that will encompass three levels

and seat 336 playgoers when it opens a year from October.

The Fifth Step -- for SCR’s growth has been cataloged in steps since

its founders set up residence here in 1965 -- will be an addition on the

current Mainstage and Second Stage complex, which will be christened the

Judie Argyros Stage, in honor of the major benefactor.

The existing 507-seat Mainstage will be renovated and renamed the

Segerstrom Theater, recognizing the pioneer family that donated the land

to SCR in 1978 and has been a major financial force in the company’s

development. The existing Second Stage will become the Nicholas Studio

Theater (for supporters Henry and Stacey Nicholas) and will be reduced

from 161 seats to 99.

“We will certainly have a wonderful facility in terms of its technical

capabilities, amenities and sheer aesthetic appeal,” declared SCR’s

co-founder and producing artistic director, David Emmes. “But we feel

that it’s what will take place inside that is most exciting.”

Among these events is a three-play series of youth theater productions

to begin in October 2003, boosted by a $500,000 grant from the Whittier

Family Foundation. These shows will be displayed on the new Argyros

Stage, and SCR has commissioned Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald

Margulies, who has been well-represented here in the past with “Sight

Unseen” and “Collected Stories.”

Martin Benson -- who has shared directorship of SCR since he and Emmes

put a three-play summer series together in Long Beach in 1964 and has

staged a sizable number of its productions -- put the latest advancement

into historical perspective:

“When South Coast Repertory began, it was a group of 12 artists

without a performing space. We toured for most of our first season. When

we finally did acquire a home, it was a marine hardware store on Balboa

Peninsula we converted into a 75-seat theater.

“Both floors together measured 2,800 square feet. When the new theater

center is completed, it will have a 78,000-square-foot facility. But,

most importantly, we will have one of the finest theater complexes of its

kind,” he said.

That Balboa playhouse was the Second Step Theater (the first step

being the touring shows, three of which played the old Laguna Playhouse

in early ‘65). The Third Step was a converted dime store on Newport

Boulevard in downtown Costa Mesa, which was home from 1967 to 1978, when

the Fourth Step to the present location was taken.

Now, 23 years later, SCR is taking an important Fifth Step, and the

upcoming season will be reduced by one play on each of its current stages

to accommodate construction of the Argyros Theater. When completed, the

three theaters will share a common lobby and the new three-level theater

will include a balcony, something of a first for SCR.

The SCR complex will be a major part of the multi-venue Segerstrom

Center for the Arts, a proposed cultural center that will include a

concert hall and museum adjacent to the theater and across the street

from the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

“In October of next year, SCR will open its 39th season in a

dramatically different complex that will provide the Segerstrom Center

for the Arts with a more distinctive and conspicuous architectural

presence,” Emmes declared.

Thereby, he might have added, cementing Costa Mesa’s claim to its

designation as the City of the Arts.

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

appear Thursdays and Saturdays.