LOOKING BACK

Young Chang

A few weeks ago, we brought you the history of a community theater in

Costa Mesa that may not offer what the Orange County Performing Arts

Center does, but raises area kids to try to be stars.

This week it’s Newport Beach’s turn. The city has a community theater

company of its own, but it’s been around for just over a year.

Linda Safran started the Newport Beach Theater Company when she

realized her daughter, who is interested in theater, didn’t have a local

stage to call her own. The company still doesn’t have a facility -- they

perform at Lincoln Elementary School, at the Newport Theatre Arts Center

and other venues -- but Safran wanted to offer Newport children a

close-to-home chance to be in shows.

“For about two years we drove [our daughter] all over Orange County to

do plays for different theaters,” Safran said. “My husband and I looked

at each other and said, ‘This is silly.”’

They brought together a board of like-minded people from Newport Beach

and started the company last year.

“Because kids like to belong to something,” the company’s president

said. “It’s a normal thing for kids to want to do.”

Safran acknowledges that sports offers children the same sense of

belonging. But she focused on the theater arts because the city offers

almost none of that for young kids during the year.

So far, the company has staged three productions: “Annie” was

presented last summer at the Newport Theatre Arts Center, “Tidepool

Condos” was staged last December and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor

Dreamcoat” ran at Lincoln Elementary in February.

The company is almost all volunteer-run by parents, except for

choreographers, directors and vocal directors who get hired.

“A lot of parents are involved,” said Safran, who also owns a

consulting company. “Theater people are great. If you want a house built

in a week, just find theater people.”

One of the company’s goals is to avoid using the same group of 15 or

so children in ever play.

“And it’s written in our bylaws that we can’t have the same director

do two shows in a row because directors come with a bias,” the president

said. “They have kids that they favor because they know them and they

work with them.”

Safran added that if she were “God creating the world,” she would put

on a show with a team of directors, choreographers and orchestra members

all younger than 21.

“Because there are so many talented kids out there in so many

different [ways] . . . I want them to be able to practice their art,” she

said.

* Do you know of a person, place or event that deserves a historical

Look Back? Let us know. Contact Young Chang by fax at (949) 646-4170;

e-mail at young.chang@latimes.com; or mail her at c/o Daily Pilot, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.