Theater -- Tom Titus

For a local community theater to come up with a full five-show season

of plays that haven’t been produced locally is a pretty good trick. The

Newport Theatre Arts Center almost pulls it off.

The 2002-03 season at the center will offer four “new” shows -- some

not really new, just unfamiliar to local audiences. The only really

well-known offering, Reginald Rose’s jury room drama “Twelve Angry Men,”

hasn’t really had a production in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach.

Newport starts out with a classic next season, George Bernard Shaw’s

biting comedy “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” This play, about a woman whose

profession is the world’s oldest, will open Sept. 13 under the direction

of Darlene Hunter Chaffee.

“Beau Jest” is a contemporary romantic comedy about a young woman

pressured by her parents to marry the man of their dreams, who hires an

actor to impersonate her suitor. Jack Millis is directing the James

Sherman chuckler, which will open Nov. 15.

Next comes “Twelve Angry Men,” born on television, nurtured on the big

screen and revisited regularly by college and community theater groups.

One juror stands against the other 11 in a murder case involving a

teenage boy in this thriller, which will open Jan. 24 with Michael Ross

directing.

Ray Cooney’s “Funny Money” appears to be a typical Cooney farce (he

created last season’s “Not Now, Darling”), this one involving a switched

briefcase on a London subway that turns out to be brimming with cash.

Terri Miller Schmidt directs the show, which will open March 28.

Winding up the Newport season will be “Camping With Henry and Tom” by

Mark St. Germain -- but this is no kids’ show. Henry’s and Tom’s last

names are Ford and Edison, with President Warren Harding along for the

ride. Phyllis Gitlin will direct, and the show will open May 30, 2003.

The theater, which opens its season closer, “Sweet Charity,” on

Friday, also is preparing for its summer family musical, “The Princess

and the Magical Pea,” with a cast made up of both children and adults.

If you’re familiar with “Once Upon a Mattress,” you know the story of

this one. Auditions will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the theater, 2502

Cliff Drive, Newport Beach, for a large and varied cast. The show will

run July 19 through Aug. 4.

Ticket orders and additional information on the Newport season are

being handled at the theater’s box office, (949) 643-0288.

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

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.