Theater season off to a late start locally

Tom Titus

With the arrival of September comes the new seasons getting

underway at various local theaters -- usually. This year, however,

most local playhouses are waiting in the wings until October to

unveil their first productions of 2002-03 -- including South Coast

Repertory, which will reopen in October in a refurbished double

theater complex.

Not that the first weekend of September will be devoid of the

usual theatrical crush. Far from it.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center opened “The Full Monty”

Tuesday and follows with “Forbidden Hollywood,” cabaret-style, in the

Center’s Founders Hall on Friday. It’s the first time in memory that

both Center venues will be occupied at the same time.

Also going on the boards this weekend -- for a brief,

four-performance engagement -- is the return of “The Road Most

Traveled” at Vanguard University. This musical slice of life focusing

on the defining moments of coming of age was presented last year on

two occasions and is returning by the proverbial popular demand.

Theater department chairman Susan Berkompas is directing the show,

which traces the evolution of young people through kindergarten,

grade school, high school and college. The cast is comprised of Tammy

Coffin, Heaven Peabody, Paul Hanegan and Michael Mulligan.

Performances will be given at 8 p.m. tonight through Sunday with a

2 p.m. Saturday matinee in the college’s Lyceum Theater. Call (714)

668-6145 for ticket information.

Next Friday, the Newport Theater Arts Center will revive the

George Bernard Shaw comedy “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” which is

billed as “a witty and biting look at society’s hypocrisy.” The play

centers around Vivie Warren, an emancipated young woman whose

profession -- the world’s oldest -- has elevated her to an elegant

lifestyle.

The show plays at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and at 2:30

p.m. Sundays until Oct. 13 at the theater, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport

Beach.

Reservations are taken at (949) 631-0288.

Orange Coast College launches its new season Sept. 14 with Jane

Martin’s “Jack and Jill,” described as a “treacherous and sometimes

explosive look at modern wedlock.” It’ll be staged by OCC’s Repertory

Theater Company in the Studio Theater.

The OCC show plays Saturdays and Sundays only, through Sept. 22,

with curtain at 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets

may be reserved by calling (714) 432-5640, Ext. 1.

After these two openings, we have two weeks of inactivity until

Oct. 4, when Costa Mesa’s Trilogy Playhouse raises the curtain on the

mystery spoof “Something’s Afoot.” This is a tongue-in-cheek

treatment of the mystery genre popularized by Agatha Christie and

features bodies falling in the most creative of manners.

Artistic director Alicia Butler will stage the musical comedy,

which will be on the boards through Oct. 27 at the Trilogy, 2930

Bristol St., Costa Mesa. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, at 5

and 7:30 Saturdays and at 5 p.m. Sundays. Call (714) 957-3347, Ext. 1

for ticket information.

South Coast Rep finally joins the greasepaint parade Oct. 19 with

a reprise production from the busiest playwright around this season

-- the late George Bernard Shaw. Martin Benson takes his third turn

at the helm of “Major Barbara,” which plays through Nov. 17 at the

newly christened Segerstrom Stage (formerly known as the main stage).

The Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse has chosen Steve Martin’s “Picasso

at the Lapin Agile” as its opening number, and will bring the comedy

-- in which Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein cross satirical swords

-- to the stage Oct. 25. That same weekend will see Vanguard

University revive England’s most popular mystery, “The Mousetrap,” by

the aforementioned Agatha Christie.

Finally, the brand-new Julianne Argyros Stage at South Coast

Repertory comes to life Nov. 8 with the world premiere of “The Violet

Hour” by Richard Greenberg, who’s had quite a few of his works

unveiled at SCR. The new show runs through Nov. 24.

CALLBOARD -- Orange Coast College will hold auditions Sept. 16 and

17 for the farcical comedy “Fortinbras” by Lee Blessing, which begins

where Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” leaves off. Alex Golson is directing the

play, which requires a cast of 12 men and eight women of all ages.

The show opens Nov. 21 for two weekends and additional information

is available at (714) 432-5640.

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

reviews appear Thursdays and Saturdays.