Don Took reflects on 38 years with SCR

Tom Titus

When the lights first went up on South Coast Repertory, the

company hadn’t quite finished building its first theater, a renovated

marine swap shop on the Balboa waterfront. So the company performed

its farcical version of Moliere’s “Tartuffe” at the old Laguna

Playhouse in Laguna Beach.

That was in February 1965, and Don Took -- or Tuche, as he was

known then -- remembers it well. It was the beginning of a remarkable

career, both for him for and the blossoming young theater company

that has become an Orange County cultural icon and earned national

and international respect.

A week later, Took and John Arthur Davis assumed the leading roles

in Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” which would be the opening

production of the under-construction Second Step Theater just a month

later. The dream of a handful of actors and directors who formed

lifetime friendships in the San Francisco Bay area -- then headed

south to carve out a dynamic legend -- was about to come true.

“Tartuffe” was the first in a long line of productions, now

totaling 375. The shows have propelled SCR from its 75-seat first

theater in Newport Beach to a converted dime store in downtown Costa

Mesa to its present location in Costa Mesa’s Town Center complex,

where workmen are putting the finishing touches on the “next stage,”

a second main stage theater in what will be known as the Folino

Theatre Center -- a $50 million project.

Looking back on the long, eventful journey from a nomadic troupe

to one of the most prestigious regional theaters in America with a

Tony Award on display in the lobby, Don Took shares a sense of pride

with theater founders and producing directors David Emmes and Martin

Benson.

“That was a totally unique experience for all of us, to start with

$50 and a station wagon and see it become arguably the best regional

theater in the United States,” Took said as he prepared to join

rehearsals for SCR’s opening play of the new season, George Bernard

Shaw’s “Major Barbara.”

“Major Barbara” was one of the three plays the embryonic company

produced during the summer of 1964 in Long Beach (along with “The

Hostage” and “The Alchemist”) when the troupe was known as the

Actors’ Workshop. In a sense, the play is bringing the company full

circle, creating a feeling of pride and accomplishment shared by Took

and the other five founding artists, four of whom still perform

regularly at the Costa Mesa theater today.

For Took -- who changed the spelling of his surname after tiring

of hearing it mispronounced -- his love affair with acting began,

literally, in grade school. Born in the Northern California city of

Redding 63 years ago, he recalls memorizing and reciting comic

routines by Spike Jones and Doodles Weaver for his classmates at

recess. The girls were impressed, and Took had found his calling.

When his junior high school principal wrote a play and assigned

young Don the leading role, the production culminated in a

performance at Oakland’s Shrine Auditorium.

“I said to myself, ‘Wow, this is it!’” he recalled.

In high school, he performed the key role of Elwood P. Dowd in

“Harvey” to popular acclaim, and this led to community theater work

in the Oakland area.

Took enrolled at San Francisco State University as a pre-med

student, intending to follow in the footsteps of his doctor father.

His roommate was Martin Benson, who fanned his desire to perform on

stage, and the pair teamed up with fellow students David Emmes and

Jeffrey Tambor (now a successful TV actor) to hone their craft at

Jules Irving’s Actors’ Workshop in San Francisco.

Emmes and Benson later moved to Long Beach, where they produced a

successful version of Arthur Schnitzler’s “La Ronde” in 1963. This

led to a three-show summer season at the city’s Off Broadway

Playhouse in ‘64, and the artistic blueprints for South Coast

Repertory.

On Saturday: Don Took and SCR grow up together and create a unique

theater experience.

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

Pilot. His reviews appear Thursdays and Saturdays.