Took’s ‘wonderful journey’

Tom Titus

* EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second part of Tom Titus’ interview

with Don Took, an actor who has been with South Coast Repertory since

its inception. The theater company will open its $20-million Folino

Theatre Center on Oct. 5.

South Coast Repertory, according to one of its founding artists,

not only afforded its actors an opportunity to hone their craft. It

also gave them a life.

Don Took -- who’s been aboard the SCR bandwagon since it was a

station wagon back in 1964 -- has, along with his fellow pioneers,

been able to earn a living as an actor, taking occasional movie and

television assignments, secure in the knowledge that guaranteed

employment awaited him at his base of operations, 665 Town Center

Drive, Costa Mesa.

That sense of security is critical in what basically is a quite

insecure profession. It’s a blanket of comfort shared by Took,

Richard Doyle, Hal Landon Jr., Martha McFarland and Art Koustik, all

founding artists at the theater. A sixth member of that excusive

club, Ron Boussom, hasn’t been active with the company in the recent

years.

“It’s a unique commitment, an ongoing contract on an informal

basis,” Took explained. “It’s allowed us to practice our craft as

actors.” Took, now in his early 60s, hasn’t suffered the prejudice of

ageism that often cuts short the careers of many professional actors

and writers -- many times considered over the hill after 30.

“They need actors of all ages,” he said, “and experienced actors

can always find work.”

For Took, a chance TV show audition recently led to his joining

the company of one of the tube’s hottest new shows. He’s snagged a

recurring assignment as a menacing henchman to the boss of the evil

espionage operation SD-6 on “Alias.”

“I was looking in the mirror at this haggard, wrinkled face one

day and asked myself, ‘where could a guy like this find acting work?’

Then it hit me -- horror movies,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed playing

creepy characters ever since doing McCann in ‘The Birthday Party’ (at

SCR in 1965), and that seemed a logical extension.”

Tall (6’3”) and gaunt, Took has been using his stature and an

amplified stage voice to scare the pants off the kiddies nearly every

December when he materializes as Marley’s ghost in SCR’s “A Christmas

Carol.” The adaptation by Jerry Patch of the Charles Dickens classic

began its annual engagement in 1980 and it’s still going strong.

Not that he’s always been relegated to offbeat assignments. Took

shone as Mitch in SCR’s early production of “A Streetcar Named

Desire” and headed the cast of “Pueblo” as Commander Lloyd Bucher,

both at the old Third Step Theater in downtown Costa Mesa. His

favorite roles, though, were in “BAFO” and “Hospitality Suite,” both

original plays written by Roger Reuff with the theater’s resident

company members in mind.

Now, with SCR on the threshold of its new Folino Theatre Center --

in which the existing main stage will be named for benefactor Henry

Segerstrom and the new theater for Julianne Argyros -- Took and his

fellow pioneers assuredly will be kept busy, and gainfully employed.

Reflecting on the formative years of SCR, Took noted, “We were

young and we wanted to do everything.”

And they did, and then some. Now, he and his fellow founding

artists may not be playing leading roles every time, but their stamp

of professionalism has been the glue that has kept the theater

together for nearly four decades.

“It’s been a wonderful journey, Took declared. “And it will

continue.”

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

Pilot. His reviews appear Thursdays and Saturdays.