New community theater will be born in Costa Mesa

Tom Titus

With the Orange County Performing Arts Center, South Coast

Repertory’s recently redone complex, the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse,

the Trilogy Playhouse and active collegiate theater from Orange Coast

College and Vanguard University, it would seem the last thing Costa

Mesa needs would be another local theater group.

Nevertheless, that’s just what we’re going to get. On the theory

that you can never have enough live theater, actor-director Gregory

Cohen and actor Joe Hogan have founded a new troupe, whimsically

christened Fleabitten Productions.

The new company makes its debut Dec. 6, borrowing the facilities

of the Civic Playhouse.

The debut production will be “Jerry Finnegan’s Sister,” a romantic

two-character comedy by Jack Neary about a guy who’s harbored a

17-year crush on his best friend’s sister.

The production will run through Dec. 22. Cohen is directing; Hogan

and Jessica Culaciati will be the cast.

“This seemed to be the ideal show with which to introduce

Fleabitten to the public,” Cohen said. “It’s fresh, it’s surprising

and it’s audience-friendly.

“Fleabitten’s goal is not to shock, repulse or titillate,” he

said. “We will hopefully introduce them to some new and challenging

forms of theater while continually satisfying their taste for the

comfortable and familiar types they’ve come to enjoy.”

The rather unique name of the company came from Cohen’s and

Hogan’s shared love for their dogs, a corgi and a basset hound,

respectively. The animals’ faces comprise a canine comedy-tragedy

logo for the troupe.

The genesis of Fleabitten Productions was a “Ghosts and Legends”

show at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, where both Cohen and Hogan were

performing. Cohen subsequently cast Hogan in the leading role of

Eugene in his production of Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues.”

A few years ago, Cohen directed a production of “First Night” for

the Huntington Beach Playhouse, which he calls “one of my best.”

Playwright Neary encountered a review of that show on the Internet

and contacted the director.

“We corresponded a bit and he turned me on to this script of his,”

Cohen said. “I loved it.”

And, after “Biloxi Blues,” he realized that Hogan would be an

ideal actor for the show.

“I spoke to him about co-producing it, probably renting a space in

Hollywood or something,” Cohen recalled. “He came up with the idea

that, instead of sinking all of our money into a one-time effort, why

not try to build this production into an actual company?

“It made sense to me, and so was born Fleabitten Productions.”

Cohen and Hogan are also in the process of starting up an

improvisational group “unlike any other ever created,” Cohen said.

They’ll be called the Varmints and will be directed by John Mellies.

“Our plans for the future are somewhat sketchy, since we still

don’t have a home,” Cohen admitted. “We know the shows we’d like to

do -- ‘Twelfth Night’ in the spring, ‘Working’ in the summer and a

drama in the fall -- we haven’t settled on that one yet.

“We’re hoping to be back at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse for

‘Working’ since they’ve got quite a long dark time during the

summer,” he added, “but we really need this show to be a whopping

success first.”

“Jerry Finnegan’s Sister” will inaugurate Fleabitten Productions,

playing Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. from

Dec. 6 to 22 at the Civic Playhouse, 611 Hamilton St., Costa Mesa.

More information is available at (714) 289-8728. The company has

its own Web site, www.fleabittenproductions.com.

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

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.