A playhouse of their own

Tom Titus

Actor/director Gregory Cohen has spent the better part of his

local theater career entertaining Huntington Beach Playhouse

audiences. Now he and Huntington Beach’s Joe Hogan have embarked on

an ambitious project -- starting their own theater.

Next weekend will mark the formal unveiling of Cohen’s and Hogan’s

new enterprise, whimsically christened Fleabitten Productions. The

new company makes its debut Friday, borrowing the facilities of the

Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, where the show will run through Dec. 22.

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. Cohen is directing; Hogan

and Jessica Culaciati will comprise 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. 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.

Cohen is a familiar figure at the Huntington Beach Playhouse,

where his productions of “Rumors” and “The Odd Couple” have earned

Bobbi awards as the best plays of their seasons. He’s also directed

such playhouse offerings as “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” “A Funny

Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “A Few Good Men,” “On Golden

Pond,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

and two versions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

As an actor, he’s been seen in Huntington Beach productions of

“Cabaret,” “Into the Woods,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Where’s

Charley?” and “Of Mice and Men.”

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

show at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, where 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 that he calls one of his 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.”

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 said. “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.”

First, however, must come a permanent -- or even semi-permanent --

home.

In between, Cohen will be staging “Don’t Dress for Dinner” at the

Huntington Beach Playhouse in February. He’ll have a tough act to

follow -- “West Side Story,” directed by his wife, Kysa Cohen, which

kicks off the playhouse’s 40th season in January.

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

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

Friday through Dec. 22 at the Civic Playhouse, 611 Hamilton St., Costa Mesa. More information is available at (714) 289-8728, and the

company has its own Web site, www.fleabittenproductions.com, where

additional details can be found.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.