OCC shows fall victim to budget cuts

Tom Titus

Few local theater traditions reach back further than the summer shows

at Orange Coast College. Since 1956, OCC has presented either a

summer musical or a variety of less-ambitious productions.

But times -- and finances -- change. The 2002 summer program at

the Costa Mesa campus has fallen victim to the college’s $2.8-million

budget cut, necessitated by the state’s ongoing financial crisis.

OCC is facing a cutback of at least $6 million for the 2003-04

academic year, and is expected to slash more than 1,000 course

selections from its summer, fall and spring schedule.

The theater program -- one of the most active in the nation among

community colleges -- is taking a prodigious hit, and one that weighs

heavily on Alex Golson, chairman of the OCC Theater Department.

“We regret having to cut our summer season, but we have no other

alternative at the moment,” Golson said. “Our summer season has been

a tradition that we have maintained for many years, and we hate to

see it go by the boards this year. We’re hoping to be able to bring

it back in 2004, or by the following summer.”

For more than three decades -- starting in 1956 with “South Pacific” -- OCC offered a lavish musical productions every summer in

the spacious theater, which was to become known as the Robert B.

Moore Auditorium, named for a former president of the college.

Local audiences applauded such expansive (and expensive) shows as

“Oklahoma,” “Carousel,” “My Fair Lady,” “Man of La Mancha,” “Evita,”

“Camelot” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

In 1963, OCC presented “The Sound of Music,” and in 1964, “Bye

Bye, Birdie” -- both starring local actress Diane Hall, who would

accept her best actress Oscar (for “Annie Hall”) a decade later under

her professional name, Diane Keaton.

About 15 years ago, an earlier round of budget cuts forced the OCC

theater program to downsize. Out went the big musicals, and in came

several smaller shows -- usually a comedy, a drama and a production

for youngsters. One such example of the latter was particularly

memorable: I watched my then-preteen daughter Mindy play Becky

Thatcher in the college’s version of “Tom Sawyer.”

Last year, OCC mounted the first local production of “Side Man,”

OCC instructor David Scaglione’s adaptation of the children’s folk

tale “Stone Soup,” and a rollicking, bullet-paced show titled

“Supersonic Shakespeare.”

Now the stage is bare, as Elvis Presley once observed. Hopefully,

not for good.

* TOM TITUS reviews theater Thursdays and Saturdays.