THEATER PREVIEW:

Last summer, the American Coast Theater Company introduced itself to local audiences at Vanguard University with a stunning performance of one of the American theater’s classic dramas, “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

Next weekend, the professional troupe returns in a lighter mood and will push the farcical pedal to the metal with the B detective movie spoof “Bullshot Crummond.”

“It has everything from plane crashes to car chases to sword fights, with a little romance thrown in,” said Susan K. Berkompas, who’s directing and also playing the comic villainess Lenya.

Berkompas, who excelled as Blanche DuBois in last year’s “Streetcar,” is the driving force behind American Coast. She’s also the producing artistic director at Vanguard and a former Daily Pilot woman of the year in theater.

The team of Ron House, Diz White, John Neville Andrews, Alan Shearman and Derek Cunningham wrote “Bullshot” back in the early 1980s. It followed up their highly successful “El Grande de Coca Cola.” Both shows enjoyed considerable local exposure two decades ago.

Berkompas describes the play as “a rollicking comedy that parodies the old 1930s “B” detective movies (such as “Bulldog Drummond”) complete with over-the-top characters and intentionally failed special effects.

“It’s a comic blend of Monty Python, Maxwell Smart, Austin Powers and Bullwinkle,” she notes.

“Bullshot Crummond” is one of two productions the American Coast company will stage this year.

The troupe also will stage A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters” at 8 p.m. Aug. 22 and 23, and at 2 p.m. Aug. 23 and 24.

Gavin McLeod of “The Love Boat” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and his wife, Patti, who has performed in “California Suite” and “Steel Magnolias,” will compose the two-character cast for this show.

Both productions will be presented in Vanguard’s Lyceum Theater, with “Bullshot” running July 18 through Aug. 10.

Curtain is 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.

Tickets for both “Bullshot Crummond” and “Love Letters” may be purchased online at www.vanguardtickets.com or by calling (714) 619-6424.

More information on the company is available at www.AmericanCoastTheater.org.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Thursdays.