On Theater:

Having been present at the creation of South Coast Repertory in 1965, I always assumed I knew just about everything there was to know about this celebrated theater company. Boy, was I mistaken.

One glance at Lawrence Christon’s insightful book “Stepping Ahead” illustrates how much I never realized about the inner workings of South Coast Repertory. For the thousands of local devotees, it should be required reading.

Christon, a former Los Angeles Times theater critic, delved deeply into not only the production history, but also the influences of time and place on the theater’s creation and sustenance. What was going on outside, and to the north, of the theater over the last 4 1/2 decades influenced its growth and development.

Christon chatted by phone with me while he was gathering material for the book, because I’ve seen all of the repertory’s shows and reviewed all but one for the Daily Pilot (my son Tim pinch-hit for me in 2006 when I was hospitalized). I ran across a number of my own comments while reading the book, which was kind of a surreal experience.

The book whose title, “Stepping Ahead,” is derived from the company’s charting of its development by “steps” — as in Second Step Theater, Third Step Theater, etc. — covers the well-documented creation of South Coast Repertory in a diner, as co-founders David Emmes and Martin Benson mapped out their plans on a napkin following a three-show summer stint at a Long Beach theater.

Both artistic directors, Emmes and Benson, whose tenure is nearing its conclusion as they search for successors, are fully chronicled by Christon from boyhood experiences through their roles as elder statesmen. In Emmes’ case, those experiences were in Newport Beach, while Benson grew up in Oakland and Walnut Creek. The pair met backstage as acting students at San Francisco State, where dreams of SCR were born. Now, after nearly a half-century of well-documented and often brilliant productions, they finally find themselves serving as theater administrators, though each still directs at least one show a year.

It’s fascinating reading, particularly for one who’s watched from the outside ever since the company staged a mini-season at the old Laguna Playhouse, while awaiting the completion of its first real theater on Villa Way in Newport Beach. I saw one show repeatedly from the wings as a “backstage parent” when Tim, then 11, played the “boy on the street” in the 1984 production of “A Christmas Carol.” Over the 45 years, the triumphs far outweighed the turkeys, and Christon examines both in great detail, along with complete, and complex, profiles of Emmes and Benson, as well as a few others who left their marks.

The story includes special mention of a handful of pioneers, all of whom have moved on to other pursuits, including John Arthur Davis, David Clements, Ron Thronson, Martha McFarlane, Ron Boussom and Jerry Patch, who came up with the idea of adapting Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” for the stage in 1980. This past December was the 30th anniversary of that project with the same Scrooge (Hal Landon Jr.) and the same director (John-David Keller) lending their talents for each production.

Christon’s remarkable book navigates the innumerable bumps in the road from the troubadour years of the early 1960s to South Coast Repertory’s position as a nationally recognized regional theater with a Tony award on display in its lobby. Readers will be startled, however, at learning just how many times the theater was on the verge of extinction before fate or fortune intervened.

“Stepping Ahead” is a fascinating account of an artistic success story, with its protagonists successfully negotiating more than a few bumps in the road along the way. As one who’s also chronicled that journey, though more from a production standpoint, I’m proud to stand and applaud.

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