SCR/Party Play with Ann Conway

Front row: Aletha Anderson, Susan Anderson, Olivia Johnson; back row: Julie Schultz, Betty Huang, Tom Buderwitz, Kathy Taylor and Ann Conway

Julie Schultz and Tom Buderwitz

GALA DECOR COMMITTEE HAS FINAL CONFAB
By Ann Conway

SCR Gala Ball "Affair in Shanghai," September 8, 2007. Call 714-708-5504

Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer were in full swing at the luxe hotel, The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, as the Decor Committee for SCR's upcoming "Affair in Shanghai" Gala met for the final time on June 27 to wrap up decorative details for the Sept. 8 soiree.

On view through the hotel's sweeping windows: Surfers swooping the white water in blinding sunlight as sunbathers lounged under a rainbow of sheltering umbrellas.

But there was another kind of excitement taking place in the luxurious, crystal chandelier-hung ballroom where the gala will feature a multi-course Asian feast and dance-your-feet-off entertainment by the slick 28-band ensemble, JT and The California Dreamin'.

A supremely elegant tablescape had been set up—one that exactly mirrored the design to be used at the Gala—and members of the committee took their places there for a final critique. (The breathtaking details are Top Secret. But think: Fire and Ice!) Decor Committee Co-Chair Julie Schultz went over the design details, ensuring that all members agreed that this would be THE LOOK of what promises to be SCR's most exotic Gala ever.

Gala chair Betty Huang thanked the committee members for their tireless involvement. She also introduced Debra Parker, assistant manager of South Coast Plaza's Jo Malone fragrance boutique (who is generously providing the Gala favors). And Gala Design Director Tom Buderwitz whipped out colorful renderings of the dramatic, 40-foot theatrical stage on which The California Dreamin' will perform the kind of nostalgic dance numbers that have made it one of So. California's most sought-after gala troupes.

Huang thrilled the enthusiastic committee members when she presented a sample of one of the beautiful fans—purchased during her recent gala shopping spree in Shanghai—that will be presented to women at the event. "I think they will be elegant and fun," she said.

Just like the gala itself.

Proceeds from the SCR Gala constitute the first and largest donation to the theatre’s Annual Fund, in support of education programs. On June 12, Committee members witnessed firsthand the fruits of their labors; as they met, school children, having just seen the Theatre for Young Audiences production of The Only Child on the Julianne Argyros Stage, spilled happily into the lobby.