South Coast Repertory’s 2010 Gala Ball “The Play’s the Thing” Opens O.C. Social and Theatrical Seasons, Nets Over $530,000
Surprise Act — “SCR Tonight” — Stops Show and Wows Guests
COSTA MESA, CA. – South Coast Repertory’s 32nd annual Gala Ball, “The Play’s the Thing,” opened the theatrical and social seasons in Orange County with a glittering event that netted over half a million dollars for the theatre’s Annual Fund and featured a surprise performance by two of the theatre’s most dedicated (and valiant) couples.
Chaired by Sophie Cripe, the evening of dining and dancing at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa paid tribute to SCR’s Founding Artistic Directors, David Emmes and Martin Benson, and to those playwrights whose work they honor.
“Tonight, as we celebrate 46 seasons of great theatre, we look confidently toward the future,” Cripe said. “Because David and Martin have built South Coast Repertory on a solid foundation, the work that has thrilled playgoers in Orange County and advanced the art of theatre in America will be our legacy for generations to come.”
First envisioned by the 46-member Committee months ago, implemented through their creativity and hard work and produced by SCR’s brilliant theatre artists and artisans, “The Play’s the Thing” was a glamorous evening that began with appropriate theatricality.
Gala guests swept into the hotel, up the grand staircase and along a red carpeted hallway divided by chrome stanchions and adorned with posters of SCR productions and the playwrights whose classics, modern masterpieces and world premieres have been at the heart of the theatre’s 46 seasons. Beneath a dramatic SCR marquee, they were welcomed by the Gala Chair, her husband, Larry Cripe, and the Artistic Directors.
Then it was on to the reception, which flowed from a spacious foyer onto an ocean view terrace, where partygoers enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, sipped fine wines donated by Young’s Market Company and sampled “Curtain Call,” the evening’s signature drink (orange vodka, peach schnapps, champagne, grenadine and Red Bull topped with a maraschino cherry), all to the beat of a jazz combo, comprised of four musicians from John Tu’s “California Dreamin’” band.
As partygoers greeted old friends and welcomed new ones, they were entertained by actors from SCR’s Theatre Conservatory. Elegantly attired in period costumes — Greco Roman, Cavalier, Edwardian, Elizabethan and Regency/Empire — the actors delighted guests with brief speeches set in or written during one of the five periods. These included snippets from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as the contemporary writer Amy Freed’s The Beard of Avon.
Just before darkness fell, the actors — still “in character” — led the way into the ballroom where giant screens projected scenes from SCR’s most memorable productions. Guests took their seats at tables topped with theatrical centerpieces by Floral Creations by Enzo, arrangements of roses, orchids, calla lilies in orange, burgundy and buttery yellow, accented with facsimiles of Shakespeare manuscript pages—which were also wrapped around pillar candles. The linens, napkins and chair covers were in alternating colors of burnt orange and burgundy dupioni silk. At each place was a program of the evening’s events, created in Playbill style, along with elegant gift bags containing Cartier note cards.
Emmes, Benson and SCR Board President Tom Phelps welcomed guests, presented Sophie Cripe with a floral bouquet and extolled her Gala leadership.
Sophie credited her hard-working and creative Gala Committee, who helped make the event successful and set the standard for fundraising parties in Orange County with the first and most exciting party of the season.
The evening was topped off with a surprise number by “The First Nighters” (Sophie and Larry Cripe with SCR Board of Trustees Vice President Tod White and his wife, Linda) who performed Stephen Sondheim’s “Comedy Tonight,” re-named “SCR Tonight,” with lyrics changed to include tributes to many of the Gala’s underwriters (those whose names fit into the rhyme!). The fearless foursome was backed by singers from “California Dreamin’” and the full 41-piece band, which continued to play for dancing into the evening at what everyone agreed was a Gala to remember.
To view photographs of “The Play’s the Thing,” please visit www.scr.org >support scr>special events after Wednesday, September 15. To order photos for publication, please contact mad@scr.org.
Next up at South Coast Repertory, George Bernard Shaw’s Misalliance, directed by Martin Benson, which had its first preview performance Friday night, September 10 on the Segerstrom Stage and runs through October 10, followed by Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room or the vibrator play, on the Julianne Argyros Stage September 26-October 17. Both Shaw and Ruhl were among the playwrights whose posters adorned the walls of the Gala entrance.
