RELEASE: May 23, 2008

SCR’S 2007-08 SEGERSTROM STAGE SEASON CLOSES WITH ‘TAKING STEPS’
UNDERWRITTEN BY TOM AND MARILYN SUTTON AND HASKELL & WHITE LLP

COSTA MESA, CA, May 23, 2008 – Former SCR Board President Tom Sutton and his wife Marilyn are Honorary Producers of Taking Steps, the Alan Ayckbourn classic comedy which opened tonight on the Segerstrom Stage. They are joined by nine-time corporate underwriter Haskell & White LLP.

The 1970s satire, directed at breakneck speed by Art Manke, who staged last season’s Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award winner Bach at Leipzig, stars Bill Brochup of  “NYPD Blues” fame and five farce-facile actors.

First Nighters were welcomed by Board President Larry Higby and Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson, who spoke of their excitement in bringing to the stage another comedy by England’s most prolific playwright, who is a longtime SCR audience favorite. “We’re particularly pleased with the strong underwriting support that enabled us to pull out all the stops for this final play of our 44th Season,” Emmes said, asking the Suttons and David White and Rick Smetanka of Haskell & White LLP to stand and be acknowledged, along with Lee Runnels, Director of Business Planning and Marketing for Media Partner Coast Magazine.

The Suttons have supported SCR for more than two decades, and now, as Honorary Producers, they’ve done it all. Tom was President of the SCR Board of Trustees for two terms (1992-94), and he and Marilyn have been Gala underwriters, subscribers to both stages, members of every Circle of donors (Silver, Gold, Platinum and Producers) and major contributors to all of SCR’s fundraising campaigns.

The nine SCR productions underwritten by Haskell & White LLP range from A Christmas Carol in 2001 to last season’s Nothing Sacred—which puts them among the theatre’s most dedicated underwriters. The company was founded in 1988 by Steven P. Haskell and David R. White and is one of the largest local accounting firms in Orange County.

After the show, the audience and artists attended a ’70s-themed reception on Ela’s Terrace, complete with a vintage photobooth; a bar for candy-lovers with treats like pop rocks, lemon heads and candy cigarettes; and a ’70s buffet with macaroni and cheese, mash potatoes and meatloaf and those mainstays from the era: stuffed celery, deviled eggs and pigs ’n a blanket.

Among those who enjoyed the play and party were Donna Anderson, Andy Barnicle, Larry and Sophie Cripe, Cary and Gwyn Grenrock, Cynthia Harriss, Bob and Linda Hovee, S.L. and Betty Huang, Roland Kelly and Kay Mortenson, David and Elaine Krajanowski, Fernando and Olga Niebla, Selly Straight, Tod and Linda White.

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To view First Night photographs of the Taking Steps post-production party, please visit “SCR Party Play with Ann Conway” (http://www.scr.org/aboutSCR/conway/conway.html). Photos will be available online Wednesday, May 28. To order photos for publication, please contact: mad@scr.org