By Ann Conway
Engaging in a little tryst of their own, First Nighters gathered on Ela's Terrace for a cast party following playwright Richard Greenberg's 9th world premiere at SCR, Our Mother's Brief Affair.
Never mind that it was Spring in Costa Mesa. The romantic setting — inspired by the play's time and place — was all about Autumn in New York, with its leafy trees bathed in orange light, its tables topped with cloths in shades of saffron, copper and chocolate. Not to mention the gathering's dramatic floral element — sprays of flame-colored dahlias — accented by faux butterflies, which were meant to evoke the emotional freedom Anna (played by Jenny O'Hara) felt during her thrilling affair. After all, she had endured years in a suffocating marriage of absolute incompatibility.
Commissioned by SCR, with a reading performed at the theatre’s 2007 Pacific Playwrights Festival, the play on the Segerstrom Stage weaves a tale about Anna's adult twins, Seth (Arye Gross) and Abby (Marin Hinkle) and their utter bewilderment when they learn their salty-tongued mother had once been sweetly involved with a paramour (Matthew Arkin) who revealed a shocking secret about his true identity.
Cast members and the Tony Award-winning (Broadway's Take Me Out) playwright mingled with First Nighters as they were serenaded by a strolling violinist and cruised tables offering tasty New York deli fare, including corned beef hash on Jewish rye crostini, pizza, cured salmon and chives with cream cheese quenelle on bagel chips, potato knish with mustard and babka bread pudding.
Also partying in the autumnal ambiance were members of SCR's Playwrights Circle, the play's honorary producers: Toni Berlinger, Michael Bertolino, Linda and Robert Hovee, Nancy and Kim Kelley, Barbara and Bill Roberts, Sally Anderson and Thomas Rogers and Nola Schneer.
Other members of The Playwrights Circle are: Steve Berlinger, Carol Bertolino, Yvonne and Damien Jordan and Bernice and Matthew Massengill.
