‘Beekin’ brings a piece of O.C. onstage

Young Chang

Playgoers from Orange County may feel a little tweaked sitting in the

audience for playwright Richard Greenberg’s comedy premiere “Everett

Beekin” at South Coast Repertory.

They’ll probably laugh at their own expense at the play, which is

partially set in Orange County.

They might even recognize the shopping center bridge that a character

gives tours of in the play.

It’s an awful lot like the unity bridge over Bristol Street that

connects South Coast Plaza to the Orange County Performing Arts Center

and the South Coast Repertory.

And even playgoers from outside the county will probably understand

exactly what the playwright is saying about contemporary American

suburban life.

“It seems to be just a comedy, but it’s a play that sneaks up on you

emotionally,” said Jerry Patch, dramaturge at SCR. “You really don’t

understand what the play is about until the end of the play. Then a

lightbulb goes off. It’s a certain kind of realization about families and

how our lives with our families make us feel.”

“Everett Beekin,” Greenberg’s sixth commissioned play for SCR since

the 1980s, will be on the boards of the theater’s mainstage Sept. 8

through Oct. 8.

The production process for “Beekin” started a little less than two

years ago. The six-member cast has been practicing for about three weeks,

Patch said.

The play will be polished through the previews starting today.

“You never know until the audience gets in,” Patch said. “We’ll watch

where they laugh, where they don’t laugh. That’s how we learn.”

“Beekin” starts out in 1940s New York following an immigrant family.

In the second act, future generations of the family live in 1998 Orange

County, trying to adjust to Southern California.

Greenberg wanted to create a bi-coastal play that compared and

contrasted the two areas.

New York and Orange County both have suburbs filled with families and

their dramas.

But compared with New York, Orange County has very little history or

culture, said Patch, who has worked with Greenberg for about 12 years.

New York has Harlem, the Upper East Side and the German and Jewish

communities.

“We don’t,” he said. “The closest thing we have is the barrio in Santa

Ana.”

Adam Scott has a leading role in the play.

“It has this depth of feeling to it that’s very striking,” he said.

“The material has this wonderful density to it.”

Scott, whose television credits include “Party of Five,” “E.R.” and

“NYPD Blue,” said Greenberg is quickly becoming one of his favorite

playwrights.

“[‘Everett Beekin’] is storytelling in the best American tradition,”

Scott said.

FYI

* What: “Everett Beekin”

* When: Previews today through Thursday. Regular performances from

Sept. 8 through Oct. 8. Performance times are at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday

through Sunday, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.

* Tickets: Previews cost $18 to $39. Regular performances are $28 to

$49. Sept. 9’s matinee will be a pay-what-you-will performance, but a $5

minimum is suggested.

* Where: South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

* Call: (714) 708-5555.