Martin Benson

Editor's note: This is the first of three columns chronicling the year 2011 in local theater. * South Coast Repertory's "The Trip to Bountiful" was described in this column a few months ago as "an engrossing journey with extraordinary performances that rank among the year's most noteworthy achievements" at SCR. As 2011 comes to a close, that assessment is particularly accurate when measured against the company's other...

Alex Coolman The movie was dopey, inane and inaccurate. "Gidget," which was released in 1959, was also a huge hit and it encouraged the blossoming of popular surf culture in the '60s in Newport Beach. "It was a combination of that, and [1966 surf movie] 'Endless Summer,"' said Bill Sharp, publisher of the Newport Beach-based surfing publication, "Surf News." Sharp noted that foam surfboards coincidentally began to replace heavy wooden boards during this period, meaning that every would-be Big Kahuna from here to Flagstaff suddenly found it easier to paddle into the surfing lifestyle.

"The Carpetbagger's Children," a play by American writer Horton Foote, opened last night on the Julianne Argyros Stage at South Coast Repertory Theatre. Foote joined SCR director Martin Benson in presenting the production to the local crowd. It is the story of three sisters reflecting upon their lives set in the South and based on roots traced back to Civil War memories. The cast stars Nan Martin, Linda Gehringer and Robin Pearson Rose in the three title roles.

Tom Titus When the lights first went up on South Coast Repertory, the company hadn't quite finished building its first theater, a renovated marine swap shop on the Balboa waterfront. So the company performed its farcical version of Moliere's "Tartuffe" at the old Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach. That was in February 1965, and Don Took -- or Tuche, as he was known then -- remembers it well. It was the beginning of a remarkable career, both for him for and the blossoming young theater company that has become an Orange County cultural icon and earned national and international respect.

Heralding the 2009-10 social season on the California Riviera, South Coast Repertory Theatre threw a most elegant ball Sept. 12 in Newport Beach. The Balboa Bay Club & Resort transformed its handsome ballroom into the perfect setting for “Nothing But Blue Skies…from now on.” The party theme was taken from the classic Hollywood film and title song written by Irving Berlin . Glamorous event Chairwoman Bette Aitken , wife of repertory board chairman Wylie Aitken, joined her committee in selecting a theme representing optimism in the face of difficult times.

Tom Titus South Coast Repertory may be getting a bit long in the tooth (37 years and counting, all but the first few in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach), but the company remains in the forefront when it comes to the introduction of new plays. For SCR's 2000-01 season, opening early in September, there are three world premieres on tap, along with a pair of West Coast premieres, balanced by three productions enjoying their second time around on the SCR stage.

Young Chang COSTA MESA -- A $19-million new theater is in the wings for 2002 at the South Coast Repertory, officials announced Tuesday. The theater company is more than half way to its five-year goal of raising $40 million to build the 336-seat stage, renovate existing facilities, save five years of annual operating costs and add to its endowment. The campaign has already raised $22.6 million, said Paul Folino, the theater's board president and campaign chair.

In the pantheon of the American theater, three playwrights rule supreme: Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams. Each produced an estimable body of work, including a hallmark by which each would forever be evaluated. For O'Neill, it was "Long Day's Journey Into Night"; for Williams, "A Streetcar Named Desire"; and for Miller, "Death of a Salesman." Miller, the sole survivor of the trio, enjoyed his greatest fame in the 1940s and '50s with such classics as "Salesman" and "The Crucible."