On Theater: Something old, something new at Vanguard

A pair of classics and a pair of world premieres highlight the upcoming 2012-13 theater season at Vanguard University.

Currently, the Costa Mesa college is winding up its first of two summer professional shows under the American Coast Theater Co., “The Taming of the Shrew,” which closes this weekend.

The second ACTC production, the West Coast premiere of the romantic comedy “Enlightenment.com,” opens July 27 and will play through Aug. 12.

After less than a month’s respite, Vanguard’s students get back into the act with the world premiere of “Love Makes the World Go Round,” described as “a musical revue about the joys, tensions and rhapsodies of love.”

The show was created by, and will be directed by, Vanguard’s resident musical specialist Vanda Eggington, who promises a “wildly clever musical revue” that will go “well beyond your wildest expectations.” It opens Sept. 14 and will play for three weekends.

The newbie will be followed by one of the classics, Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors,” opening Oct. 26 and running for three weekends under the direction of Susan K. Berkompas. She describes the show as a farce “driven by coincidence and slapstick,” centering on two sets of twins accidentally separated at birth who “tip the dominoes into wild sets of circumstances and mishaps.”

Another old timer, arriving Nov. 30, is “Little Women,” Marian De Forest’s dramatization of the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott. Director Kevin Slay notes that “Alcott’s four beloved and indomitable sisters endure their hardships and reveal what is truly important in life.”

The second world premiere on the schedule is “Development” by Warren Doody, described as “a drama that plumbs the depths of human minds and hearts.” Focusing on a medical clinic in the Mojave Desert, the play “reveals the nature and tragedy of schizophrenia” and “the potentially healing powers of family,” according to Berkompas, who will direct.

The musical comedy “Hairspray” winds up the 2012-13 season, opening April 13, 2013, under the direction of Eggington. It’s set in Baltimore of the 1960s and centers on its plus-size heroine, Tracy Turnblad, who wins a spot on a local TV dance program and becomes famous overnight.

All Vanguard University productions are presented in the school’s Lyceum Theater at 55 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa. Ticket information for all shows may be obtained by calling the box office at (714) 619-6424.

TOM TITUS covers local theater for the Daily Pilot.