THEATER:Shakespeare inspires

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a series of four columns reviewing the year 2006 in local theater.

William Shakespeare hasn’t written anything of note in about 500 years, but one of his tragedies topped the 2006 list of local collegiate theater productions, and one of his comedies inspired the next most-impressive show.

Vanguard University’s brilliant staging of “Othello” proved to be the top production among the three local college drama departments. Directed by Susan Berkompas, it offered a searing, modern-dress rendition of the age-old story of the tragic effects of jealousy.

Runner-up was UC Irvine’s lively staging, by director Robert Cohen, of the musical “Kiss Me, Kate,” inspired by Shakespeare’s rousing comedy “The Taming of the Shrew.” Finishing third was another musical, Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins,” produced at Orange Coast College under the direction of Beth Hansen.

Other stellar local college productions, in no particular order, in 2006 were “The Cripple of Inishmaan” and “Orpheus Descending” at UCI, “The Boys Next Door” and “The Secret Garden” at Vanguard and “Sly Fox” and “Scapino” at OCC.

No individual performance was more powerful during the year than Baron Kelly’s interpretation of the title role in Vanguard’s “Othello,” but Kelly and his Iago, Paul Eggington, are professionals, not students, so a higher level of performance would be expected.

Among Vanguard’s student performers, top honors were nailed by Michael Mulligan in “The Secret Garden” and Brianna Sehorn in the title role of “Saint Joan.”

Others making strong impressions at the Costa Mesa college were Kathryn Scott in “Blazing Guns at Roaring Gulch,” Donna Johnson in both “The Boys Next Door” and “Saint Joan,” Andrew Visokey in “The Boys Next Door” and Jennifer Nelson and Jeff Fazakerley for “The Secret Garden.”

Fazakerley also impressed in “Othello.”

Jason Vande Brake played swaggering actors in both “Kiss Me, Kate” and “The Marriage of Miss Hollywood and King Neptune” at UCI, excelling comically on both counts.

The most impressive individual performance by an actress was that of Christa Mathis in “Orpheus Descending,” although Caitlin McGinty came quite close in “Kiss Me, Kate.”

Others leaving strong impressions at UCI were Laura Simms, Benjamin Mathes and Kyra Zagorsky for “Orpheus Descending”; Lauren Gira for “Kiss Me, Kate”; Mark Bedard, Scott Reardon and Jennifer Evans for “The Cripple of Inishmaan”; Sean Spann and Katie Duthler for “Miss Hollywood”; and Nylda Ria Mark for “La Celestina.”

At OCC, Sean Engard’s captivating performance in “The Cage” proved the most compelling, along with Scott Ratner’s merry murderer in “Assassins.” Katie McGuire was a riveting Squeaky Fromme in “Assassins,” while Emily Meade impressed in “The Cage.”

Additional performances of renown at Orange Coast in 2006 included Devri Richmond and Amy Abbasca for “The Great Nebula in Orion”; David Chorley for “Scapino”; Michael Cavinder, Brendon Kondratcyk and Karen Merrill for “Assassins”; and the quintet of James Barrett, Tim Zimmer, David Cowan, Patrick Koffel and Dan Barnard for “Sly Fox.”

Which two individuals left the most indelible marks on local theater during 2006?

That question will be answered from this column’s perspective next week when the Daily Pilot’s 33rd annual man and woman of the year in theater are named.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Fridays.