A THEATER SEASON FOR THE HERE AND NOW

For its 1985-86 season, South Coast Repertory Theatre will offer recent works by British, American and Canadian playwrights, as well as Shakespeare and Brecht, directors for the Costa Mesa-based company announced Wednesday.

Although the focus is on emerging playwrights, the 12-production season will open Sept. 10 with “Galileo,” Bertolt Brecht’s seldom-produced epic about the famed astronomer and his struggle to find truth.

“Galileo,” running through Oct. 13 on the theater’s Mainstage, will be the most expensive production of the season. According to theater co-founders and artistic directors Martin Benson and David Emmes, more than $100,000 of a $3.7-million budget for the year is expected to be spent on it.

Benson described the play, which Brecht wrote in 1938-39 and rewrote in 1947, as “commercially unviable, with too many characters (47), too many costumes and not enough dance numbers” to appeal to a mass audience.

But it’s worth producing, Benson said, because in this era of Star Wars diplomacy the play is so timely.

“ ‘Galileo’ deals with the pursuit of truth and not allowing truth to be shunted aside by political or religious pressures. It deals with the dangerous areas where research can take us,” such as the invention of the atomic bomb, he said.

Also on the season’s program are five new plays that will have their West Coast premieres in Costa Mesa:

“Before I Got My Eye Put Out,” a play by New Yorker Timothy Mason, will open on the Mainstage Oct. 22 and run through Nov. 24. “Unsuitable for Adults,” by British dramatist Terry Johnson, will play on the theater’s Second Stage next March 14 through April 6. “The Foreigner,” by Milwaukee playwright Larry Shue, is scheduled for the Mainstage Jan. 7 through Feb. 9.

“Jitters,” by Canadian dramaturge David French, whose “Salt-Water Moon” was staged at South Coast Repertory last January, will occupy the Mainstage May 20 through June 22. “Blue Window,” by New Yorker Craig Lucas, author of “Reckless,” will play on the Second Stage Sept. 27 through Oct. 20.

Also scheduled: “Buried Child,” Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a Midwestern farm family, on the Mainstage April 8-May 11, and Tina Howe’s “Painting Churches,” about a rising Boston painter and her family, on the Second Stage Nov. 8 through Dec. 1.

Of the new season, Benson said: “We feel the strength of the South Coast Repertory Theatre is in contemporary plays.” As part of its commitment to new works, the theater last year commissioned Mason’s “Before I Got My Eye Put Out,” a witty portrait of a novelist who has fled the New York publishing world for the Caribbean. (Directors would not say how much Mason was paid, but did say their commissions to new playwrights range from $5,000 to $10,000.)

Mason, 35, also wrote “In a Northern Landscape,” produced at the Cast-at-the-Circle in Hollywood last January. Emmes described him as “a new, emerging, important voice in American theater” whose talent South Coast Repertory wants to foster.

For all the company’s interest in new voices--and new plays--the company is also offering a couple of old chestnuts on the Mainstage: William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” Feb. 25-March 30, and its sixth annual holiday production of “A Christmas Carol,” Nov. 30-Dec. 24.

“As You Like It” was included “because we have a commitment to the classics, we’d never done it and its time has come,” Emmes said. Two other plays are still to be announced.

With the announcement of its coming season, the theater broke ground Wednesday night for an 11,000-square-foot addition to its Costa Mesa quarters.

The $1.5-million expansion will give the growing theater company a new board room, added rehearsal space, a larger costume shop and additional offices.

The new Artists Wing will be the first major addition since the Fourth Step Theatre complex was built in 1978 for $3.5 million. The theater company outgrew those quarters several years ago, and its first rehearsal hall became what is now the Second Stage in 1980.

Building funds are coming from the company’s Capital and Endowment Fund. The wing is expected to open in time for the 1986-87 season.

The 1985-86 season at a glance:

Mainstage

“Galileo,” by Bertolt Brecht, Sept. 10-Oct. 13.

“Before I Got My Eye Put Out,” by Timothy Mason (world premiere). Oct. 22-Nov. 24.

“The Foreigner,” by Larry Shue (West Coast premiere). Jan. 7-Feb. 9.

“As You Like It,” by William Shakespeare. Feb. 25-March 30.

“Buried Child,” by Sam Shepard. April 8-May 11.

“Jitters,” by David French (West Coast premiere). May 20-June 22.

Second Stage

“Blue Window,” by Craig Lucas (West Coast premiere). Sept. 27-Oct. 20.

“Unsuitable for Adults,” by Terry Johnson (American premiere). March 14-April 6.

“Painting Churches,” by Tina Howe. Nov. 8-Dec. 1.