‘VIRGINIA’ GETS ROOM OF HER OWN AT SOUTH COAST

The contrast between who we are and the consciousness that surrounds us has never been sharper than in the 20th Century. Of the numerous artists and thinkers who have addressed that topic, none has been more poetically detailed than the author Virginia Woolf, who is the subject of Edna O’Brien’s “Virginia,” opening Friday at South Coast Repertory’s Second Stage. Roger Berlinger, an associate director at the Old Globe in San Diego, directs, and has this to say:

“ ‘Virginia’ is a pastiche of the things she wrote and the things that were written about her, set in chronological order. It has excerpts from her novels and diaries and scenes between her and her husband, and her lover. The play is very faithful to her fluid conception that the only fixity in our lives is the past, and that we can only look at life through memory. Identity is not a fixed thing.”

Elaine Kendall took some respite from the heavy mantle of being a prominent local literary critic by writing a romantic comedy for the stage called “Prizes,” which played the Megaw Theater in 1979 and was later adapted into a musical. Her relationship with Megaw Artistic Director Elaine Moe proved satisfying enough that they collaborated on a musical about women in history called “Stepping Forward,” which played New York’s Quaigh Theatre earlier this year under the title “To Feed Their Hopes”; it opens Thursday at the Mayfair in Santa Monica.

“It’s based on part of a quartet of volumes by John Sanford,” Kendall said. “The first two volumes are about the exploits of men, the last is called ‘The Winters of That Country,’ and the third deals with women emerging from the background. The general theme is how women emerged from the background to being active instead of passive historical figures--though this is not a feminist tract. What I’d like ideally is not only people leaving the theater humming David Poore’s score, but talking and thinking--and saying, ‘I didn’t know that.’ ”

Kendall also wrote “Stepping Forward’s” lyrics.

Here’s a bold, or at least teasing, theatrical promise: Sondra Lowell’s notice for “Sleep, an 8-Hour One-Person Show” reads, “On Saturday, May 3 at midnight, Sondra Lowell will premiere her epic eight-hour show . . . at Sills & Co. . . . A musical version of the classic Andy Warhol film ‘Sleep’ offers Lowell a chance to stretch her talents and offers the audience a good night’s sleep.” Patrons are invited to bring their own blankets. Lowell notes that good theater can have a calming effect, “better than hot milk.” Performance begins at midnight, latecomers will not be admitted and the $10 fee includes Continental breakfast. Only Sondra Lowell, as Sondra Lowell fans will attest, would dare something like this amid today’s urban tensions. But even Lowell is not without circumspection. “My new show (plays) just one night,” she writes. “Any longer, people might move in permanently.”

For reservations and information, call (213) 665-7157. The bottom of the note reads: “Cheaper than the Holiday Inn.”

Director Jeff Seymour has had good luck over the past few years with his Gnu Theater (which he runs in partnership with Elizabeth Reilly). They did well with “Say Goodnight, Gracie,” and “Best Wishes” has moved from the Gnu over to the Callboard for a comfortable run. Michael Weller’s “Loose Ends” opens Thursday.

“Loose Ends” deals principally with a romantically involved young couple during the ‘70s. Time speeds by with such acceleration, it seems, that the ‘70s, which closed its doors 5 1/2 years ago, feels like an historical era.

“The play involves a lot of scene changes, since it moves through so many places,” Seymour said. “And that’s only one of our design problems. There are a lot of slides to cover the scene changes; you can’t shoot a street if you’re going to have an ’82 car in the picture. It’s been surprisingly difficult to keep the purity of the look. At the center of the play is the idea that even if you have a match that looks as though it’s been made in heaven, if you have a loose end, the whole thing can unravel.”

Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.

Other openings for the week include: today, Doris Baizley’s “Mrs. California” at the Coronet, “Forbidden Dreams” at the Cast; Wednesday, “The Greeks” at the Back Alley; Friday, “Rank, a Dangerous Comedy” at the Boyd Street Theater, “White Bread” at the Church in Ocean Park, “Second Stories” at the LACE Performance Gallery, “Veronica’s Room” at Long Beach Studio Theatre.