13-Year-Old Actor Shows SCR He’s No ‘Scrooge’

When South Coast Repertory honors contributors tonight at its annual dinner in Costa Mesa, a 13-year-old boy from Corona del Mar will share the podium with some big names in corporate arts patronage.

“We think it’s neat that someone so young has joined a tradition of giving,” Bonnie Hall, SCR’s director of development, said Monday of Adam Greenfield, who dipped into his bank account and gave the theater company $500.

Greenfield says the idea for a donation came to him last Christmas while he was playing multiple roles--young Ebenezer Scrooge and Oliver Shelley--in “A Christmas Carol” on the SCR Mainstage. But he didn’t have any money to give until his bar mitzvah in May, when he received presents from relatives.

Having taken acting classes at SCR’s Young Conservatory, Greenfield felt he owed a debt of gratitude. “The Conservatory is the best thing that has happened to me,” he explained. “I have so much fun there. The kids around here are mainly interested in the beach. I get along with them, but we don’t have the same interests.”

SCR expects about 200 people to attend the dinner, which will be held at the theater. Others to be honored include Target Stores ($30,000 for the Young Conservatory Players); Mervyn’s ($28,000 for educational touring shows); American Express ($25,000 for new plays and “Prelude to a Kiss”); and AT& T ($15,000 for “Golden Girls”).