Excitement, Pride and Hype Are Plentiful at ‘Abundance’ Premiere

Beth Henley wasn’t about to be interviewed by the press before or after the world premiere of her play “Abundance” at South Coast Repertory on Friday night.

“She’s shy, an introvert,” a protective SCR director David Emmes explained at the post-performance bash staged for SCR supporters in the lobby.

But the words “I’m ecstatic!” were written all over the Pulitzer Prize-winner’s (“Crimes of the Heart”) face when she swept into the party in a demure dress to participate in photo hype with SCR benefactors.

Emmes probably spoke for both of them when he pronounced the play “powerful”--definitely this night’s buzzword.

“We’re honored to launch it onto the American scene,” he said. “Producers are flying in from all over the country to see it.”

In fact, Emmes said, four other major U.S. theaters had wanted to premiere “Abundance.” “Five top theaters in this country were sent the play, and all five wanted to do it. But we were chosen.”

As guests piled their plates with vittles--hush puppies, homemade potato chips and biscuits (a nod to the play’s western theme)--they critiqued the production that had kept them spellbound for 2 hours.

“I thought it was powerful,” Barbara Bowie said of the tale about two mail-order brides and the tough life they face in the Wyoming of 1868. “It was terrific! Thought-provoking.”

Earlier, at the pre-performance bash at the Center Club, guests were buzzing about the play’s title.

Orange County certainly knows what abundance is all about, said Larry Holt, a regional veep with AT&T;, the play’s honorary producer. “I’ve only recently moved here from New Jersey, and I’m already impressed with Orange County’s affluence.”

For SCR board President Ron Merriman, an example of Orange County’s abundance was the opportunity it had to premiere Henley’s play. “A world premiere in Orange County, California. How good can it get?”

Not much better, agreed Jim Coffman, another regional vice president of AT&T;, host of the party and donor of $15,000 to help underwrite the play. “This is AT&T;’s fourth consecutive year for underwriting a new work at SCR. And as long as we can keep our relationship strong, keep our foundation in New York involved and excited about what’s going on here, we’ll be able to continue. Let’s just say it was very helpful that SCR won a Tony Award last year for best regional theater in the country. That helped a lot.”

Out to Lunch: “I felt like I was in the middle of a Doris Day movie!” That’s what one fashionable guest said as she trotted out of the Irvine Hilton on Friday after attending “Spring in the Park.”

Indeed. The benefit, sponsored by the Sophisticates support group of the Assessment and Treatment Services Center, did seem to have all of the glamorous trappings of one of Doris Day’s ‘50s films: devilishly handsome men (hawking raffle tickets in black-tie and tennies), stunningly dressed women (blond chairwoman Maria Deremiah, for example, sported a boxy, white crepe ensemble by Anne Klein and pearly ropes a la Chanel), and pretty-as-a-picture food--salmon trickled with pesto sauce plus a dessert for which even Doris might have traded her wasp-size waist (mocha ice cream bombe presented in a swirl of caramel sauce).

And more: a Nordstrom-style show that began with a lineup of breathtakingingly chic mannequins, all artfully posed on a Ziegfeld-esque stairway. On parade were fashions fit for the ladies who lunch and dine (often back to back): day into evening black and whites--the color combo for spring--by Victor Costa, A.J. Bari and Nolan Miller; elegant blacks paired with triple-hot salmons and mustards by Donna Karan and Claude Montana, and pricey combos--dubbed “metro sizzle” in the program--by Gianfranco Ferre (one sexy, red wool wrap dress brought the SRO house down).

On the scene: Todd Nicholson, vice president of ATSC, a juvenile counseling program with the motto “Arrest the problem, not the child”; Martha Green, president of the Sophisticates; Beverly Salata; Mary Sabatasso; Darlene Drummond, and Nancy Weisbrod, Sophisticates treasurer, who, during lunch, gave her explanation for what makes a Sophisticate truly a sophisticate: “She’s a woman with the wherewithal to sit home and eat bonbons, but she doesn’t. She helps others.” Proceeds were estimated at $30,000.

Luncheon of Champions: The bold and unique fashions of D. N. Evans of Laguna Beach were on parade last Thursday at the Irvine Hilton. Proceeds of about $20,000 will go to Chariot Champions, a support group for the National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis. The foundation supports the annual Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp program. Jennifer Yelland was chairwoman. Actress Rhonda Fleming (looking drop-dead gorgeous), a part-time resident of Laguna Beach, was honorary chairwoman.