Plays for Everyone : Openings Range From ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘Tracers’ to ‘Inherit the Wind’ and ‘Tom Jones’

The most noteworthy stage event in the county this week may be the world premiere Friday of Robert Daseler’s “The Dragon Lady” at South Coast Repertory, but that’s hardly all the area’s theaters have to offer: On college campuses, the openings range from Tennessee Williams’ brittle, soulful “Streetcar Named Desire” to “Tracers,” in which a squad of faceless GI’s barely survive the Vietnam War.

There seems to be something of a Williams boom around here. Chapman College recently took on “Summer and Smoke,” and a fine production of “The Glass Menagerie” just ended at the La Habra Community Theatre. Now UCI continues the trend. William Woodman, whose credentials include work on PBS and the Arts & Entertainment cable network, is directing the school’s production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the classic story of brutal Stanley Kowalski and one of the most remarkable heroines in modern literature, Blanche DuBois.

Woodman thinks “Streetcar” is Williams’ greatest work, even more compelling than “Menagerie,” and he says he’ll try to emphasize the “brilliantly sensitive” writing. He hopes to remain true to the playwright’s intent--but not slavishly. Woodman said he wants to put his own mark on the show by introducing some abstract elements, especially while evoking Blanche’s genteel Southern past.

Woodman expressed confidence in his cast of students who, he said, have not just the skills but the maturity to make the production work. “I know there’s always the question of whether young people have enough life experiences to give depth to Williams’ characters,” he said, “but in this case I don’t think there’s a problem. Sarah (Salisbury, who plays Blanche) is 35 and Ken (Perkins as Stanley) and Stacy (Ross as Stella) are in their mid-20s.”

The play opens Thursday in the Fine Arts Village Theatre on the campus, where it will play through Saturday and again from Tuesday to May 13. Curtain is 8 p.m. with Saturday matinees at 2. Information: (714) 856-5000.

“Streetcar” takes place on a domestic battlefield; “Tracers,” at Fullerton College, takes us to a foreign one. Written by seven Vietnam veterans, it is an uncompromising work about the war and its effects on the soldiers who came back home. The all-student cast includes Randy Stripling of Anaheim, a 40-year-old Vietnam veteran. Instructor Pam RichardeCQ will direct.

Theater arts department spokesman Al Busch, warning that there will be “an abundance of strong language,” characterized the production as “powerful, unsettling.” It opens Thursday and continues through Sunday at the Studio Theatre on campus, and repeats Tuesday through May 14. Information: (714) 871-8101.

Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa pits evolution against creationism and Clarence Darrow against William Jennings Bryan with its production of the courtroom drama “Inherit the Wind,” starting Thursday in the Drama Lab Theatre on campus.

The play, which depicts the events surrounding the Scopes “monkey trial,” features 50 local actors, many of whom are students, some of whom are semipros. Director Alex Golson feels the play, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is “as topical and provocative today as it was when (it was) written, more than 30 years ago.” Curtain: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, with Sunday matinees at 4, through May 14. Information: (714) 432-5880.

Anton Chekhov’s classic “The Cherry Orchard” opens Thursday in the Studio Theatre on the Rancho Santiago College satellite campus, 13162 Newhope St., Garden Grove. The Rancho Santiago College Professional Actors Conservatory is presenting it in repertory with two one-acts by Eugene Ionesco. “The Cherry Orchard” plays through Saturday and May 11, 13, 19 and 20. Information: (714) 638-3104.

Golden West College in Huntington Beach is presenting “A Life in the Theater” by David Mamet, the dynamic author of such provocative plays as “American Buffalo” and “Glengarry Glen Ross.” This play, in which a young, hopeful actor exchanges thoughts with a cynical old-timer, is being staged in the Playbox theater on campus, Fridays and Saturdays this weekend through May 13. Information: (714) 895-8378.

Not all this week’s offerings are so serious. Coastline Community College in Corona Del Mar is presenting the British farce “Tom Jones” (adapted by David Rogers from the Henry Fielding novel) Fridays and Saturdays from this weekend through May 20. Information: (714) 751-9740.

Peter Shaffer’s slapsticky “Black Comedy” opens at Christ College in Irvine on Friday and continues through Sunday. The play follows the mishaps that befall a young man when an important night in his life is marred by a citywide black-out.

Musicals are being presented on two campuses. Cypress College offers “Oliver,” Lionel Bart’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,” Saturday, Sunday and next weekend in the Campus Theater. Information: (714) 826-4221. “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum” by Stephen Sondheim and Larry Gebhardt plays at Golden West College Fridays through Sundays through May 14, also starting this week. Information: (714) 895-8378.

Cal State Fullerton’s Kaleidoscope Players are presenting “Gold Fever,” a children’s show about the California Gold Rush, Friday through Sunday. Information: (714) 773-3371.

The opening of “Beyond the Orange Sky,” a Vietnam play by Larry McCauley of Fullerton at Illusion’s New View Theatre in Fullerton, has been postponed to May 12.