Fullerton Troupe’s Vietnam Play Gets Lost in Edinburgh Shuffle

A Fullerton College acting troupe came to the Fringe Festival here planning to dazzle British audiences with its Vietnam War melodrama, “Tracers.”

Unfortunately, troupe member Steve Spehar said, “Over here, they’re more interested in the Falklands thing.”

Indeed, by the time its production ended Saturday, the troupe, accustomed to playing to sold-out audiences in Fullerton College’s 180-seat Studio Theater, considered itself lucky to draw an audience in double digits.

“We though we’d blow them away,” Spehar said, but “we’ve had as few as three people come to our shows here. Honestly, I thought it was going to be easier.”

The troupe came to Edinburgh at the suggestion of John DiFusco, the author of “Tracers.” Impressed by a performance by the students that he saw “on a whim,” he chose the Fullerton group over a semiprofessional San Diego company to present the play’s Edinburgh premiere.

The decision to come to Edinburgh was late, however, and that caused the troupe several misfortunes. Its venue--an 18th Century Masonic temple known as Abbotsford Hall--is far from the city center and gets little foot traffic. The play’s scheduled time of 2:30 p.m. is inconvenient for many theatergoers here, who tend to prefer comedy over tragedy, anyway.

Perhaps worst of all, the troupe decided to come after the official program had been sent to the printer; thus, few of about 300,000 visitors who came to the festival had any idea that the Orange County entry was even here.

To drum up attention, Spehar and Daniel Michaelson, both 22 and from Anaheim, took to the Scottish capital’s cobbled streets in their “Tracers” costumes. While perhaps unwise from a health standpoint--cloudy skies and freezing rain are the norm here this summer--two young men dressed for duty in the sweltering jungle of Indochina did draw attention as they tried to pass out flyers in front of centuries-old Gothic churches and plazas.

Still, they found themselves competing with equally determined delegations from nearly 1,000 competing productions. Dressed as Shakespearean characters, as Georgian aristocrats or simply wearing T-shirts with obscene and provocative slogans, these performers desperately try to draw an audience from a skeptical crowd.

“We’ve kind of given up on the idea of making money on this, or even breaking even,” Michaelson said one morning last week, having sold five tickets at about $5 each--and given away 20.

While they have lowered their expectations of establishing an international reputation with this trip, the 18 members of the Fullerton group--who spent $28,000 to appear here, most of it raised through donations and benefits--said they are learning much through their exposure to both the United Kingdom and a major theatrical festival.

“Their comedy is even more vulgar than ours,” a surprised Michaelson said. “I went to a show called ‘The Enema Within.’ ” He then described a performance that cannot be related in a family newspaper.

“The people there were cracking up. I guess it’s because the British are so restrained all the time--they want their theater to shock them.”

On the social side, the troupe has had its share of adventures, as well. Nicholas Boicourt Jr., 23, of Fullerton found himself forced to defend U.S. honor in a local public house.

“These English gentlemen--they were quite ‘pissed,’ as they say here--noticed my UC Berkeley sweat shirt and started saying things about Americans,” Boicourt said. The laborers complained about everything from U.S. policy in Central America to the perceived popularity of American men among local women.

“Eventually, I was forced to go outside and have a confrontation,” he said. Blows were exchanged, and a local gent went down. Pub patrons, tired of the obnoxious laborers, cheered Boicourt.

Others have had more peaceful encounters with British culture. David Amitan, 20, the “Tracers” stage manager, had feared that British TV programs would pale in comparison to American ones: “I thought there’d be no TV worth watching--it would all be documentaries about milk or something.”

Instead, to his delight, Amitan found that “they really have great TV; they have a lot of American shows, and they’re really open about profanity and sex over here.”

While many troupe members came with ideas of what Scotland would be like, they discovered that few Scots had even heard of Orange County.

“They’ve heard of California and they’ve heard of L.A., but you say ‘Orange County,’ and they just say, ‘Huh?’ ” Boicourt said. “We have to tell them we live over by Disneyland. They’ve heard of that.”

Members of the Fullerton College “Tracers” troupe will discuss their experiences in Scotland on Sept. 15 at 11 a.m. at the Fullerton College Studio Theatre . Admission: free. Information: (714) 992-7425.