‘As Is’ Traces a String of Emotions Frayed by AIDS : Stage: The play addresses the tug of war between victims and those who must watch them die. It opens tonight in Laguna.

More than 1,200 AIDS cases were reported in Orange County last year, according to the county’s Health Care Agency. Tens of thousands more, though not afflicted with the disease, suffered all the same.

“As Is,” a play by William Hoffman, addresses the emotional tug of war between victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome and the friends and family who must watch them die. Directed by Sandy Silver, the Obie Award-winning play makes its Orange County debut tonight at 8 at the Laguna Forum Theatre in Laguna Beach, presented by the South Orange County Community Theatre. Proceeds will benefit Laguna Outreach, an educational organization for South County’s gay community, and Shanti, a Laguna Beach hospice for the terminally ill.

“As Is” is the story of Saul (portrayed by Michael Moon of Huntington Beach) and Rich (Dan Millington of Laguna), two successful gay men on the verge of ending a long-term relationship. When Rich learns he has AIDS, Saul is there for him. But many friends, family members and business associates turn away.

In a series of short scenes, both men struggle with the ravages of the disease and the rejection, while the victim’s friends and family come to terms with their own denial and fears. The play premiered at New York’s Circle Repertory in 1985.

“To me, the AIDS issues in the play are not as important as the human issues,” said B.J. Scott, the show’s producer and co-founder of South Orange County Community Theatre.

“In a lot of ways, this is the same thing people went through when there were typhoid and smallpox epidemics. We lived through it as a race and overcame it. The lesson here is that human compassion and the human spirit can survive.”

Plays that deal with homosexual themes are not unknown in Orange County--South Coast Repertory, for example, has produced Caryl Churchill’s “Cloud 9” and, more recently, Hugh Whitemore’s “Breaking the Code”--but few have addressed the issue of AIDS as directly as “As Is.”

“It’s a powerful topic . . . a play that I wouldn’t think of producing in some other parts of the county,” Scott said. “But I think the Laguna Beach audience will accept it very well.”

Laguna Beach had more than 150 reported AIDS cases last year, according to the Health Care Agency, the most in any city in the county.

Robert Brown, a Laguna Outreach board member who worked closely with Scott on the show, said he hopes that it will have an impact outside the city as well.

“A lot of people around Laguna are already familiar with this play,” Brown said. “The response we’re hoping for is that others not associated with the gay and lesbian community can see it and recognize that the characters in this play are simply people in distress. They happen to be dealing with AIDS, but life-threatening situations touch all of us in some form or another.

“It’s all a matter of education and experience,” he said. “Thirty years ago, people were scared to death to even go into the same house as someone with cancer.”

Besides its frank treatment of AIDS, Scott credited “As Is” with what she believes is a more accurate representation of homosexuality than is usually seen in popular entertainment.

“In a lot of theater and television, gays are portrayed as silly, much the way blacks were portrayed two decades ago,” she said. “But look around. These are professionals . . . talented people you see in every walk of life. Why is it OK to portray them as limp-wristed fools? They deserve the respect they’ve worked for.”

“As Is” marks the first fully staged production for the South Orange County Community Theatre, which has presented only play readings in a San Juan Capistrano neighborhood center since spring, 1989. The group plans to present at least two other fully staged shows later this year.

Covering production costs for “As Is” required a little fast thinking by Scott. Early in rehearsals, the show’s primary backer suddenly dropped out. Scott rallied the cast and presented an unstaged reading of the play for a handful of potential backers. By the end of the reading, two stepped forward, and a third had bought a houseful of tickets.

“The gay community has been very supportive,” Scott said. “We could all learn a lot from them about pulling together.”

William Hoffman’s “As Is,” presented by the South Orange County Community Theatre, opens tonight at 8 at the Laguna Forum Theatre, 650 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach and continues every Thursday through Saturday through Feb. 10. Tickets: $10. Information: (714) 248-0808.