South Coast Repertory Slips in State Grant Ratings

For the first time in three years, Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory dropped in its numerical rating by an advisory panel that recommends theater troupes for state grants. A lack of adventuresome programming was cited as the chief reason for the drop.

The California Arts Council panel, which spent the week judging theaters’ artistic and organizational strengths, gave SCR a 4- on a four-point scale, according to Ray Tatar, council theater grants administrator. For the past three years, the troupe has received a top rating of 4.

The Fullerton Civic Light Opera--also criticized for a lack of innovation--and the Grove Theatre Company received half-point lower scores this year as well. The Orange County Black Actors Theatre and the Laguna Playhouse held even at 3+, the rating each received when they last applied for grants two years ago.

Drops in rank won’t necessarily mean reduced grants, Tatar noted. Grant sizes will be determined only after the council’s total budget is set this summer.

SCR will receive a second rating in July, for community outreach. Both ratings will then be factored into one final score. Last year, though SCR was praised for artistic strength, it was criticized for a lack of “ethnic diversity” on its board and staff, and it received an organizational support grant of $81,950, almost 25% less than the year before.

This year, its artistic side also has come under some fire.

“I think the panel felt that (SCR’s) Mainstage work could have been more adventuresome,” said Tatar, referring to productions presented in the larger of the troupe’s two halls.

Panelists felt that “Search and Destroy,” Howard Korder’s social critique about a man’s quest for meaning in his life, presented by SCR earlier this year, “was beautifully produced, and the acting was great, but it wasn’t really cutting-edge in terms of content,” Tatar said.

He noted, however, that none of the six major theaters ranked this year received a 4 rating. A major theater is defined as one with an annual budget of $1 million or more.