R. S. V. P. / ORANGE COUNTY

Under The Stars

The Grove Shakespeare Festival hosted a party and poetry reading at the Festival’s Garden Grove amphitheater on Monday, raising an estimated $20,000 through ticket sales and donations, according to managing director Barbara Hammerman. About 185 people paid $125 each for cocktails and a gourmet dinner served in a courtyard across from the theater, then moved across the park at dusk to hear selections from the Bard’s rhymes and rages. An additional 220 guests bought $50 tickets for the performance, dubbed “A Midsummer Night’s Eve at the Grove.”

The Star

Among the six actors who mingled with guests at dinner and then shared the starlit stage was local-girl-done-good Kelly McGillis, a Juilliard-trained actress as well as an above-the-title movie star. McGillis stuck by her husband, Fred Tillman, and Thomas F. Bradac, Grove’s producing artistic director, for most of the party--at least until she was called up to a podium to address the clearly smitten guests. She kept it brief. “I believe in the classics, and I believe in language,” she said, praising the theater for giving “young people a chance to be exposed to Shakespeare.” She called Bradac, who was her drama teacher at Newport Harbor High school, “the reason I became an actress--much to my parents’ dismay.” And she said she hoped she’d be able to do a play at the Grove (that worked like an applause sign on her rapt audience). After a minute or two with all eyes on her, McGillis smiled and said she had to go get ready for the show. “I don’t have much to do,” she added, laughing, “but stop shaking.” The other performers--all of whom have acted in Grove productions--were uniform in their praise of McGillis. “She’s just been a real pleasure to work with,” said actress Kamella Tate, who dined with her parents, Tom and Donna Tate, and date Paul Yeuell. “This isn’t some movie person saying, ‘Hey, I think I’ll try this,”’ said actor Daniel Bryan Cartmell. “She’s a real Shakespearean actress. She knows what she’s doing up there.” Also taking part in the reading were John Frederick Jones, Gregory Itzin and Carl Reggiardo.

Who Was There

While musicians played period pieces and Elizabethan-garbed merrymakers strolled the courtyard, guests lined up for buffet helpings of prime rib, shrimp scampi, pasta with pesto, marinara and clam sauces, Ceasar salad, fresh fruit and desserts. Among those alfresco-ing were proud papa Don McGillis, Leo and Virginia Zlaket, Donna Connelly, Kathryn and Paul McKee, Jean and Phil Darling, Jeanne Delp and Jeanette Justice, president of the theater’s board of trustees. The party was chaired by David Krebs, whose committee included Greg Devereaux, Patricia Negrino, Jane Oglesby, Joan Peters, Alicia Dorman, Joe Bernhardt, Tom Moon, Carol Hoffman and Billur Wallerich.

In a brief, thickly accented speech from the podium, French artist Jean Pol d. Franqueuil recounted how, when he decided to make a painting to donate to the party, he didn’t know anything about Shakespeare “except what you learn in school.” But he wanted to take part, so he went to the library and spend hours poring over texts and illustrations. “Now,” Franqueuil said, “old William and I--we are good buddies.”