SCR Awarded $112,500 NEA Grant : Arts: The repertory will soon decide whether to accept the federal subsidy, which requires a pledge not to produce ‘obscene’ works.

South Coast Repertory has been awarded $112,500 from the National Endowment for the Arts--the largest 1990 NEA allotment so far to an Orange County arts group--and will decide whether to accept the federal subsidy on Wednesday at a trustees meeting.

To protest a requirement that this year’s grantees agree not to produce or present any work that could be considered obscene, the Arts Institute of Southern California has rejected its NEA grant and the Newport Harbor Art Museum has sued the NEA. Several Orange County organizations, while accepting their awards, have written to protest the rule.

David Emmes, SCR’s producing artistic director, would not predict what action trustees may take but expressed optimism that an end to the nationwide NEA controversy might come soon.

NEA Chairman John E. Frohnmayer said this week that a solution may be near and that he was encouraged by such recent events as a Senate panel’s decision to approve a bill that would extend the NEA for another five years without requiring grantees to sign anti-obscenity certifications.

“More reasonable heads seem to be prevailing in Congress, and it looks as if there may a satisfactory resolution to this conflict,” Emmes said. “That would have some bearing on how our deliberations will go on Wednesday.”

The Newport Harbor Art Museum, which hopes to win its federal lawsuit rather than reject its NEA funds, has been awarded three grants totaling $100,000, the county’s second-largest 1990 NEA subsidy to date.