Will ‘10’ Divided by 2 Equal Hit in O.C.?

Buck Stevens and Tom Amen met as students in the drama department at Saddleback College in 1984. Five years later, they had become good friends, had moved on to UC Irvine and had performed in five productions together. But they’d never appeared in the same scene.

So they decided to take things into their own hands, renting the Cabrillo Playhouse in San Clemente and taking the main roles in “True West,” Sam Shepard’s hard-edged tale of two battling brothers. Last year they returned, bringing Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” to the stage.

Now they’re back--well on their way to becoming a summertime institution in this sleepy seaside town. This time, they’ve unearthed four rarely performed Williams one-acts for a program they’re calling “10” (which is how Williams sometimes signed his name). It opens tonight and continues through July 20.

The plays, from early in Williams’ career, are “Talk to Me Like the Rain . . . ,” “Auto-Da-Fe,” “The Long Goodbye” and “The Lady of Larkspur Lotion.” They were chosen partly because of the pair’s love for Williams, and partly for more practical reasons: Stevens had directed “True West,” Amen had directed “Menagerie,” and there was some question as to who’d get to direct this year. With four one-acts, each could direct two, and perform a leading role in the other two.

“As soon as we had the idea, it was like, ‘Yeah, this is it,’ ” says Stevens, a 27-year-old San Juan Capistrano resident.

All four plays are character studies with juicy roles and are further interesting for their places in the Williams oeuvre, Stevens says. “The Long Goodbye” and “Auto-Da-Fe” foreshadow “The Glass Menagerie,” while the main character in “The Lady of Larkspur Lotion” is an early prototype for Blanche Du Bois in “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

“10,” like Amen and Stevens’ previous productions here, is independent of the Cabrillo’s regular subscription season, which ended in the spring. That means Amen and Stevens are responsible for every aspect of their show, from renting the theater to casting the plays to handling publicity and scenic design to cleaning up at night.

“It’s a lot of work,” acknowledges Amen, also 27, of Dana Point. “But it’s great, because you learn so much.”

“And,” adds Stevens, “you call the shots.”

Though used to somewhat lighter fare than Shepard and Williams (and though “True West” did draw a few letters complaining about the violence on stage), the Cabrillo audience has been generally supportive of the summer productions; there even have been some sold-out nights.

Renting the theater for a percentage of the receipts, which usually are just enough to cover operating expenses, Amen and Stevens know they’re not going to live on whatever they make in San Clemente. But, as Amen says, “Hey, I’d pay to do this.”

“10,” an evening of four one-act plays by Tennessee Williams, opens tonight and continues Wednesdays through Saturdays through July 20. Curtain: 8 p.m. Tonight’s performance is a benefit for the H. Wynn Pearce memorial scholarship fund at Saddleback College, with tickets priced at $25 ($40 per couple). Tickets during the rest of the run will cost $9 and $10. Information: (714) 489-1264.