THEATER REVIEWS : ‘DRIVING MISS DAISY’ : Awake at the Wheel : The Santa Susana Repertory Company offers a fine production in the former Simi Valley Courthouse.

There’s a company playing “Driving Miss Daisy” at the former Simi Valley Courthouse.

Yes, the Santa Susana Repertory Company is aware of the irony of the situation. Director Lane Davies addresses the subject in his program notes: “I had already been struck by the perverse coincidence of rehearsing a play which deals so deftly and gently with racial issues . . . while the Rodney King trial was in session in the new courthouse a few blocks away. I was caught totally off guard by the madness that ensued.”

Regardless, the play, the film version of which was awarded Oscars in 1989 for best picture, best actress, adapted screenplay and makeup, runs through June 7. The show, after all, must go on.

That’s the good news and the bad news. Under the circumstances, there’s a troubling question of taste involved in presenting the play’s rather benign portrayal of racial situations in the South (Atlanta, specifically) between 1948-’74: Miss Daisy, a woman of advancing years who is unable to drive, takes on a black chauffeur who is about the same age. There are spats between them; after all, both Daisy and Hoke are contrary old coots.

But everybody knows his place (Daisy and her son, Boolie, are Jewish, with attendant problems of their own), and everybody generally gets along just fine. There is one, fleeting reference to segregation.

More sensitive, and probably more accurate, is playwright Alfred Uhry’s vision of the problems of aging.

The good news is that it’s a fine production, with a uniformly excellent cast.

All three players are performers with impressive professional credits; what Patience Cleveland, Beau Billingslea and director Davies--who also plays Boolie--have in common is that all of their resumes include regular duty on the soap opera “Santa Barbara.”

Cleveland, who co-starred in the company’s recent version of “The Foreigner,” and Billingslea play Daisy and Hoke with just the right combination of dignity and sass. Neither is anybody’s fool, and their evolving relationship is a love story of sorts.

Davies, who played a Southern preacher in “The Foreigner,” makes more than might be expected of the relatively thinly written part of Daisy’s son; carrying this off as well as directing with such sensitivity and wit is quite an accomplishment.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Driving Miss Daisy” continues through June 7 at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center (in the former courthouse), 3190 Cochran St. in Simi Valley. Performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 8; Sundays at 2 p.m. General admission tickets are $12; $8 for students and seniors; and $6 for children, with special rates for groups of 10 or more. For reservations or further information, call 582-9000.