This Time, the Place’s the Thing : Theater: Orange County Light Opera stages productions at such venues as a courthouse, a ship, and even a zoo.

“Trial by Jury” at the Old County Courthouse in Santa Ana. “Two by Two” at the Santa Ana Zoo. “On the High Seas” aboard the tall ship Pilgrim in Dana Point Harbor.

There, in a nutshell, are this season’s offerings from Orange County Light Opera Co.--and three examples of company president Marti Klein’s take on “environmental theater.”

Think of it as a permanent change of venues.

“I’m not going to say we’re the originators, but we’re the first in Orange County to do it,” said Klein, whose production of Richard Rodgers’ “Two by Two,” a musical comedy about Noah’s Ark, is running through Aug. 6 in the amphitheater of the Santa Ana Zoo, near the petting zoo.

“It’s been very hard [for us] to find a theater to rent in Orange County, so you become very creative,” Klein said. “It turns out there are all these wonderful locations not being taken advantage of--most publicly owned, so we’re actually channeling money back into the economy. With the fiscal crisis, I’d rather do that than pay a private party if we can help it.”

Risky business, it turns out.

“We signed the courtroom a week before the big crisis [with Orange County’s bankruptcy] occurred, and we were worried--Would we lose it?” Klein recalled. “No, they were quite happy to have the revenue.”

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Pairings of topic and locale are actually a new development for the still-fledgling group. Its first show, Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Mikado,” took place at Westminster Cultural Arts Center in February, 1993. Original revues and other Gilbert & Sullivan productions were staged at Gem Theatre in Garden Grove and South Orange County Community Theater in San Juan Capistrano.

The first environmental matchup, last September, was “On the High Seas,” a revue of songs and scenes from Gilbert & Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” and “The Pirates of Penzance,” aboard the brig Pilgrim during the Tall Ship Festival. That production will be reprised during and following this year’s festival. “Trial by Jury” went to court in March. Klein said she’s keeping her eyes open for a Japanese garden in which to stage “The Mikado.”

Fiscal crises aren’t the only drawbacks when it comes to such locations. There are no dressing rooms, no sound systems, no lighting . . . no stage!

“And where do you put the audience?” Klein asked. “In the courtroom we put them in the visitors gallery. But what about a boat? And where do you store your props? These are all the things you take for granted in a theater.

“In court, 25 people singing sounded like 100 or 200--the acoustics were a nightmare. There can also be logistic concerns--maybe you’ve only got 10 square feet to move in. But you learn to deal with those things.

“At the zoo, we found an amphitheater,” she noted. “Somebody asked why we didn’t do this in the petting zoo, but I don’t recall that Noah kept animals in his bedroom.”

For Klein, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

“It feels much more real, more real than any set could ever be,” she said. “And it’s a lot more fun. We can literally have people leap off the side of a boat, we can run up and down the gangplank.”

Klein staged “Two by Two” to mark the 25th anniversary of the show’s opening on Broadway with Danny Kaye. Her production features a cast of eight, two of whom are new to the group, and one of whom is Klein. No name stars, that’s a definite.

Which brings up the big question: financing.

“Money, oh boy,” Klein said. “At this point it is entirely ticket revenues. No affiliation with any city or organization. . . .

“We started with $200 out of my checking account,” she said. “Our first set was dyed bed sheets. That was ‘Mikado,’ and it was a lovely set. We showed a 250% profit on our total show budget--$5,000 on a show that cost $2,000.

“It would be nice to have grants and things--the thing about ticket revenue [only], if you’ve been rained out, or if you’re hit by the riots as we were a couple of years ago, it’s a lot more frightening. If we don’t raise enough revenue, how do we pay the bills?”

Probably two by two, in Klein’s case.

“We’ve become masters at stretching the dollar,” she said. “For this production, Nabisco has donated several cases of endangered-animal cookies. We’re selling those as a fund-raiser.”

* The Orange County Light Opera Company presents Richard Rodgers’ “Two by Two” in the amphitheater of the Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park, 1801 E. Chestnut Ave., Santa Ana. Through Aug. 6. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Evenings, $12; matinees, $10. (714) 440-9122.