Settling Accounts With Business World
Corporate donors to the Orange County Performing Arts Center were honored Sunday at a black-tie dinner held in the Jewel Court of South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa.
Underwritten and staged by Rockwell International, the four-course feast was one of several events planned for the center’s 10th anniversary year.
Transforming a Retail Center
As hundreds of shoppers watched during the day, members of the dinner committee turned the Jewel Court into a ballroom of sorts, dotting tree planters with sprays of white orchids and topping skirted tables with Limoges china, sterling silver flatware and vases filled with roses, snapdragons and hydrangeas.
When guests weren’t dining or being serenaded by violinists, they were ogling the two-story photo mural arranged on the balcony areas of the retail center. On view until Oct. 1 are supernovae who have performed in Segerstrom Hall: Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Cecilia Bartoli, Carol Channing and more.
“I shot the ballet performances you see up there,” said a proud Kathi Kent, center photographer.
A Menu to Remember
The Four Seasons Hotel of Newport Beach whipped up a banquet for 120 guests, including dinner hosts Donald R. Beall, Rockwell International CEO, and his wife, Joan.
A first course of spicy corn chowder with smoked mushrooms was followed by a salad of baby fresh greens topped with sesame-crusted, seared ahi. The main course was filet of beef with merlot sauce and charcoal-broiled Pacific salmon with dill sauce. Also: baby veggies, truffle-mashed potatoes and creme bru^lee topped with passion fruit and raspberry sauce.
(Hostess hint: To encourage conversation, Joan Beall made sure dinner place cards held guests’ names on both sides--one facing outward so guests wouldn’t have to wonder about someone’s name.)
Corporate Support
“Our goal tonight is to thank the corporate community in Orange and Los Angeles counties for their support,” said Joan Beall, a center board member, “and also to introduce the center to other members of corporate community.”
Said Donald Beall: “This is Rockwell’s way of thanking the corporate community and enticing other members of the corporate community to get involved.”
Guests included center chairman Mark Johnson (who gave a tribute to Charles
Hester, a board member who died last week) and Barbara Hiller; Susan and Timothy Strader; Dee and Larry Higby; Carol Hoffman; Larry and Trudy Eisele; Jo Qualls; Olga and Fernando Niebla; John and Elizabeth Stahr; Kent and Carol Wilken; Catherine Thyen; and Ygal and Sheila Sonenshine.
*
Imax 3-D Opening
An open-to-the public preview of the new Imax 3-D Theater at the Spectrum Entertainment Center in Irvine will be March 14.
A screening of “Wings of Courage” and “Into the Deep,” benefiting the Orange County Public Schools Fund of the Orange County Community Foundation, is available at $35 per person. Show times are 4:15 and 8:45 p.m. Call (714) 551-1361 or 548-4942.