From Humble Beginnings

Thirty-five seasons at Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory make Martin Benson and David Emmes the longest-running artistic director act in American theater today. And Friday night’s “Tartuffe” premiere calls up memories of the ragtag version of the Moliere classic that marked their company’s debut.

The set for their 1964-65 touring production of “Tartuffe” was only 8 feet tall, so it could fit into someone’s living room. The backdrop was sewn from blue satin purchased for 35 cents a yard. Costumes and props were transported in the “Bear Hog”--Benson’s ’49 Chrysler--or a Studebaker Lark station wagon belonging to Emmes’ wife. On opening night, 80 people--45 of them friends--were handed an apple or orange as they entered Newport Beach’s Ebell Club, rented for $40 a night.

“Total receipts for the opening were $78,” says Emmes, perusing the original ledger in the impressive $7-million structure SCR has occupied since 1978. “One condominium booked us in its rec room for $100, which we considered a great gig--particularly since our actors, whom we paid nothing, got party leftovers to eat.”

Two performers, Don Took and Art Koustik, from the 1964 version are in the current cast, but that’s where the resemblance between the two productions ends. The original outing was an improvisational evening with audience participation--inspired by the San Francisco Mime Troupe. This time, the actors speak in rhymed couplets from an adaptation by American poet Richard Wilbur. Financially, too, the shows are light-years apart. The 1999 “Tartuffe,” directed by David Chambers, will cost $700,000 to mount--a $699,800 increase over the first. Costumes alone cost more than $50,000 after labor is added in.

“The original rough-edged concept worked to our advantage because people forgave us our sins,” says Benson, a 61-year-old former actor whose easygoing demeanor masks an underlying intensity, colleagues say. “This time, the actors face a different challenge: reciting lines without sounding formal and stilted.”

Though the play itself is a period piece, the subject, by any measure, is contemporary. The tale of a purportedly moral leader (Mark Harelik) who dupes his supporters and succumbs to libidinous impulses is the stuff of headlines today. Moliere’s jab at the hypocrisy of social conservatives, say the producers, provides another topical hook.

“In ‘64, we were going to retitle the production ‘Goldwasser’ to draw a link with Barry Goldwater, who was running for president,” says Benson--like Emmes, a former San Francisco State theater student whose progressive political leanings took root back then. “There are charlatans in the religious broadcasting community out there who will also feel attacked.”

In 1963, the pair harnessed some college acting pals and headed south to Long Beach. The next year, they relocated to Orange County, where Emmes had been raised. Being a “big fish in a little pond” worked in their favor, he says--as did the “zeitgeist of the regional theater movement.” Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater opened in 1963 and Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater in 1965. To two young entrepreneurs looking for a franchise, the barely developed Southern California dramatic landscape seemed like valuable virgin turf.

“Tartuffe” was performed only once in Moliere’s lifetime, since it was banned by the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the plays on SCR’s roster also target the establishment. The route is somewhat perilous, concede the producers, given the makeup of their subscriber audience. Eighty-nine percent are white. Seventy-one percent are older than 50. Thirty-six percent have a household income of $100,000-plus a year.

“Friends told us we’d be two liberals in a sea of rednecks,” recalls Emmes, 59, an amiable, dapper sort outfitted in a brown patterned shirt, coordinated slacks and stylish lace-up shoes. “Using the San Francisco’s Actors Workshop--started by San Francisco State professors Herbert Blau and Jules Irving--as a model, we were interested in a theater devoted to art. We wanted to lead the audience without getting so far ahead that people wouldn’t follow.”

Early on, the company imported works by Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett. On occasion, miscalculations were made.

“During the 1969-70 season, we presented Edward Bond’s ‘Saved,’ in which a group of boys stoned a baby in a carriage,” Benson recalls. “Buddy Ebsen--a strong supporter of our theater--and his family walked out, never to darken our door again.”

In the end, the high-wire act worked. SCR has never reported a deficit (“We only spend what’s in our cigar box,” says Emmes). An unusually high 70% of its $7.5-million annual operating budget comes from earned income--primarily ticket sales. The nonprofit operation has grown from a single $15-a-week employee to a staff of 68. The number of subscribers has risen from fewer than 100, when the theater opened, to 18,500 today.

A 1988 Tony for distinguished achievement by a regional theater was awarded to SCR. The company’s strong suit, by all accounts, is the development of new plays. Of the 335 pieces produced, about 70--including Craig Lucas’ “Prelude to a Kiss” and Beth Henley’s “Abundance”--have been world premieres. Providing a safety net is a $12-million endowment--one-sixth of which is earmarked for new work. Giving it an edge over Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep has a 161-seat Second Stage that’s ideal for off-center work.

Playwrights Richard Greenberg (“Three Days of Rain,” “Hurrah at Last”) and Donald Margulies (“Collected Stories,” “Dinner With Friends”) have been nurtured by the theater. So have Margaret Edson (“Wit”) and Amy Freed (“Freedomland”), whose work played off-Broadway to critical acclaim. Four plays commissioned by the theater for the 1996-97 season ended up in New York.

“That not only makes an impression on the provincial island of Manhattan, but increases our financial support,” Emmes observes.

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Emmes sold tickets for SCR’s original “Tartuffe.” Benson picked up a hammer and banged on the set. Though the two share a common artistic vision (favoring contemporary plays strong in language and wit), the division of responsibility persists. Benson, who “possesses superior motor skills,” says Emmes, concentrates on day-to-day operations. Emmes, as the more fiscally oriented of the two, focuses on the future.

They lunch together--at least three times a week at the nearby El Torito Grill. The restaurant holds their table until 12:10 p.m. to see if the tall, lanky duo will show up. Benson, wearing an athletic jacket and a black SCR cap, orders his version of the chicken taco salad (“guacamole instead of avocado slices--hold the cheese”). Emmes contents himself with tortilla soup. They still laugh at each other’s jokes and embellish the other’s statements.

Because coasting is a recipe for failure, they maintain, they’re constantly raising the bar. Part of a plan underway to expand the adjacent Orange County Performing Arts Center and SCR, Emmes says, is the construction of a new, expanded second stage. The team is also pursuing the possibility of co-producing new plays with other regional theaters. That’s in their own interest, they say, since it benefits emerging writers.

“We want to keep playwrights working in the theater,” Emmes says. “Too many are lost to film and TV. If we can put together three productions of a play in a year, the writer might say ‘I can live on this.’ ”

Benson, who directed the original “Tartuffe,” still directs three plays a year. He prefers human, sanguine material such as Eugene O’Neill’s “Ah, Wilderness!” Emmes is drawn more to intellectual pieces like Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia.” Different preferences are a key to their success, discouraging ego clashes, they suggest.

Though the pair won Theatre L.A.’s 1995 Lifetime Achievement Award, they have yet to apply the brakes.

“At the La Jolla Playhouse, the artistic director is in New York directing plays half the time,” Benson notes. “We’re a blue-collar operation, showing up for work every day. David finds time to travel. I fly a 1941 Stearman open cockpit biplane. Still, one or the other of us is always here. . . .

“We’re an artistic tag team,” Emmes says.

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“TARTUFFE,” South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Dates: Opens Friday. Regular schedule: Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Feb. 14. Prices: $28-$45. Phone: (714) 708-5555.