Theater longevity

Congratulations are in order to David Emmes and Martin Benson of South Coast Repertory for entering their 40th season bringing theater to Southern California. In just 30 more years, they will match the record of another theater landmark, the Long Beach Playhouse.

The playhouse, in 2004, will be entering its 75th year of bringing live theater to the Long Beach area, quite a record when you consider how many theaters have come and gone in that time.

Of course, the Long Beach Playhouse doesn’t have a multimillion-dollar endowment like SCR, but it does follow the same model of offering quality mainstream fare on its 250-seat main stage while also providing more cutting-edge and/or original productions on its 99-seat Equity second stage.

The Long Beach Playhouse is lucky to have the loyal following that has kept it in business for so long. Maybe in 2004, Calendar will think about giving it the same kind of space you gave those “youngsters” down in Costa Mesa.

Richard Meese

Garden Grove