One grain at a time

Tom Titus

One thing there’s no shortage of in this part of the world is sand.

From Seal Beach to San Clemente, the coastline abounds in the stuff.

But if you’re putting on a play that’s set on a beach and need, say, a

few tons of it for your setting, be prepared to break out the checkbook.

That’s what director Terri Miller Schmidt found out when she started

looking for the sand required for her play, “Coastal Disturbances,” which

opened this weekend at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse.

“You can’t take any of the sand from the beach,” Schmidt said. “It’s

like the landscaping. It’s city property.”

So, the playhouse wound up shelling out $900 to have 151 bags of sand,

at 125 pounds each, moved from Quality Building Supply in Huntington

Beach to the back door of the Civic Playhouse, where it now covers the

entire stage of the theater where the Tina Howe play is unfolding.

“The sand is like a 10th character in the play,” Schmidt said. “When

the actors first started walking on it, they were dropping lines and

missing entrances.”

Actually, the “Coastal Disturbances” cast members had gone through a

dry, or rather sandy, run. Schmidt took them down the coast to Moss Point

in Laguna Beach for a recent rehearsal. But after a half hour, the tide

washed in and put a damper on the drama, forcing the company to relocate

further down the coast.

“The beachgoers provided an audience,” she noted, adding that during

moments of conflict, some bystanders who didn’t realize it was a play

nearly got involved, but chose not to interfere.

“Coastal Disturbances”--not to be confused with the recently uncovered

Tennessee Williams play of the same title-- is a story about

relationships among people from 7 years of age to 72 as they visit the

beach. The play is seldom performed, Schmidt said, because of the

logistics involved.

Since it’s set on the Atlantic Coast, off Massachusetts, Schmidt

contacted a woman in that state--and struck paydirt.

“She sent out family pictures, brochures, newspapers and maps of the

area so we could familiarize ourselves with that section of the country,”

Schmidt said. The director is a native Californian, born in Compton,

who’s been staging plays in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach for several

years. Her work ranges from the musical revival “Bells Are Ringing” to

Arthur Miller’s heavy drama “The Price,” both at the Newport Theater Arts

Center.

She got into theater as a youngster, then put her avocation on hold

while she raised two children. Since she’s been back, Schmidt has been

one of the more impressive directors on the local theater scene.

“I’m really proud of the Costa Mesa Playhouse for taking a chance on

an unknown and difficult-to-stage play like this,” Schmidt said. “It’s

nice to put on the popular musicals, that you know will draw, but we need

plays like this to provide a sense of balance.”

She and her company will face another problem once the play closes

next month. Namely, getting all that sand off the stage before the next

production gets under way.

“If we’d thought that far ahead, we could have followed Coastal

Disturbances’ with Seascape’ and To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday,”’ she

said, laughing. Both of those plays have beach settings.

“Coastal Disturbances” opened Thursday at the playhouse, 661 Hamilton

St., Costa Mesa, and runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and

Sundays at 2 p.m. until March 5. Reservations are being taken at (949)

650-5269.