Theater Review

Tom Titus

Life, for the characters in Tina Howe’s “Coastal Disturbances,” is no day

at the beach -- even though that’s precisely where the story, or

collection of stories, is set.

The disturbances are of the emotional, rather than climatic, variety as

three groups of beach goers mingle and intertwine during a summer on

Massachusetts’ North Shore, a venue beautifully recreated with the

importation of tons of sand to the stage of the Costa Mesa Civic

Playhouse.

Howe’s plays, like life itself, are never cut and dry. Her characters

overlap in conversation, and often are at a loss for words, as are people

in the real world.

Director Terri Miller Schmidt expertly captures these patterns in her

involving production of a fragmented and often puzzling play.

As she did in a more expanded structure in her earlier play “Museum,”

Howe has focused on various stories connected only by venue in “Coastal

Disturbances.” The central plot line -- a romance between a lifeguard and

a strangely haunted visitor -- is bookended by the antics of, on one

side, two mothers and their bratty kids, and, on the other, an elderly

couple engrossed in, respectively, sketching the scenery and collecting

beach treasures.

The romance takes center stage, if only because it’s so wonderfully

interpreted. In the performance of the evening, among a fine ensemble

cast, Sophie Areno enacts a troubled photographer whose traffic-stopping

beauty is offset by her emotional condition -- she’s a collection of raw,

exposed nerve endings.

Patrick Wuebben plays her pursuing lifeguard with a natural mixture of

aw-shucks reticence and hormonal rampage. When he shatters his nice-guy

image by going ballistic at the kids after the romance turns sour, an

explanation for his outburst is hardly necessary.

The youngsters -- 10-year-olds Rachel Reinert and Evan Weiner -- are

exceptional. Weiner gets under everyone’s skin in an extended segment

with the lifeguard’s whistle and Reinert turns an injured foot into an

ER-style trauma. These kids are going to set some high school drama

programs on fire in a few years.

Their mothers -- divorcee Peggy Nielsen and pregnant Kerri Vickers --

lend solid maternal support. Nielsen will evoke instant empathy as she

attempts to control her little boy at the top of her voice, while Vickers

radiates with the inner glow of expectant motherhood for the first time

after adopting a daughter.

The old folks, retired doctor Rick Hardgrove and edgy artist Bettie

Muellenberg, are a charming pair, getting on each other’s nerves while

toasting a lifetime together. Thom Gilbert scores as a latecomer who

thwarts a happy ending for the romancers.

Howe has subdivided her story into 10 segments covering the summer

sequence, often calling for a fade-out in mid-action. As disconcerting as

this style may be, it also is an effective mode of isolating the action

into packaged segments that are not necessarily tied up at the ends.

“Coastal Disturbances” is a theatrical experience that is superbly staged

on a sandy playing field. While its beach culture is set on the opposite

coast from our own, there is much to draw from in the area of

identification, and director Schmidt’s cast takes to the experience like,

well, ducks to water.

CUTLINE: Patrick Wuebben and Sophie Areno begin a romance in “Coastal

Disturbances” at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse.

CUTLINE: Mothers Peggy Nielsen, right, and Kerri Vickers admonish their

youngsters, (Rachel Reinert and Evan Weiner), as lifeguard Patrick

Wuebben watches in “Coastal Disturbances” at the Costa Mesa Civic

Playhouse.

WHAT: “Coastal Disturbances”WHERE: Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, 611

Hamilton St., Costa Mesa

WHEN: Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. through

March 5

HOW MUCH: $10 to $12

PHONE: (949) 650-5269