OCC takes aim yet again

A decade ago, Orange Coast College broke some local ground with the first Orange County production of Stephen Sondheim’s controversial musical “Assassins,” which recounted the stories of all the historical figures who have killed -- or have attempted to kill -- an American president.

Response was so enthusiastic that the college reprised the production the following year. To date, no other local theater group has, well, taken a shot at the show.

Now OCC is reloading.

“Assassins” will be the college’s spring musical, scheduled to run the first two weekends in May in the Drama Lab Theater under the direction of Beth Hansen, who staged “Godspell” at the Costa Mesa college last year and “Pippin” the year before.

“Assassins” is one of six productions waiting in the wings for OCC audiences. The spring season will open Feb. 10 with “Voices of American Theater: Lanford Wilson,” focusing on lesser-known short plays by the author of “The Hot L Baltimore,” “Talley’s Folly” and “The Fifth of July.”

Another American playwright comes under the “Voices of American Theater” microscope for a briefer run, March 3 through 5. This time OCC will present short works from John Patrick Shanley, author of “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” “Beggars in the House of Plenty” and “Women of Manhattan.”

Classical theater will be showcased in March with “The Brothers Karamazov,” a dramatization of Dostoyevsky’s epic novel about family rivalry, love and faith. Performances are scheduled for March 16 through 19 and 23 through 26.

“Assassins” will make its third visit to OCC May 4 through 7 and 11 through 14, thrusting the spotlight on such figures from past and present as John Wilkes Booth, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, Sara Jane Moore and Lee Harvey Oswald. Hardly the stuff from which musical theater is born, but nothing is off limits to Sondheim.

OCC’s season concludes immediately afterward with its annual spring one-act play festival from May 17 to 21 in the Drama Lab Studio.

This event showcases more than a dozen student-directed one-acts, both published and student originals.

Auditions are open to the public, as well as OCC students.More information on the college’s drama program may be gleaned by calling (714) 432-5640.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Fridays.

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