ON THEATER: World premiere ushers in new year

The first local stage production of 2008 will, undoubtedly, come from the Laguna Playhouse, which has scheduled previews for its upcoming world premiere drama “Tranced” starting on New Year’s Day.

Playwright Bob Clyman has penned what is described as a fast-paced, suspense-filled thriller about an African graduate student seeking relief from her panic attacks spurred by a violent incident in her native country. She’s hypnotized by a renowned psychiatrist who uncovers a repressed memory with “profound consequences for many thousands of people.”

Clyman, author of a previous playhouse production, “The Secret Order,” is a psychologist as well as a playwright, which makes it “easier for me to write about mental health” and “gives me a leg up” in the area of authenticity, he believes.

Hypnotists, he notes, “sit across from you and create paradoxes which will alter your relationship with reality.”

Four Los Angeles-based actors compose the cast of “Tranced,” under the direction of UCLA instructor Jessica Kubzansky.

Erica Tazel will portray the troubled student, Thomas Fiscella is the hypnotherapist, Ashley West Leonard plays a journalist, and Andrew Borba enacts a director of African affairs. “Tranced” opens Jan. 5 and will run through Feb. 3 with performances at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and at 2 p.m. Sundays. A special Sunday evening performance at 7 p.m. is scheduled for Jan. 27. Call (949) 497-2787 for ticket information.

? Julie Haas Garvin remembered

Some of the “old timers” in the Laguna Playhouse family gathered at the Tivoli restaurant on the Festival of Arts grounds Wednesday to bid goodbye to Julie Haas Garvin, an actress and costume designer at the theater in the 1960s and ‘70s. She died recently of cancer.

Among those paying tribute was Doug Rowe, who served two stints as the playhouse’s artistic director back in the day. Rowe “” who now calls Ashland, Ore., home “” will be back in Laguna in May to assume the role of the stage manager in a production of “Our Town” at Laguna Beach High School.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Coastline Pilot.