The Summer of Theater

Ensemble Theatre Company’s two upcoming presentations were already terrifically timely as they arrive within four months of November’s national election. That was part of the purpose behind ETC executive director Scott DeVine’s decision to schedule short productions of Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground and What the Constitution Means to Me as special events this summer. DeVine, who earned his undergraduate degree in political science, shares George Santayana’s belief as expressed in The Life of Reason; that lessons of the past are destined to be repeated if we don’t learn from them. What better way than to share them than through theater with the younger generations?

But after President Biden’s disastrous display in June’s debate, those lessons have taken on even more urgency. This Piece of Ground – a one-man tour de force that has been a vehicle for Tony Award-winner John Rubinstein (Pippin, Children of a Lesser God) – offers a stirring view into the man behind the presidency, the war hero who reluctantly stepped into the presidency. 

In the play’s most poignant and prescient moments, Rubinstein as Eisenhower says, “Some days it feels like democracy is going to have a hell of a time persevering. But if we’re going to leave our young people something better, then we just can’t be complacent … We have to keep choosing the harder right instead of the easier wrong.”

That’s pretty astounding given that virtually all of the work’s content is drawn from the text of Eisenhower’s speeches, interviews, and writings. Which is why the piece is so inspired in our current climate, Rubinstein said. 

“I imagine that half the people who come to see me in the play are dragged there by somebody else, but in less than 10 minutes, they’re hooked. And by the end of the play, they rise to their feet not to celebrate me or my work, but because of the man. They’re awakened to the possibilities of what politics and politicians can accomplish if they happen to be decent folks who are intelligent, with foresight, empathy, and humility.”

This Piece of Ground, at the New Vic July 11-14,is a perfect vehicle for Rubinstein, who as a child actually met Eisenhower in the White House on a visit with his father, the famed pianist Arthur Rubinstein. But the actor also finds himself moved by the words of the man he portrays every night more than six decades later.

“We get to see that it is actually possible to elect decent and intelligent people to office and have them work in the service of the country,” he said.

Diving even deeper into what defines our democracy is What the Constitution Means to Me, playing August 15-18. Heidi Schreck’s work recounts her teenage years participating in constitutional debate competitions, the events increasingly larger, her personal story evoking the profound ways the 236-year-old document continues to shape our lives even as its interpretation changes radically over time and the make-up of the Supreme Court. 

Call (805) 965-5400 or visit www.etcsb.org

Legally Blonde, The Musical – SBCC Theatre Group’s big summer show – is significantly frothier fun, a romantic comedy that encompasses both a bit of a legal drama and a lot of personal growth for its main character. Sorority queen Elle Woods wants nothing more than to be a good wife to her college boyfriend. When Warner dumps her so he can attend Harvard Law unattached, Elle follows him to Harvard still fixated on winning him back, but finds herself transformed as she interacts with peers and professors and tackles stereotypes and scandal along the way. Memorable songs and dance sequences give the musical even more buoyancy than the hit film. 

Santa Barbara native and SBCC alum Cambria Metzinger, who just earned a Masters in Vocal Performance from San Francisco Conservatory, heads the cast as Elle in the production helmed by theater prof and co-chair Katie Laris, running July 12-27 in the Garvin Theatre. Call (805) 965-5935 or visit www.theatregroupsbcc.com.

PCPA’s summer season at the Solvang Festival Theater moves from the campy carnivore capers of Little Shop of Horrors to something far campier – The Play That Goes Wrong, an over-the-top insiders’ tribute to the laudable if laughable determination and spirit of actors and other theater folk in the face of endless foibles. Think Noises Off amplified to the nth degree of non-stop pandemonium. The plotline is almost beside the point as the play’s beleaguered troupe stands in for amateur theater productions everywhere. 

First performed in a British pub and then at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Play That Goes Wrong has done enough right to have taken the coveted Olivier Award – presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognize excellence in professional theater there. The production has now run continuously in London for a dozen years. SBCC premiered the piece locally in fall of 2022, and now PCPA’s veteran team – including director Roger DeLaurier and actors Andrew Philpot and Erik Stein – confronts Wrong’s choreographed chaos in Solvang July 12-28. Visit www.pcpa.org or call (805) 922-8313.