Santa Maria Civic Theatre’s production of The Red Velvet Cake War was canceled abruptly—like many public events that week—the night before its premiere performance (March 13). Some cast and crew members didn’t find out until arriving for dress rehearsal that evening.
“We were to open the next day, and we were all informed that the show was canceled indefinitely,” thespian Dixie Arthur, who was to star in the ill-fated show, told the Sun.
But Arthur and her colleagues decided to carry on with their dress rehearsal that Thursday evening with one special purpose in mind, she said.
“The members of the cast called their family and friends to hurry over that night, so our director, Annelisa Rheuben-Bathe, could see the final product with an audience,” Arthur said. “This was her first directing experience. We hope to perform for one weekend eventually, or at least film a performance.”
The first casting call for another Central Coast production, Lot’s Wife at Orcutt Community Theater, was supposed to take place the following Monday (March 16). Auditions for the original play, written by Arthur herself, were of course postponed, as was its opening performance (initially scheduled for April 17). Arthur was also slated to direct the production.
“It took me a good six months to write the play,” Arthur said. “I usually wrote after work in the evenings and weekends. I had no specific schedule; I just knew I needed to complete it.”
Arthur originally wrote Lot’s Wife as a short story, before translating her own work into a stage production, she said. Nearly a lifelong actress, the play marks her second theatrical adaptation—the first adapted from a David Wilkerson novel.
“I’ve been doing theater since I was an adolescent, but it had never occurred to me to write a play until I was asked to write an adaptation of the book The Cross and the Switchblade,” Arthur said. “That’s when the light bulb lit. ‘Why hadn’t I done this before?’ I don’t know, but I do know I became obsessed with playwriting after that.”
Set in Los Angeles during the 1950s, Lot’s Wife is a memory play in which the protagonist, described as “a sort of everywoman,” recalls the most pivotal moments of her life, Arthur said.
“She is at a crossroads, having just escaped an abusive husband, and is trying to understand how she got to this place,” the local playwright said. “Is there a purpose and a pattern to all that has happened to her? Can she change the pattern of her life? She knows that somehow she must.”
Arthur also described the story of Lot’s Wife—influenced by other memory plays such as Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, in which Arthur once played the role of Amanda—as a blend of autobiography and fiction.
“It is not the story of my life, but it’s certainly the story of what my life could have been,” she said.
Other original plays by Arthur include The Stepfather and In the Mood, Part 2, which were both previously produced by Santa Maria Civic Theatre. Orcutt Community Theater’s production of Lot’s Wife has been tentatively rescheduled for next spring.
“Specific dates are not fixed yet, but we are thinking positively,” said Arthur, who is also set to direct The War of the Worlds: A Live Radio Play sometime in the fall (auditions are currently scheduled to take place in August).
As one of the founders of Orcutt Community Theater, and its first board president, Arthur and her colleagues envisioned the group as “a place open to the curious amateur,” she said. The theater was founded in 2017 and is run entirely by volunteers.
“I’ve lived in Orcutt for over 20 years now, and from the first I thought it was a perfect community for a local theater group,” Arthur said. “I saw abundant creativity and energy for the arts, with lots of outlets for all kinds of art, but no theater group.”
Currently in its fourth season, Orcutt Community Theater’s primary venue is the Klein Dance Arts Studio, and other upcoming productions from the group include Shakespeare’s Hilarious Tragedies, Picaso at the Lapin Agile, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor. Despite a solid lineup, the COVID-19 crisis has pushed Arthur, like many artists and nonprofit organizers, into an uneasy mindset.
“The pandemic has been, in a word, disastrous for theater. It’s possible we will lose our venue because of the loss of income for the owner,” Arthur said. “Artists who would otherwise be available to work with us may need to leave for new jobs or take jobs that preclude their availability.
“But I believe we’ll still survive,” she added. “Theater people must be adaptable, it’s the nature of the work. We always find a way.”
Send story tips to Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 7-14, 2020.
