THEATER

Tom Titus

Whoever said “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach” obviously

never encountered Susan K. Berkompas.

This is a lady who not only both does and teaches, but she

accomplishes these tasks exceptionally well in her capacity as chairwoman

of the theater department at Costa Mesa’s Vanguard University.

Berkompas, an enthusiastic instructor brimming with creative energy,

is in her fourth year at Vanguard, where she has elevated the college’s

theater program to the extent that there now are 40 students majoring in

drama. When she arrived in 1997, there were eight.

An actress with an extensive list of credits, she has performed, as

well as directed, at Vanguard in characterizations ranging from Lady

Grace in the ultra-farcical “Something’s Afoot” to the tear-jerking role

of the Southern mother who loses her grown daughter in “Steel Magnolias.”

In the latter show, which she also directed, Berkompas stepped in on a

week’s notice, and the production went off seamlessly.

At the moment, she should be stepping back to admire her work on the

college’s season-opening show, the dramatic musical “Quilters,” which

bowed in this weekend. It is, she asserts, an unexpectedly timely

offering in light of America’s current traumatic situation.

“Like the people in New York, the pioneer women of ‘Quilters’ worked

through terrible tragedy as they strived to help settle this country,”

Berkompas asserts. “This is a perfect show for the beginning of a healing

period. It reminds us what made this nation great.”

Women who crossed the plains in covered wagons, as those in the show

did, suffered unbearable hardship, and the infant mortality rate was

staggering, she noted, pointing out that much of the action in “Quilters”

was inspired by actual diaries of pioneer women.

“It’s a tribute to the human spirit,” she declares, “an assurance that

we will prevail.”

Berkompas has done some prevailing of her own. Born in Montana, about

as far from big-time theater as you can get, she coveted an actress’ life

from childhood and graduated from the University of Montana with an

acting degree after performing in six of the school’s productions,

including roles as diverse as Desdemona in “Othello,” Varya in “The

Cherry Orchard” and Vicki in “A Chorus Line.”

She headed south and picked up a master’s degree in acting and

directing from Cal State Long Beach in 1992.

For several years, she worked as a professional actress with the

California Repertory Company and also trained with the London Shakespeare

Company, pausing only to marry and have three children, which hardly

impeded her pursuit of a theatrical career.

When she landed the position at Vanguard University, the theater

program was beginning a phoenix-like rebirth -- literally. The college’s

performing facility had burned down and the students had to make do with

other facilities, including the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, where two of

their shows (“Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Foreigner”) were staged.

The Lyceum Theater, which houses Vanguard productions, was transformed

from an old lecture hall, gutted and refurbished to Berkompas’

specifications. For the production of “Quilters,” the stage has been

raised and expanded.

This facility’s days are numbered, although happily. Within two years,

Vanguard will build a performing arts theater with an adjacent studio and

rehearsal hall leading, one must assume, to even more interest in the

college’s theater program.

Once known as Southern California College, a Bible school operated by

the Assemblies of God church, Vanguard has become a fully accredited

liberal arts university under its president, Murray Dempster, whom

Berkompas credits for encouraging the development of her theater

department.

“He wants this program to grow out of its socks,” she says.

Yet Vanguard remains rooted in its religious heritage. Which is why

Berkompas is not anticipating staging, say, anything by David Mamet in

the near future. Thus far, however, she maintains she has not felt

compromised as an artist, commenting, “This campus is extremely

intellectual and very supportive of the arts.”

And it offers opportunities for ambitious undergraduates. Last season,

student Sunny Peabody directed a spectacular mixed-media production of

Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” which is a particular source of pride to his

mentor.

As for her own future, Berkompas says she’s looking forward to

“growing old in the theater,” adding, “I can’t imagine life without it.”

* TOM TITUS writes about and reviews local theater for the Daily

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.