When I first began writing about theater at UCSD in 1995, I wondered who the cute couple was at every performance I saw on campus and even elsewhere. Soon, I learned they were Arthur and Molli Wagner. Arthur founded the Department of Theatre and Dance at UCSD in 1972. He usually spoke to each graduating MFA class as they sallied forth, hopefully into the world of professional theater. Arthur Wagner died Sept. 21 at the age of 92. UCSD named a theater for Wagner in 2008, the same year the San Diego Critics Circle paid tribute to him as founder the department and for his influence as a La Jolla Playhouse pioneer and longtime local arts philanthropist. In an interview at the time, it was stated, “Now you have a theater named for you, just like Neil Simon.” Characteristically, Wagner quipped, “His is a little bigger,” and then went on to extol the virtues of the 99-seat Arthur Wagner Theatre as “a delightful little space that’s important, because it’s where the students do their work.” Wagner was always about the work and never gave up acting himself, having appeared over the years at San Diego Repertory Theatre and at UCSD as recently as 2012. It’s hard to imagine a front row without the beloved Arthur in it. That will take some getting used to. McNally Gets Around Playwright Terrence McNally is much in evidence this month. His play about Maria Callas, “Master Class,” receives a magnificent production at ion theatre company through Oct. 16. UCSD graduate and bona fide diva Priti Gandhi portrays the participant who delivers Verdi’s Lady Macbeth, and Sandy Campbell plays La Divina. The intimacy of the Hillcrest theater plus these fine performances make the show a knockout. McNally is also one of 10 playwrights who contributed a vignette (the lovely “Sand Dancing,” performed by Donna McKechnie and George Chakiris) to Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s musical “In Your Arms,” playing at The Old Globe Theatre through Oct. 25 and said to be Broadway bound. Next up for McNally is Dallas Opera’s Oct. 30 world premiere of “Great Scott,” by Jake Heggie, for which McNally wrote an original libretto. The opera receives its San Diego premiere in May of 2016. McNally also wrote the libretto for Heggie’s first opera, “Dead Man Walking” (2000, currently playing at Los Angeles Opera). Heggie’s “Three Decembers” (Houston, 2008) was based upon an original McNally short story. A 17-year-old Bishop’s School student and clarinetist, Jay Shankar is among seven young competitors who will play in the Ovation Concerto Competition of the San Diego Youth Symphony. The showcase is open to the public Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at San Diego Museum of Art. Tickets are $20 and $15 at sdmart.org. Lin-Manuel Miranda is among 24 creative people selected to receive John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship awards this year. Better known as “genius grants,” they carry a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000 over five years. Miranda wrote “In the Heights,” produced here in 2013 by San Diego Repertory Theatre, and more recently the runaway hit, “Hamilton,” currently playing on Broadway with Miranda in the title role. Among the other “genius award” recipients is puppeteer Basil Twist, whose work has been seen at La Jolla Playhouse, including the Japanese puppetry-inspired “Dogugaeshi” in 2008 and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2010.
