On May 4, La Jolla Playhouse gathered its board members, friends and Inner Circle members, whom the theater management wishes to “bring closer to the art” by giving them a clearer idea how a season is made and what it takes to make art possible, or as Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg put it, “how the sausage is made.” Rosenberg introduced Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and the two discussed collaborations and the forthcoming season. The current and unprecedented collaboration is Anna Deavere Smith’s “Let Me Down Easy,” which was performed by the award-winning author through May 15 at the Lyceum Theatre in association with San Diego Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse and Vantage Theatre. The 2011-12 Playhouse season opened May 17 with the world premiere of Arthur Kopit and Anton Dudley’s “A Dram of Drummhicit,” of which the marketing department says, “You don’t need to say it, you just need to see it.” Kopit, author of “Indians,” “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” “Wings” and the musicals “Nine” and “Phantom” (both with Maury Yeston), was present at the soirée. Invited to share a few words about “Dram of Drummhicit,” Kopit launched into a witty and inspiring speech about the seminal idea for his new work and ultimately about where plays come from. Around five years ago while visiting London and seeking an idea for a new play, Kopit read an article in the London Times about bulldozers in a small town in Scotland that had been halted by fairies. The developer planned to move a large rock in order to level the land. His efforts were halted by local villagers who believe that fairies live under the rock. “Speaking in ‘fairy’ is not what I had imagined when I arrived for rehearsals a month ago,” said Kopit, who along with Dudley and director Ashley, devised the new language, briefly used. Meanwhile, the Playhouse shop is building bog bodies, which Kopit explained are Iron Age people who sank into the bog. Kopit, who rewrites almost daily, terms his rehearsal time at the Playhouse “extraordinary — the props, the sets, the shops, not just a convenience but the spirit of this place. The atmosphere,” he said, “comes from Chris. It just doesn’t get better than this for a playwright.” Kopit said playwriting is a strange, intuitive process. “You have to be willing to write something that doesn’t work, to allow the characters to tell you what’s happening.” Performed in the Mandell Weiss Theatre through June 12, “A Dram of Drummhicit,” takes place on an island in Scotland, where an American entrepreneur intends to build a golf course. When bog bodies are unearthed, the true nature of the island emerges, providing a show that’s called “supernaturally comic.” The rest of the season is as follows: David Schweizer’s five-actor adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s immortal saga, “Peer Gynt,” which Schweizer stages June 28-July 24 in the Potiker Theatre; Rachel Sheinkin, Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda’s “Sleeping Beauty Wakes,” a new musical presented in collaboration with McCarter Theatre Company, staged in the Weiss Theatre July 19-Aug. 21; the world premiere of Kirsten Greenidge’s “Milk Like Sugar,” produced in the Potiker Aug. 30-Sept. 25; Allen Knee, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie’s world premiere musical “Finding Neverland,” based on the 2004 film about the creation of Peter Pan, performed Nov. 8-Dec. 11 in the Weiss Theatre; and Richard Montoya’s “American Night: The Ballad of Don Jose,” written for Culture Clash and performed in the Potiker Theatre Jan. 27-Feb. 26. ‘Sleeping Beauty Wakes’ added to 2011-12 season La Jolla Playhouse recently announced its sixth and final addition to the season that began last week: “Sleeping Beauty Wakes,” a book by Rachel Sheinkin (author of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”). In the production, a young beauty is brought to a sleep disorder clinic, and soon all the patients find themselves sharing a familiar dream. The show reunites two members of the rock trio (piano, violin and drums) GrooveLily – Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda – with Sheinkin, a Tony Award-winning librettist who last collaborated on the holiday tale “Striking 12.” “We are thrilled to partner with the McCarter Theatre on this exuberant musical,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley in a recent statement. “We’ve been fans of Rachel Sheinkin and GrooveLily for years and ‘Sleeping Beauty Wakes’ is a perfect fit for our season.” — Claire Harlin