Joan and Mario Lescot

Photo by Johan VogelThe Lescots founded the Theatre District some five years ago. Housed first at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse and then in the barn-like building behind the Lab in Costa Mesa, the company staged some of the most memorable and mature works of any small theater in the county. Unfortunately, rising rents and the daily frustrations of doing theater in Orange County (lots of pain, little gain) took their toll, and the Theatre District shut its doors in 1999.

But the company lives on. It transferred one of its more successful shows, Alan Ball's comedy Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, to the Cast Theatre in Hollywood, where it opened on July 14. The co-production is still running and word has it the Lescots are looking for another space in Orange County.