A cultural pioneer with partner David Emmes, he developed one of America’s most successful regional theaters.
Martin Benson, co-artistic director and co-founder of the nationally respected, Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory theater in Costa Mesa, died peacefully at his Huntington Beach home on Friday of natural causes. He was 87.
Benson was born in Oakland on March 15, 1937. He was the grandson of a Swedish immigrant who worked as a stevedore, as did Benson’s father, Martin Bernard Benson, aka Bull Benson, who later became an electrician for Western Electric, and as a high school catcher hit the home run that won his school the Oakland City championship for that year.
With his colleague and longtime friend David Emmes, Benson launched SCR in 1964. “Martin and I enjoyed a friendship and partnership for more than 60 years,” Emmes said in a statement announcing Benson’s passing. “Our artistic vision, a lofty dream, was realized through the extraordinary leadership and support of our SCR Boards. Their guidance, along with the relentless commitment of our artists and staff, has made our dream a reality.”
Benson met Emmes when they were theater majors at San Francisco State in the early ‘60s. At the time, the school had the largest theater department in the country for its size and was a national hot spot for the profession. Their influential professors/advisers, Jules Irving and Herbert Blau, had earlier staged a landmark production of “Waiting For Godot” at San Quentin Prison. Benson, as part of an ambitious company of 13 that included Don Took, Martha McFarland, Art Koustik and Jack Davis, wanted to start a theater near the Russian River, but also planned to pursue a career in Los Angeles as an actor.
But as former SCR dramaturge and literary manager Jerry Patch said, “David knew that if (they) took the theater to L.A. it’d just be another theater in L.A. He also made the guess, which wasn’t a bad guess at that point, that with UCI and the Angels coming in. Clearly (Orange County) was growing.”
Earlier this year, Culture OC published a two-part series about SCR last year to celebrate Martin Benson, David Emmes and the theater's 60th anniversary.
SCR at 60, Part 1: Committing to New Plays, Eventually | SCR at 60, Part 2: The Investment in New Plays Pays Off
Orange County philanthropist and entrepreneur Henry Segerstrom had also seen to it that the 405 Freeway came all the way south to service the Segerstrom-owned South Coast Plaza, which stretched across Bristol Street near the site that would become SCR’s present home.
Benson and Emmes’ San Francisco troupe, before becoming SCR, spent a sweltering summer performing in a Quonset hut in Long Beach called the Off Broadway before it turned south to occupy the marine swap shop owned by Emmes’ stepfather on the Balboa Peninsula, which became The Second Step theater. There, the SCR manifesto was famously written by Benson and Emmes on a Copper Skillet dinner napkin.
The importance of Benson’s role in SCR’s growth remained undiminished through its move to a nominally condemned dime store on Newport Boulevard, and through its sleek Cesar Pelli-designed facility in Costa Mesa, where the Segerstrom Stage and the Julianne Argyros Stage now sit. Without SCR’s success, there would in all probability be no Segerstrom Center for the Arts and Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall to occupy what was once a lima bean field. In 1988, SCR’s contribution to American theater was honored with a Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement.
Benson’s path to success was fraught with challenges. Early in SCR’s history, Benson experienced literal starvation for his art, competing with seagulls for morsels of dumpster food near the beach. He survived esophageal and prostate cancer, clinical depression, and the shattering grief of his first wife’s suicide. He weathered the pains and indignities of age as only a lifelong jock could.
“I’ve been so fortunate to have had this amazing life,” Benson said toward the end of his career. “I like to joke that I’m playing on my winnings.” Only last week, he was looking forward to a festive dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, which he was planning with this reporter.
SCR’s current artistic director, David Ivers, called Benson “a shining light for South Coast Repertory; a pioneer here and in our field. Kind, thoughtful and deeply curious, Martin was always ready with a kind word, a handshake of support and an appetite for the work. He will be sorely missed but his fine example of craft and leadership endures. We owe him much and vow to honor his great legacy.”
Benson is survived by a stepson, Justin. Memorial plans have not yet been announced.
Culture OC will publish an appreciation of Martin Benson’s life and career later this month.
Paul Hodgins, publisher of Culture OC, contributed to this story.
