ROMANTIC FUND-RAISER\Theater troupe to perform in home.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

As Mary in John Patrick Shanley's play, "The Red Coat," actress Elizabeth Rainey has to re-enact an awkward love scene four times in one evening - and make it seem fresh each time.

Rainey is one of 12 actors appearing in the Santa Clarita Repertory Theatre's annual fund-raiser, "Evening with the Rep," which supports the group's community and educational outreach programs.

"Around the fourth or fifth time, you can be exhausted," said the 27-year-old CalArts graduate. "You just sort of pull up your bootstraps and keep going."

This year the fund-raiser features a series of unrelated romantic scenes from such plays as "Romeo and Juliet" and Tony-award winning "Angels in America." The vignettes will be held Saturday in a private Sand Canyon home where audience members move from room-to-room to view the performances.

"There's no separation between the actors and audience," said David Ian Stears, producing artistic director. "It's almost voyeuristic."

One of several fund-raisers, "Evening with the Rep" has raised about $5,000 during the past three years, Stears said. This year the group hopes to raise $2,500 and expects about 150 people to attend.

Proceeds benefit the group's educational and community programs, which together reach more than 20,000 people in the Santa Clarita Valley.

"The impact it has on the organization is tremendous," Stears said of the fund-raiser. "From this, new people become contributors and become directly involved in organizations."

Without the fund-raiser the organization wouldn't be able to offer inexpensive productions for schools and would be vulnerable to fluctuations in corporate donations, members said.

"We'd have a little harder time producing," said Christopher Cook, the group's educational outreach director. "It's nice to have other avenues of support."

This year the group is drawing on Valentine's Day to present a series of intense love scenes, such as the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet."

"It's close to Valentine's Day and that's what acting is about, it's about relationships between actors and the audience," Stears said. "They're all dynamic relationships."

Despite the event's tender theme, actors said they will work hard to grab - and keep - their audience's attention as spectators roam from one scene to the next.

In a traditional theater, "the audience comes in and actors create a setting for the audience," Rainey said. "Here, the setting is created for us so it's easier but it's also a little more difficult. You have to really work to keep their attention and really help them to focus."

That intimate relationship between actors and audience is what distinguishes theater from other mediums, Cook said.

"Theater offers us a way of looking at ourselves and viewing our own humanity," Cook said. "Theater is such a different art form. It's much more humane than sitting and watching someone on screen."

For more information on "Evening with the Rep," call 266-7170. Tickets are $25 a person and cocktail attire is required. Performances start at 7 p.m. Saturday at the home of Sand Canyon resident Teresa Rice.

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Photo (Color) David Ian Stears, left, Kira Fortner and Christopher Cook of the Santa Clarita Repertory Theatre are preparing for "Evening with the Rep." Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News