Spiritual musings in everyman tale

When you mention the name William Friedkin, most veteran moviegoers will recall not the 1971 movie for which he won his Oscar as best director, “The French Connection” ? he was the youngest recipient of that award at the time ? but the picture he lost out on two years later, one that sent a permanent chill up the spines of many viewers.

That would be “The Exorcist,” which British critic Mark Kermode hailed as “the greatest film ever made” but which nevertheless lost out to “The Sting” in the Oscar derby. In a two-year period, Friedkin won an Oscar he arguably should have lost (to Peter Bogdanovich’s “The Last Picture Show”) and lost one he probably should have won.

Oscars, however, aren’t uppermost in William Friedkin’s mind these days, nor are the frenetic thrillers of his past (such as “To Live and Die in L.A.” and “Cruising”). These days he’s more focused on live performances, and he’s now at work at South Coast Repertory, where his production of “Man From Nebraska” begins previews Sunday, prior to its March 18 opening.

“Man From Nebraska” is light years from Friedkin’s more noteworthy movie work. Tracy Letts’ play ? a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize ? focuses on Ken, an ordinary Nebraskan married over 30 years with two grown daughters and comfortably settled into a fairly humdrum existence.

Suddenly, however, Ken suffers crisis of faith that shatters his psyche.

“I don’t believe in God anymore,” he declares.

Seeking comfort from his minister, he’s advised to get away by himself for a while, to recharge his spiritual batteries, as it were ? which he does on a solo trip to London, where he spent time as a soldier many years before.

Playwright Letts and director Friedkin share a Chicago background, and Friedkin directed Letts’ “Bug,” about a shy Gulf War veteran involved with a lonely divorcee whose husband is out on parole.

When Friedkin read Letts’ latest work, “Man From Nebraska,” the director began looking for a place to stage it ? and found South Coast Repertory.

“I tend to be attracted to characters who are up against a wall with very few alternatives,” Friedkin says. “And the film,” or in this case the play, “becomes an examination of how they cope with very few options. I guess that’s what interests me in terms of human behavior.”

The play is “both a chronicle of an everyman’s quest for renewal and a rumination on an America that has lost its sure connection to its spiritual foundations,” Letts says. “The flat middle of things may not always offer the best vantage point on a wide, confusing world, but to step away from the middle involves risk and the possibility of becoming irredeemably lost.”

“Man From Nebraska” will be staged though April 2 on the Julianne Argyros Stage of the company’s Costa Mesa theater complex.

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