MICHAEL FOUNTAIN addresses the audience at the Garden Amphitheater in Village Green park on Tuesday for a “Celebration of Life” for Thomas Bradac, who started and nurtured much of Garden Grove’s theater scene (Tribune photo).

By Jim Tortolano/Orange County Tribune

If Yankee Stadium was called “The House that [Babe] Ruth Built,” surely the Festival Amphitheater in Garden Grove– now the Garden Amp – could be termed “The House that Bradac Built.”

On Tuesday, friends, family members, colleagues and admirers of Bradac gathered for a celebration of his life at the 550-seat facility in the Village Green park. Bradac, the man behind the rebirth of the Gem Theater and the creation of the Amphitheater, passed away recently at the age of 76.

The event began with a musical background of Tom’s favorite road trip playlist, featuring Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone,” and Randy Newman’s “I Love LA.”
The lineup of speakers included colleague Michael Fountain, who said Bradac encouraged authenticity in theatrical performance and “Always speak the truth,” Bradac was said to have emphasized. “Truth with a Capital T.”

“Tom” loved theater and especially Shakespeare – he founded the Grove Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare of Orange County – but he was a devoted family man as well.

His brother, Daniel Knutson-Bradac, recalling their somewhat troubled childhood family environment, said, “I love you, Tom. You were the best brother I could have had. You were an open, tolerant human being.”

Carl Reggardio, who appeared in and directed many of Bradac’s plays, performed a bit of a speech from the Bard. So did Mike Nehring, who praised Bradac as “someone who  never gave up.”

The event’s capstone were comments by daughters Alyssa and Caitlin, who shared life with a dad who served as sports coach, theatrical adviser and loving father.

They concluded by leading the audience in reciting Shakespeare’s Sonnet 37, a celebration of youth, beauty and the possibilities of life: “Look what is best, the best I wish in thee; This wish I have; then ten times happy me!”