SCR/Party Play with Ann Conway

Honorary Producers Jim and Pam Muzzy with playwright Jeff Whitty

Director Bill Rauch with Dori and Jamie Caillouette

Tom Rogers and Sally Anderson, middle, with actors Kimberly Scott and Preston Maybank

Heady Over "Hedda"
By Ann Conway

The post-performance bash for playwright Jeff Whitty's world premiere at South Coast Repertory of The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler was a social scene that his Gabler, not Henrik Ibsen's, might have loved—uplifting chitchat with fine wines and food—had she not been forever stuck in her role as a suicidal anti-hero in the literary classic, Hedda Gabler.

And it was the 34-year-old Whitty's unique version of Hedda and other fictional characters longing to re-invent their lives (“We may make decisions and it may feel like free will, but we always return to our natures in the end,” Hedda laments in Act I.) that had First Nighters buzzing when they gathered at Scott's Seafood Restaurant to honor production underwriters Pam and Jim Muzzy and celebrate the play that launched 2006 on the Julianne Argyros Stage.

"I loved it!" gushed Pam Muzzy, as she huddled with theatre fans near the appetizer buffet.  "It was just so much fun!  I had read the script and it was wonderful to see it interpreted onstage."

Chimed in Jim Muzzy, "I found it very interesting trying to get all of the analogies Whitty was using, trying to understand which character represented what. It was very imaginative."

Theatre buffs Fern and Andy McCuen had come from San Diego to catch the premiere. "It was extremely clever—very well done," said Fern, as she rubbed elbows with the enthusastic crush. Observed Andy, "It was fresh and funny and thought-provoking at the same time."

Mingling with the crowd before the production began, SCR Artistic Director Martin Benson said it was "tremendously exciting" that SCR got to produce "the very next play that Whitty has done" after his Tony Award-winning Avenue Q." "It's a wonderful work," he added. "The whole idea of following literary characters from a character's point of view is just a fascinating concept."

Producing Artistic Director David Emmes agreed: "Whitty has a wonderful theatrical imagination. What's unique about great artists is they find new, fresh perspectives on things that we take for granted. They re-invent the world for us."

Whitty himself was ecstatic over the production, he said, as he sailed into the Jan. 13 reception. "I've had a glorious night, a glorious time. Every bit of imagination I felt in my tiny apartment just exploded on the stage tonight. It is such a dream come true." The SCR crowd not only laughed in the right places, he said, "they were also really moved—you got that nice theater silence too."

We can all relate to his play's characters longing for self re-invention, Whitty believes. We all want to be "willful authors of ourselves."

Also on the scene (along with those pictured): Emil Brolick, Joan Kaloustian, Chris and Aletha Anderson and Martin and Elaine Weinberg.

S.L. and Betty Huang and Jerry and Bobbi Dauderman	Gail Doe, actress Susannah Schulman and Micki Rach
Actor Christopher Liam Moore, Anita and Pablo Prietto, Sally Afable, Actor Patrick Kerr and Richard Afable	Larry Higby, Sound Designer Paul James Prendergast, Scenic Designer Christopher Acebo, Costume Designer Shigeru Yaji and Gene Hancock
Dori Caillouette and Ernie Doe with actor Kate A. Mulligan	Jim and Pam Muzzy with playwright Jeff Whitty (left) and David Emmes