Meet Marc Masterson

South Coast Repertory’s new artistic director, Marc Masterson, believes in using his ears:  “I want to listen to people,” he said. “I want to understand what people think and feel about SCR, and what they value. I want to engage in conversation about what makes this place great and what might even make it greater.” During a quick visit last month, Masterson—who starts part-time in April and becomes full-time in September—sat down to talk about his career thus far, from his days as a junior magician to his experience rescuing City Theatre of Pittsburgh from the brink of bankruptcy to his contribution to new-play development at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He also talked about his plans for SCR’s future.

Haunting Tales on a Windy Night

In The Weir, opening on the Argyros Stage March 13, a group of friends gather at a local watering hole, boasting and bantering and telling tales of the supernatural. Its inspiration lies in playwright Conor McPherson’s childhood visits to his grandfather’s rural Ireland home: “I remembered sitting with my granddad, Jack, in his little house outside Jamestown where he lived alone. Smoking, tipping ash into the fire, drinking bottled stout from a six-pack. And a world, half imagined, half rooted in reality, just about visible to me in the dark. A world of lost afternoons in suburban and rural bars. Of closing your eyes in the dim light, with a community who couldn’t or wouldn’t judge you.”

Searching for Answers in the Stars

Henrietta Leavitt is one of the most important scientists most of us have never heard of.  Her life and her career both ended prematurely, but not before she made a discovery that revolutionized astronomy. Now she’s getting her due in Silent Sky, Lauren Gunderson’s new play making its world premiere on the Segerstrom Stage April 1 through May 1. Set in the early 1900s, just as Henrietta decides to leave home for a job at Harvard Observatory, Silent Sky is concerned not just with the heavens but with life on Earth: the universal search for love and the struggle to balance the responsibilities of work and family.

Finding an Algorithm for Love

When Elliot, a charming computer scientist, offers to create a computer algorithm to help Molly, a cute, new molecular biologist at his university, their scientific collaboration quickly gives way to natural attraction. They fall for one another, physically and intellectually. But love is never an easy equation, and they’ll have to deal with broken-hearted ex-lovers and the mistakes of their romantic pasts if their relationship is to succeed. Playwright Itamar Moses says Completeness, which is making its world premiere on the Argyros Stage in April, is a personal play: “I hope it makes everybody feel a little bit less alone.”