Saturn Returns: A Man and his Memories
COSTA MESA, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2009) — Crabby but endearing Gustin Novak reflects on the women he has loved over his 88 years in Noah Haidle’s latest play, Saturn Returns, which will make its West Coast premiere on South Coast Repertory’s Segerstrom Stage Oct. 23 through Nov. 22.
As Saturn Returns opens, 88-year-old Gustin (Nick Ullett) is explaining to his home health nurse that he has called her not because he’s sick, but because he’s lonely. His daughter is gone. His wife is gone. But, we learn, their presence still fills the house. This inventive, time-bending story soon introduces us to 58-year-old Gustin (Conor O’Farrell) and his daughter, Zephyr, as well as 28-year-old Gustin (Graham Michael Hamilton) and his wife, Loretta. (Kristen Bush plays all three female roles.) SCR’s Producing Artistic Director David Emmes directs.
Saturn Returns enjoyed a run last year at Lincoln Center in New York. But this isn’t just a remounting of that production. Haidle has continued to work on the play since then, including during early rehearsals at SCR.
“I don’t think you could ever be finished with anything, because then what would you do the next day?” joked Haidle, who says he once got up in the middle of the night to change lines in a play that had already been published and was sitting on his bookshelf. “Nothing’s perfect; nothing’s ever finished. Everything can always be better.”
The play takes its name from an astrological phenomenon known as the Saturn Return: Each time Saturn nears the position in the sky it held at the time of a person’s birth, astrologists believe, that person undergoes a major life transformation. It takes Saturn about 29.5 years to orbit the sun, so these major changes occur roughly every 28 to 30 years.
Low-priced preview tickets to Saturn Returns are available Oct. 23-29. Opening night is Oct. 30. Press night is Saturday, Oct. 31, at 7:45 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.
The Saturn Returns creative team includes Nelson T. Eusebio III (assistant director) Ralph Funicello (set design), ), Nephelie Andonyadis (costume design), Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz (lighting design), Kimberly Egan (sound design) Kelly Miller (dramaturg) and Chrissy Church (stage manager). Bette and Wylie Aitken are the Honorary Producers. KOCE-TV is the Segerstrom Stage Media Partner, and the Orange County Business Journal is the show sponsor.
TICKETS can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or by visiting the box office at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Performances begin Oct. 23 and continue through Nov. 22. Ticket prices range from $20 to $65. Low-priced preview performances are available from Oct. 23-29. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 25 years of age and under, educators, seniors and groups of 15 or more. There will be a “Pay-What-You-Will” performance on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 2:30 p.m. ($10 minimum) and an ASL-interpreted performance on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 2:30 p.m.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS: Wednesday, Nov. 4, and Tuesday, Nov. 10 Discuss the play with members of the Saturn Returns cast during free post-show discussions led by South Coast Repertory’s literary team after the 7:30 p.m. performances on Nov. 4 and 10.
INSIDE THE SEASON: Saturday, Nov. 7, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. $12 Inside the Season is a series of interactive classes that provide a comprehensive inside look at the theatrical production process. Each two-hour class is led by Literary and Education Associate Linda Sullivan Baity and features creative personnel from South Coast Repertory’s current production. Inside the Season is offered on select Saturday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 each and can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by calling (714) 708-5555 or in person at the box office. (Tickets to Saturn Returns are sold separately.)
LOCATION: South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Folino Theater Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available off Anton Blvd. on Park Center Drive.
COMING UP: Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business (11/6-22), A Christmas Carol (11/28-12/26), Ordinary Days 1/3-1/24/10).
Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, under the artistic direction of David Emmes and Martin Benson, is widely recognized as one of the leading professional theaters in the United States. Founded in 1964, SCR is committed to theater that illuminates the compelling personal and social issues of our time, not only on its stages but through its education and outreach programs. While its productions represent a balance of classic and modern theater, SCR is renowned for its extensive new play development program, including the Pacific Playwrights Festival. Of SCR’s more than 435 productions, 112 have been world premieres with subsequent stagings achieving enormous success across America and around the world. SCR-developed works have garnered eight Pulitzer Prize nominations with Margaret Edson’s Wit winning the prize in 1999 and David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole in 2007. Located in Costa Mesa, California, in 2002 SCR opened the Folino Theater Center, an expanded three-theater complex that includes the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio.
Biographies
NOAH HAIDLE (Playwright) has had two other plays produced at SCR: Mr. Marmalade and Princess Marjorie. His most recent play, What is the Cause of Thunder?, opened at The Williamstown Theatre Festival in July. His plays have been seen at Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Long Wharf Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, as well as others around the country and abroad. He has taught playwriting at Princeton University, The Kennedy Center, and in Kenya and Uganda as part of The Sundance Theatre Institute. He is a graduate of Princeton University and The Juilliard School, where he was a Lila Acheson Wallace playwright-in-residence. He is the recipient of three Lincoln Center Le Compte Du Nuoy Awards, the 2005 Helen Merrill Award for emerging playwrights, the 2007 Claire Tow Award, and an NEA/TCG theatre residency grant. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
DAVID EMMES (Director), is co-founder of SCR. In May 2008, he and Martin Benson received the Margo Jones Award for their lifetime commitment to theatre excellence and to fostering the art and craft of American playwriting. In addition, he has received numerous awards for productions he has directed during his SCR career, including a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for the direction of George Bernard Shaw’s The Philanderer. He directed the world premieres of Amy Freed’s Safe in Hell, The Beard of Avon and Freedomland, Thomas Babe’s Great Day in the Morning, Keith Reddin’s Rum and Coke and But Not for Me and Neal Bell’s Cold Sweat; the American premieres of Terry Johnson’s Unsuitable for Adults and Joe Penhall’s Dumb Show; the West Coast premieres of C.P. Taylor’s Good and Harry Kondoleon’s Christmas on Mars; and the Southland premiere of Top Girls (at SCR and the Westwood Playhouse). Other productions include the West Coast premieres of Three Viewings by Jeffrey Hatcher, The Secret Rapture by David Hare and New England by Richard Nelson; and Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Ayckbourn’s Woman in Mind and You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw, which he restaged for the Singapore Festival of Arts. He has served as a theatre panelist and onsite evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a panelist for the California Arts Council. After attending Orange Coast College, he received his BA and MA from San Francisco State University, and his PhD in theatre and film from USC.
KRISTEN BUSH (Suzanne/Zephyr/Loretta) is making her SCR debut. Her Broadway debut was A Touch of the Poet at the Roundabout Theatre Co. Off-Broadway credits include King Lear and As You Like It for The Public Theater and Great Expectations at Lucille Lortel Theatre. Regional credits include The Goodman Theatre’s production of Passion Play and The Old Globe’s production of The Violet Hour. Television appearances include “Law & Order: SVU,” “Numb3rs,” “Knightrider,” “Medium” and “NCIS.” Film appearances include Calling It Quits and Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York. Bush is a graduate of The Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
GRAHAM MICHAEL HAMILTON (Gustin, 28) appeared at SCR previously in Hamlet. He appeared Off-Broadway in Hamlet (TFANA) and The Two Noble Kinsmen (The Public Theater). Regional productions include All’s Well That Ends Well, Romeo & Juliet, Titus Andronicus, Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Vincent in Brixton, Antony & Cleopatra (The Old Globe); Romeo & Juliet (Folger Shakespeare Library); Third (Huntington Theatre Company); Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare Festival/LA) and Mozart (Walt Disney Concert Hall). Film and television credits include How I Got Lost, “Cold Case” and “Guiding Light.” Hamilton received his BFA from The Juilliard School. www.grahamilton.com.
CONOR O’FARRELL (Gustin, 58) made his SCR debut last season in Goldfish. Theatre credits include the original play PJ, for which he won a Denver Drama Critics Circle Award; Death of a Salesman at Germinal Stage; True West; Strange Snow; the European tour of Zoo Story; Alexander; and Same Time Next Year. Television credits include three years as the Undersheriff on “CSI,” “Medium,” “The Unit,” “Prison Break,” “Without a Trace,” “Eli Stone,” “NCIS,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Nip/Tuck,” “ER,” “NYPD Blue,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “CSI: Miami.” Film credits include Flash of Genius, Stir of Echoes, The Trigger Effect, 61, From the Earth to the Moon and many others. Mr. O’Farrell recently completed four months in Australia filming the HBO mini-series “The Pacific,” Steven Spielberg’s sequel to “Band of Brothers,” which is due out in 2010. Proud member of Actors' Equity Association.
NICK ULLETT (Gustin, 88) made his SCR debut last season in Noises Off. Broadway credits include Me and My Girl, Loot and Cole Porter’s Gay Divorce. Additional theatre credits include The Tempest and Endgame at Shakespeare Santa Cruz; Zhivago and Loot at La Jolla Playhouse; Pygmalion, Man for All Seasons, Woman in Black and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Bristol Riverside Theatre; Tooth and Claw at Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York; Major Barbara and The School for Scandal at Mark Taper Forum; Many Happy Returns at Laguna Playhouse; and Fields of Ambrosia at George Street Playhouse. Film and television credits include Hook, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, “Yes, Dear,” “The Practice,” “Home Improvement,” “Golden Girls” and “As the World Turns.” He Is a proud member of the Ensemble Studio Theater and Actors' Equity Association
Fact Sheet
Saturn Returns By Noah Haidle Directed by David Emmes
CREATIVE TEAM: Nelson T. Eusebio III (assistant director) Ralph Funicello (set design), Nephelie Andonyadis (costume design), Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz (lighting design), Kimberly Egan (sound design), Kelly Miller (dramaturg) and Chrissy Church (stage manager).
CAST: Kristen Bush (Suzanne/Zephyr/Loretta), Graham Michael Hamilton (Gustin, 28), Conor O’Farrell (Gustin, 58), Nick Ullett (Gustin, 88)
HONORARY PRODUCERS: Bette and Wylie Aitken
MEDIA PARTNERS: Saturn Returns: Orange County Business Journal Segerstrom Stage: KOCE-TV
SYNOPSIS: Endearingly grumpy, 88-year-old Gustin steps back – into the echoes of his life – bending time and surprising at every turn.
TICKETS: $20-$65 previews; $28-$65 regular performances.
BOX OFFICE WINDOW HOURS: 10am to showtime Tuesdays through Saturdays; noon to showtime Sundays; 10am to 6 pm Mondays and non-performance days. American Express, VISA and MasterCard accepted. (714) 708-5555.
LOCATION: Folino Theatre Center, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa CA 92626. One block east of South Coast Plaza at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway.
PHOTOS: Digital images of South Coast Repertory productions are available at www.scr.org/press.
PRESS CONTACTS: Soyia Ellison 714-708-5561 soyia@scr.org Madeline Porter 714-708-5562 mad@scr.org
RUNS: Oct. 23- Nov.22, 2009
Oct. 23 FRI at 8:00pm Oct. 24 SAT at 8:00pm Oct. 25 SUN at 7:30pm Oct. 27 TUE at 7:30pm Oct. 28 WED at 7:30pm Oct. 29 THU at 8:00pm OPENING NIGHT: Oct. 30 FRI at 8:00pm REGULAR PERFORMANCES: Oct. 31 SAT at 2:30pm (Pay-What-You-Will) Oct. 31 SAT at 8:00pm (Press Night) Nov. 1 SUN at 2:30pm Nov. 1 SUN at 7:30pm Nov. 3 TUE at 7:30pm Nov. 4 WED at 7:30pm (Post-Show Discussion) Nov. 5 THU at 8:00pm Nov. 6 FRI at 8:00pm Nov. 7 SAT at 2:30pm (Inside the Season) Nov. 7 SAT at 8:00pm Nov. 8 SUN at 2:30pm Nov. 8 SUN at 7:30pm Nov. 10 TUE at 7:30pm (Post-Show Discussion) Nov. 11 WED at 7:30pm Nov. 12 THU at 8:00pm Nov. 13 FRI at 8:00pm Nov. 14 SAT at 2:30pm Nov. 14 SAT at 8:00pm Nov. 15 SUN at 2:30pm Nov. 15 SUN at 7:30pm Nov. 17 TUE at 7:30pm Nov. 18 WED at 7:30pm Nov. 19 THU at 8:00pm Nov. 20 FRI at 8:00pm Nov. 21 SAT at 2:30pm (ASL interpreted performance) Nov. 21 SAT at 8:00pm Nov. 22 SUN at 2:30pm Nov. 22 SUN at 7:30pm
POST SHOW DISCUSSIONS: Wednesday, Nov. 4 and Tuesday, Nov. 10 Discuss the play with members of the cast following the performance. Free.
INSIDE THE SEASON: Saturn Returns Saturday, Nov. 7, 10:30 a.m. –12:30 p.m. A 2-hour comprehensive class featuring creative personnel from the current production. Tickets: $12.
