Circle Mirror Transformation: Creative Drama Class Reveals Real-Life Dramas
COSTA MESA, Calif. (Dec. 16, 2010) — Last season’s biggest Off-Broadway hit, Circle Mirror Transformation, will have its West Coast premiere on SCR’s Julianne Argyros Stage Jan. 9 - 30.
Annie Baker’s story of five would-be actors in a Vermont community center’s “creative drama” class is funny, quirky and surprisingly touching. It won the Obie Award for Best New American Play earlier this year, and its director, Sam Gold—who will also helm SCR’s production—won an Obie for Best Director.
The play takes its name from a popular theatre game that involves a group of actors standing in a circle and mirroring—and then transforming—each others’ movements. Baker uses this and other theatre games to reveal the personal dramas of each character:
Circle Mirror Transformation’screative team includes three designers from the Off-Broadway production—David Zinn (set design), Mark Barton (lighting design) and Leah Gelpe (sound design)—along with Angela Balogh Calin (costume design) and Jennifer Ellen Butler (stage manager).
Larry and Dee Higby are the Honorary Producers.
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 Jan. 9 and continue through Jan. 30. Ticket prices range from $20 to $66. Low-priced preview performances are available Jan. 9 - 13. Opening night is Friday, Jan. 14, and press night is Saturday, Jan. 15, at 7:45 p.m.
TIMES: Previews are Sunday, Jan. 9, at 2 p.m., and Tuesday through Thursday, Jan. 11 - 13, at 7:45 p.m. Regular performances are Tuesday through Sunday evenings at 7:45 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 25 years of age and under, educators, seniors and groups of 10 or more. There will be an ASL-interpreted performance on Saturday, Jan. 29, at 2 p.m.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS: Tuesday, Jan. 18, and Wednesday, Jan. 19 Discuss the play with members of the Circle Mirror Transformation cast during free post-show discussions led by South Coast Repertory’s literary team.
INSIDE THE SEASON: Saturday, Jan. 22, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. $12 Inside the Season is a series of interactive seminars that provide a comprehensive inside look at the theatrical production process. Each two-hour session features a set tour and a question-and-answer period with creative personnel working on the 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 phone at (714) 708-5555 or at the Box Office. (Tickets to Circle Mirror Transformation 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: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Jan. 21 - Feb. 20), Lucky Duck (Feb. 11 - 27), The Weir (Mar. 13 - Apr. 3).
ABOUT SCR: 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 445 productions, 117 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
Linda Gehringer (Marty) has appeared at SCR in the world premieres of The Language Archive, The Piano Teacher, A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, Getting Frankie Married–and Afterwards, Hold Please, But Not for Me and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, a role she repeated in its New York premiere at the Atlantic Theatre Company. Other SCR credits include Doubt, Hamlet, The Retreat from Moscow, A Delicate Balance, All My Sons, Relatively Speaking, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Arcadia and Good as New. She has played leading roles in theatres across the country, most recently in The Crowd You’re In With at Goodman Theatre (Jeff nomination) Surf Report at La Jolla Playhouse and The Women and Since Africa at The Old Globe. She currently appears on “Justified” and “Raising Hope” in recurring roles. Other television credits include “Weeds,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Without a Trace,” “Cold Case,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Ally McBeal,” “Frasier” and “The West Wing,” among many others.
Arye Gross (Schultz) returns to SCR after having appeared in the world premiere productions of Our Mother’s Brief Affair, Brooklyn Boy, Screwball and Let’s Play Two. Other SCR productions include The Time of Your Life and Wild Oats. L.A. area productions include The Winchester House at Theatre @ Boston Court, M. Butterfly at East West Players, the world premiere of Chekhov X 4 with The Antaeus Company, The Square at Mark Taper Forum’s Asian Theatre Workshop, Room Service at Pasadena Playhouse, Three Sisters at LATC, The Rose of the Rancho and Bandido! for El Teatro Campesino and La Bête for Stages Theatre Center, where he served as Artistic Director from 2000 to 2003. Films and television include Grey Gardens, Minority Report, Big Eden, Tequila Sunrise, A Midnight Clear and the soon-to-be-released Harvest, starring opposite Robert Loggia, Barbara Barrie and Victoria Clark; and “The Mentalist” and the recurring role of Sidney Perlmutter, M.E. on “Castle.” Mr. Gross attended UC Irvine and is a graduate of SCR’s Professional Actor Training Program (1978).
Marin Hinkle (Theresa) is thrilled to return to SCR. Past credits include Richard Greenberg’s Our Mother’s Brief Affair, Kate Robin’s What They Have, and readings of Truth and Beauty, Incendiary and Manna. Broadway credits include Electra, A Thousand Clowns and The Tempest. Off-Broadway credits include Graceland (Lincoln Center’s LCT3), The Dybbuk (Public Theater), Miss Julie (Rattlestick), Blue Window (Barrow Group), Sabina (Primary Stages) and The Changeling (TFNA). Regional credits include Romeo & Juliet, Uncle Vanya, Ghosts, Heartbreak House, God of Vengeance, Evolution, Rose and Walsh and Rabbit Hole. She is a member of the Echo Theatre Company in Los Angeles. Ms. Hinkle currently plays Judith in her eighth season on “Two and a Half Men” and played Judy on “Once and Again.” Other television includes “Brothers and Sisters,” “Private Practice,” “House,” “ER,” “Without a Trace” and many “Law & Orders.” Film credits include Friends with Money, I Am Sam, What Just Happened?, Quarantine and Imagine That.
Lily Holleman (Lauren) is making her SCR debut. Theatre credits include Los Angeles appearances in Bleed Rail (The Theatre @ Boston Court; Ovation and LA Weekly Award nominee), God Save Gertrude (Boston Court), Shorts and Sweets (Rogue Machine Theatre), Doomsday Kiss (Bootleg Theater), Crumble: Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake (The Los Angeles Theatre Center), All About Walken (The Improv), A New War (Theater 68), The Knights of Mary Phagan (Theatre 68) and New York appearances in Dream in New York (Columbia University). Film credits include urFRENZ (Winner: Method Fest and Flagstaff Film Festival Best Actress Award), Tenure, How I Got Lost, Hy-Phen and Sons of Liberty. Television appearances include “Southland,” “Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union,” “Queen Sized,” “Sonny with a Chance,” “Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil” and “Campus Ladies.”
Brian Kerwin (James) is proud to return to SCR, having previously appeared in Tracy Letts’ Man From Nebraska, leading to his role in Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning August: Osage County. Other Broadway credits include Little Foxes and Elaine May’s After The Night And The Music. He has appeared in numerous regional theatre productions, including those at Manhattan Theatre Club, Mark Taper Forum, San Diego’s The Old Globe, and last spring in Lincoln Center 3’s production of Ellen Fairy’s Graceland. Mr. Kerwin’s film work includes Torch Song Trilogy (reprising his role from the play), Murphy’s Romance, Jack, 27 Dresses and the soon-to-be released The Help. On television he is regularly seen on ABC’s “One Life To Live.” He starred in the Showtime series “Beggars & Choosers” and had recurring roles in “Big Love,” “Nip/Tuck,” “The West Wing,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Roseanne.” He also appeared in “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Law & Order,” “Without A Trace,” “Boston Legal” and “Frasier.” Mr. Kerwin resides in New York City with his wife, Jeanne, and three children.
Annie Baker (Playwright) grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her full-length plays include Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons, OBIE Award for Best New American Play, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, OBIE Award for Best New American Play), Body Awareness (Atlantic Theater Company, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play/Emerging Playwright) and Nocturama. Her work has also been produced and developed at the Bush Theatre in London, New York Theatre Workshop, MCC Theater, Soho Repertory, The Orchard Project, Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Ars Nova, Huntington Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater, Z-Space/Theatre Artaud, Magic Theatre, The Cape Cod Theatre Project, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in Utah and Ucross, Wyoming. Ms. Baker is a member of New Dramatists, MCC’s Playwrights Coalition and EST, and an alumna of Youngblood, Ars Nova’s Play Group and the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. Recent honors include a New York Drama Critics Circle Award, a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nomination, a Lilly Award, a Time Warner Storytelling Fellowship and a MacDowell fellowship. An anthology of her work, The Vermont Plays, is forthcoming from TCG in 2011. MFA, Mac Wellman’s playwriting program at Brooklyn College.
Sam Gold (Director) won an Obie Award for his direction of Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons) and The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater). Other recent credits include Nick Jones’ The Coward (Lincoln Center Theater); Jollyship the Whiz-Bang (Ars Nova); Kim Rosenstock’s Tigers Be Still (Roundabout Theatre Company); Stephen Belber’s Dusk Rings a Bell (Atlantic Theater Company); Noah Haidle’s Rag and Bone (Rattlestick); Sam Marks’ The Joke (Studio Dante); Betty Shamieh’s The Black Eyed (New York Theater Workshop); Colin McKenna’s The Secret Agenda of Trees (Cherry Lane Theatre); The Threepenny Opera, Twelfth Night, Suddenly Last Summer and Edward II (Juilliard); and Anne Carson’s translation of Electra (Williams College). From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Gold served as the dramaturg at The Wooster Group. He is a Roundabout Associate Artist, a NYTW Usual Suspect, a Drama League Directing Fellow, a recipient of the Princess Grace Award and a graduate of the Juilliard Directing Program.
Fact Sheet
Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker directed by Sam Gold
CREATIVE TEAM: David Zinn (set design), Angela Balogh Calin (costume design), Mark Barton (lighting design), Leah Gelpe (sound design) and Jennifer Ellen Butler (stage manager).
CAST: Linda Gehringer (Marty), Arye Gross (Schultz), Marin Hinkle (Theresa), Lily Holleman (Lauren) and Brian Kerwin (James).
HONORARY PRODUCERS: Larry and Dee Higby
SYNOPSIS: Pretend to be a baseball glove? Yes—it’s Marty Kreisberg’s acting class. But are the students ready for what Marty’s exercises reveal about them and their classmates?
TICKETS: $20-$55 previews, $28-$66 regular performances.
BOX OFFICE WINDOW HOURS: 10 a.m. to showtime Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to showtime Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 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: Jan. 9 - 30, 2011 PREVIEWS: Jan 9 SUN at 2 p.m. Jan 11 TUES at 7:45 p.m. Jan 12 WED at 7:45 p.m. Jan 13 THURS at 7:45 p.m. OPENING NIGHT: Jan 14 FRI at 7:45pm REGULAR PERFORMANCES: Jan 15 SAT at 2 p.m. Jan 15 SAT at 7:45 p.m. (Press Night) Jan 16 SUN at 2 p.m. Jan 16 SUN at 7:45 p.m. Jan 18 TUE at 7:45 p.m. (Post-Show Discussion) Jan 19 WED at 7:45 p.m. (Post-Show Discussion) Jan 20 THU at 7:45 p.m. Jan 21 FRI at 7:45 p.m. Jan 22 SAT at 2 p.m. (Inside the Season) Jan 22 SAT at 7:45 p.m. Jan 23 SUN at 2 p.m. Jan 23 SUN at 7:45 p.m. Jan 25 TUE at 7:45 p.m. Jan 26 WED at 7:45 p.m. Jan 27 THU at 7:45 p.m. Jan 28 FRI at 7:45 p.m. Jan 29 SAT at 2 p.m. (ASL-Interpreted) Jan 29 SAT at 7:45 p.m. Jan 30 SUN at 2 p.m.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS Tuesday, Jan. 18 and Wednesday, Jan. 19 Discuss the play with members of the cast following the performance. Free.
INSIDE THE SEASON Saturday, Jan. 22, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. A 2-hour session featuring a set tour and Q&A with creative personnel from the current production. Tickets: $12.
