It’s a Classic, It’s a Comedy, It’s a Romance… It’s ‘Misalliance’
COSTA MESA, Calif. (Aug. 19, 2010) — All the wrong men chase all the wrong women in Misalliance, an exuberant comedy from George Bernard Shaw that opens South Coast Repertory’s 47th season. This witty classic, helmed by SCR Artistic Director Martin Benson, runs Sept. 10 through Oct. 10 on the Segerstrom Stage.
Stage and screen veteran Dakin Matthews, who appeared in SCR’s production of Shaw’s Major Barbara and more recently portrayed Polonious in Hamlet, plays the pivotal role of John Tarleton, underwear magnate and armchair philosopher.
Melanie Lora (Collected Stories) takes on the part of his spoiled daughter, Hypatia, a young woman bored with life and her fiancé, Bentley (Wyatt Fenner). Then a plane drops from the sky into the Tarleton greenhouse, bringing with it a dashing pilot (Peter Katona) and a lady acrobat (Kirsten Potter). Soon afterwards, a man with a gun and a grudge (JD Cullum) turns up in their Turkish bath. Suddenly, the rules of courtship are turned upside-down as the Tarletons and their friends attempt to woo the new guests.
Rounding out the cast are Amelia White (The Heiress) as Mrs. Tarleton, SCR newcomer Daniel Bess as John Tarleton, Jr., and SCR Founding Artist Richard Doyle as Lord Summerhays.
Shaw, best known for such works as Pygmalion, Arms and the Man, St. Joan and Mrs. Warren’s Profession, is the only person to win both an Oscar and the Nobel Prize for literature. Director Martin Benson has a long and lauded history with the playwright’s works; he has won the L.A. Drama Critics Circle’s directing prize three times for his Shaw productions.
“Some people hear the name ‘Shaw’ and think ‘intellectual,’” said Benson. “But he is so funny and human. I defy anyone to read Misalliance and not think, Number One, that it’s funny, and Number Two, that the characters are very real in their wants and desires.”
The Misalliance creative team includes Ralph Funicello (set design), Maggie Morgan (costume design), Tom Ruzika (lighting design), Michael Roth (original music), Oanh Nguyen (associate director), Jamie A. Tucker (stage manager) and Chrissy Church (assistant stage manager).
Mary Beth Adderley and Elizabeth and Ryan Williams are the Honorary Producers, and U.S. Bank is the Corporate Honorary Producer. The Segerstrom Stage season media partner is KOCE-TV and the media partners for Misalliance are Orange Coast Magazine and 89.3 KPCC.
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 Sept. 10 and continue through Oct. 10. Ticket prices range from $20 to $66. Low-priced preview performances are available Sept. 10 - 16. Opening night is Friday, Sept. 17, and press night is Saturday, Sept. 18, at 8 p.m.
TIMES: Previews are Friday and Saturday, Sept. 10 - 11, at 8 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 14 - 15, at 7:30 p.m., and Thursday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m. Regular performances are Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m., and Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 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, October 9, at 2:30 p.m.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS: Wednesday, Sept. 22, & Tuesday, Sept. 28
Discuss the play with members of the Misalliance cast during free post-show discussions led by South Coast Repertory’s literary team.
INSIDE THE SEASON: Saturday, Sept. 25, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. $12
Inside the Season is a series of interactive classes that provides a comprehensive inside look at the theatrical production process. Each two-hour class 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 phone at (714) 708-5555 or at the Box Office. (Tickets to Misalliance 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: In the Next Room or the vibrator play (Sept. 26 – Oct. 17), Becky Shaw (Oct. 22 – Nov. 21), Sideways Stories from Wayside School (Nov. 5 – 21).
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
Daniel Bess (John Tarleton, Jr.) is making his SCR debut. Off-Broadway credits include Vineyard Theatre and Blue Light Theatre. Other theatre credits include Cousin Bette and Pera Palas at The Antaeus Company. Film credits include Constellation and Munich. Television credits include the first season of “24,” “CSI,” CSI: Miami,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Firefly,” “Medium,” “ER,” “JAG,” “Veronica Mars,” “Numb3rs” and others.
JD Cullum (Julius Baker) appeared at SCR previously in Pig Farm, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Major Barbara, The Dazzle and Making It. He recently played the Fool in the highly-acclaimed Antaeus Company production of King Lear. Prior to that, he played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at A Noise Within. A veteran of Southern California stages, Mr. Cullum is a recipient of multiple LADCC and Garland awards, including a “Local Hero” Garland Award for continuing excellence in theater. Notable productions include Stones in His Pockets (Mark Taper Forum), Side Man (Pasadena Playhouse), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Geffen Playhouse), Don Juan (A Noise Within), Tonight at 8:30 (The Antaeus Company), The Foreigner (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble), Waiting for Godot (The Matrix Theatre Company) and—opposite his father John Cullum—The Dresser (Clarence Brown Theatre Company). Television work includes “Mad Men,” “The Closer,” “Lie to Me,” “Wizards of Waverly Place,” “Weeds,” “Medium” and “24.” Film includes Jason’s Big Problem, Leatherheads, Good Night and Good Luck and Zodiac. Cullum is the voice of the animated Mini Wheat for Kellogg’s.
Richard Doyle (Lord Summerhays) is an SCR Founding Artist. He appeared most recently in Ben and the Magic Paintbrush, You, Nero (he also appeared in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre production), An Italian Straw Hat: A Vaudeville, A Christmas Carol and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other SCR credits include Hamlet, My Wandering Boy, Life is a Dream, Nothing Sacred, The Adventures of Pør Quinly, Born Yesterday, Eddie in A View from the Bridge, Intimate Exchanges (1993), The Last Night of Ballyhoo and the world premieres of The Beard of Avon, On the Jump, But Not for Me, BAFO, The Interrogation of Nathan Hale and Wit. He also appeared in Intimate Exchanges (2004), for which he earned a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Award nomination. He won an LADCC Award for his role in Sally Nemeth’s Holy Days and was nominated for his role as Reverend Hale in The Crucible. He was a guest artist at Pasadena Playhouse in the world premiere of Matter of Honor playing Gen. John M. Schofield. “Cheers” fans will remember him as Woody’s father-in-law Walter Gaines. He has many other film and television credits. As a voice-actor, Doyle is the voice of Hogar The Troll in Clutch Powers, the Evil Driscoll on “Ben 10” as well as the voice of dozens of CD-ROM and motion-capture game characters. His wizened cowboy character “Old Bill” will appear in an upcoming feature western film Heathens and Thieves. Doyle is a recipient of The Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award.
Wyatt Fenner (Bentley Summerhays) recently appeared at SCR in the Pacific Playwrights Festival reading of Happy Face and in the NewSCRipts reading of Spirit Control. Regional theatre appearances include Dennis in Loot with the Ensemble Theatre Company, Horace Poore in West Coast Ensemble’s Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins (LA Weekly Nomination, Best Lead Actor 2010; Garland Honorable Mention, Best Actor 2010; LADCC and GLAAD nominations), Havok Theatre Company’s Dog Sees God (Garland Honorable Mention, Best Actor 2009; LADCC, LA Weekly and GLAAD nominations); as well as productions at Ahmanson Theatre, A Noise Within, Folger Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage and others. Television credits include “Veronica Mars” and most recently, “Bones.”
Peter Katona (Joseph Percival) appeared at SCR previously in A Feminine Ending and the Pacific Playwrights Festival reading of Happy Face. Theatre credits include Cyrano de Bergerac at The Metropolitan Opera; Twelfth Night at The Public Theatre (NYSF) and The Shakespeare Theatre Company (DC); The Outsiders at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Our Town at Dallas Theater Center; Hamlet at The Shakespeare Theatre Company; and The Birds, The Imaginary Invalid, Curse of the Starving Class, The Way of the World and A Cup of Coffee at Yale Repertory Theatre. Film and television appearances include “Castle,” “Numb3rs,” “Pop Fiction” and the recent film Deadly Honeymoon.
Melanie Lora (Hypatia Tarleton) returns to SCR after appearing in Collected Stories and the Theatre for Young Audience’s production of Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Most recently she was seen in the world premiere of The Good Book of Pedantry and Wonder at The Theatre @ Boston Court and Dinner With Friends at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. Other theatre credits include Taking Steps (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble), Many Happy Returns (Laguna Playhouse), Dead End (Ahmanson Theatre), Arms and the Man (Avo Playhouse), The Seagull (The Actors’ Gang), as well as productions at The Antaeus Company, Geffen Playhouse, Edgemar Theatre Group, Getty Villa, Evidence Room, Theatre of NOTE, and BoTH Theatre Company. Film and television credits include “Sons of Anarchy,” “Castle,” “Numb3rs,” “Gilmore Girls,” United States of Leland, Call Me, several independent films, including the upcoming Callers, and the hit webisode series “The Consultants.”
Dakin Matthews (John Tarleton) appeared at SCR as Polonius in Hamlet, Hitch in Hitchcock Blonde, Andrew Undershaft in Major Barbara, Arnolphe in The School for Wives, and as C. S. Lewis in Shadowlands with Kandis Chappell, which earned both of them L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards. He has appeared frequently at The Old Globe, most recently as The Cardinal in his own verse drama The Prince of L.A., Casca in Julius Caesar, Baptista in The Taming of the Shrew, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night and Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and at Center Theatre Group, where he played Hector in The History Boys, Dick Cheney in Stuff Happens, Capulet in Sir Peter Hall’s Romeo and Juliet, Brutus in Julius Caesar, and The Fixer in Culture Clash’s Water and Power, for which he won an Ovation Award and his second LADCC Award. On Broadway, he appeared in A Man For All Seasons, dramaturged the Denzel Washington Julius Caesar, and appeared in his own adaptation of the Tony Award-winning production of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, winning the Bayfield Award for acting and a Drama Desk Award for adaptation. His 25 films include The Fighting Temptations, Thirteen Days, Funny Farm, The Siege, The Muse, Nuts, And The Band Played On, Clean and Sober, and the upcoming True Grit and The Eagle of the Ninth. He has also appeared in more than 250 television shows, including, most recently, recurring roles on “General Hospital” “True Blood,” “Desperate Housewives” and “The King of Queens.” He is currently the Artistic Director of Andak Stage Company, an Associate Artist of The Old Globe, and an Emeritus Professor of English from Cal State East Bay. He was the Founding Artistic Director of The Antaeus Company (where he recently played the title role in King Lear), the Artistic Director of Berkeley Shakespeare Festival and California Actors Theatre, a founding member of John Houseman’s Acting Company and of Sam Mendes’ Bridge Project (world tour of The Winter’s Tale and The Cherry Orchard) and a Juilliard drama instructor. He is also an award-winning playwright and translator, a stage director and a Shakespeare scholar.
Kirsten Potter (Lina Szczepanowska) returns to SCR after appearing in The Heiress and Taking Steps. Additional Los Angeles-area theatre credits include Palestine, NM and Sex Parasite at Center Theatre Group; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Geffen Playhouse; King Lear and Tonight at 8:30 The Antaeus Company, Honour (LADCC nominee) and Bold Girls (Garland Award honorable mention) at The Matrix Theatre Company; As You Like It at A Noise Within; and Red Herring and The Constant Wife at Laguna Playhouse. While a company member with Milwaukee Repertory Theater, she premiered Work Song by Jeffrey Hatcher and Eric Simonson, Steven Dietz’ Paragon Springs and Force of Nature and starred in more than 20 productions, including Twelfth Night, Amadeus, The Mai, An Ideal Husband, Inventing Van Gogh, Collected Stories, The Weir, The Glass Menagerie, Rocket Man, Dracula and Mill on the Floss. Regionally, Potter has performed at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Huntington Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Geva Theatre Center, American Contemporary Theatre, American Conservatory Theater and the Utah, California, Nebraska, and Santa Fe Shakespeare festivals. Television and film credits include “Medium,” “Judging Amy,” “Bones” and The Eyes Have It; and she can be heard voicing various vixens, villains and mother ships in numerous video games, as well as dozens of audio books.
Amelia White (Mrs. Tarleton) appeared at SCR in The Heiress and The Importance of Being Earnest. On Broadway she appeared in Crazy for You and The Heiress and Off-Broadway in The Butter and Egg Man at Atlantic Theater Company and The Accrington Pals at Hudson Guild Theatre. Los Angeles appearances include Penny for a Song at The Antaeus Company, Bold Girls at The Matrix Theatre Company, Ernest in Love at Fremont Centre Theatre, Heathen Valley at Stella Adler Theatre and Mirror, Mirror at Cast Theatre. Other regional theatre credits include Chicago at Weston Playhouse Theatre, A Small Family Business at The Cleveland Play House, The Mask of Moriarty and Loot at The Old Globe, A Penny for the Guy at Studio Arena Theatre, Pericles at Hartford Stage Company, Angel Street at Caldwell Theatre Company, On the Verge and Top Girls at Cincinnati Playhouse in The Park, A Christmas Carol at Guthrie Theater, And a Nightingale Sang at Geva Theatre Center and Under Milkwood and Wings at Denver Center Theatre Company. Film and television include The Tulse Luper Suitcases, The Bastard, The Siege of Golden Hill, Three Ways to the Sea, “Judging Amy” and “The Young and the Restless.”
Fact Sheet
Misalliance By George Bernard Shaw Directed by Martin Benson
CREATIVE TEAM: Ralph Funicello (set design), Maggie Morgan (costume design), Tom Ruzika (lighting design), Michael Roth (original music), Oanh Nguyen (associate director), Jamie A. Tucker (stage manager) and Chrissy Church (assistant stage manager).
CAST: Daniel Bess (John Tarleton, Jr.), JD Cullum (Julius Baker), Richard Doyle (Lord Summerhays), Wyatt Fenner (Bentley Summerhays), Peter Katona (Joseph Percival), Melanie Lora (Hypatia Tarleton), Dakin Matthews (John Tarleton), Kirsten Potter (Lina Szczepanowska) and Amelia White (Mrs. Tarleton).
HONORARY PRODUCERS: Mary Beth Adderley, Elizabeth and Ryan Williams and U.S. Bank.
SEGERSTROM STAGE MEDIA PARTNER: KOCE-TV.
MEDIA PARTNERS: Orange Coast Magazine and 89.3 KPCC.
SYNOPSIS: Shaw at his mischievous best. While the adults argue ideas and morals, the younger generation longs for something to happen. Finally it does!
TICKETS: $20-$55 previews, $28-$66 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: September 10 – October 10, 2010 PREVIEWS: Sept 10 FRI at 8 p.m. Sept 11 SAT at 8 p.m. Sept 12 SUN at 7:30 p.m. Sept 14 TUE at 7:30 p.m. Sept 15 WED at 7:30 p.m. Sept 16 THU at 8 p.m. OPENING NIGHT: Sept 17 FRI at 8 pm REGULAR PERFORMANCES: Sept 18 SAT at 2:30 p.m. Sept 18 SAT at 8 p.m. (Press Night) Sept 19 SUN at 2:30 p.m. Sept 19 SUN at 7:30 p.m. Sept 21 TUE at 7:30 p.m. Sept 22 WED at 7:30 p.m. (Post-Show Discussion) Sept 23 THU at 8 p.m. Sept 24 FRI at 8 p.m. Sept 25 SAT at 2:30 p.m. (Inside the Season) Sept 25 SAT at 8 p.m. Sept 26 SUN at 2:30 p.m. Sept 26 SUN at 7:30 p.m. Sept 28 TUE at 7:30 p.m. (Post-Show Discussion) Sept 29 WED at 7:30 p.m. Sept 30 THU at 8 p.m. Oct 1 FRI at 8 p.m. Oct 2 SAT at 2:30 p.m. Oct 2 SAT at 8 p.m. Oct 3 SUN at 2:30 p.m. Oct 3 SUN at 7:30 p.m. Oct 5 TUE at 7:30 p.m. Oct 6 WED at 7:30 p.m. Oct 7 THU at 8 p.m. Oct 8 FRI at 8 p.m. Oct 9 SAT at 2:30 p.m. (ASL-Interpreted) Oct 9 SAT at 8 p.m. Oct 10 SUN at 2:30 p.m.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS Wednesday, Sept 22 and Tuesday, Sept 28 Discuss the play with members of the cast following the performance. Free.
INSIDE THE SEASON Saturday, Sept. 25, 10:30 a.m. –12:30 p.m. A 2-hour comprehensive class featuring creative personnel from the current production. Tickets: $12.
