The Weir: Ghosts and Guinness at SCR
COSTA MESA, Calif. (Feb. 17, 2011) — Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s The Weir—an atmospheric drama that finds four hard-drinking Irishmen telling ghost stories in a pub one stormy night—hits SCR’s Julianne Argyros Stage March 13 – April 3.
The play, which will be directed by Warner Shook, was proclaimed as “exceptional the most exciting evening in theatrical London!” by The Guardian when it debuted in 1997 and won similar raves on Broadway.
“Water surrounding a weir may look relatively calm, but dangerous whirlpools lurk beneath,” explained Shook. “You’re caught between calm waters and devastating waters—the known and the unknown—much like the characters in the play. Are the stories they tell real or make-believe? Are they in a natural world or a supernatural one?”
Playing the tale-telling Irishmen in SCR’s production are Richard Doyle (Misalliance), James Lancaster (Dancing at Lughnasa), Daniel Reichert (Arms and the Man) and Tony Ward (Terra Nova). Joining them as Valerie, the mysterious woman with a spellbinding, heartbreaking tale of her own, is Kirsten Potter (The Heiress).
The Weir’s creative team includes Thomas Buderwitz (set design), Angela Balogh Calin (costume design), Peter Maradudin (lighting design), Jim Ragland (sound design) and Jennifer Sherman (stage manager).
The Media Partners for The Weir are OC Metro 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 March 13 and continue through April 3. Ticket prices range from $20 to $66. Low-priced preview performances are available Mar. 13 - 17. Opening night is Friday, March 18, and press night is Saturday, March 19, at 7:45 p.m.
TIMES: Previews are Sunday, March 13, at 2 p.m., and Tuesday through Thursday, March 15 - 17, 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, April 2, at 2 p.m.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS: Tuesday, March 22, and Wednesday, March 23
Discuss the play with members of The Weir cast during free post-show discussions led by South Coast Repertory’s literary team.
INSIDE THE SEASON: Saturday, March 26, 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 The Weir 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: Silent Sky (April 1 - May 1), Completeness (April 17 – May 8).
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 450 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
Richard Doyle (Jack) is an SCR Founding Artist who has appeared in nearly 200 productions, playing hundreds of characters. He appeared most recently in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Misalliance, Ben and the Magic Paintbrush, You, Nero (and in the Berkeley Repertory production), An Italian Straw Hat: A Vaudeville and The Importance of Being Earnest. 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. Doyle makes many film and television appearances and is a voice-over actor in animation, CD-ROM games and Motion Capture. He is currently The Forever Knight Driscoll on “Ben 10” and is the wizened cowboy Old Bill in the upcoming feature Heathens and Thieves. He is the holographic host at the Union Theater at the Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL. Mr. Doyle is a recipient of The Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award and will be the 2011 Pageant of the Masters live narrator.
James Lancaster (Finbar) appeared previously at SCR in Dancing At Lughnasa and The Caretaker. He began his theatrical career with The Dublin University Players at Trinity College and in fringe theatre in Dublin. He was a member of The Abbey Theatre for two years and toured extensively with the Irish Theatre Company. Since his move to the U.S., he has appeared in Rat in the Skull at Wisdom Bridge Theatre and Galileo and A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He played the title role in The Hostage at the Irish Arts Center in New York, appeared in Twelfth Night for the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park and Fighting Chance at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven. In Los Angeles he played Ripley in Hapgood for the Center Theatre Group at the Doolittle Theatre. He also appeared in A Nightingale Sang at The Old Globe in San Diego. His film credits include Titanic, Pirates of the Caribbean II, The Prestige, Spanglish, Lost Souls and Gettysburg. His many television appearances include “King of Queens,” “Numb3rs,” “CSI: NY,” “Judging Amy” and “Even Stevens.”
Kirsten Potter (Valerie) appeared at SCR previously in Misalliance, The Heiress and Taking Steps. Additional Los Angeles credits include Palestine, NM and Sex Parasite at Center Theatre Group, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Geffen Playhouse, King Lear and Tonight at 8:30 at The Antaeus Company, Honour and Bold Girls at The Matrix Theatre Company, As You Like It at A Noise Within and Red Herring and The Constant Wife at The Laguna Playhouse. While at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, she premiered Work Song by Jeffrey Hatcher and Eric Simonson, Steven Dietz’ Paragon Springs and Force of Nature and performed in more than 20 productions including Twelfth Night, Amadeus, The Mai, An Ideal Husband, Inventing Van Gogh, Collected Stories, The Glass Menagerie, Rocket Man, Dracula and Mill on the Floss. Potter has performed at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Huntington Theater 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 video games and cartoons, as well as dozens of audio books.
Daniel Reichert (Jim) first appeared at SCR in Arms and the Man. Other theatrical productions include Bus Stop, Side Man and Enchanted April at the Pasadena Playhouse; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Burn This, Tale of Two Cities, Saint Joan, King Lear and Twelfth Night, among others, at the American Conservatory Theater; The Cherry Orchard, Great Expectations and Awake and Sing! at A Noise Within; Macbeth and The Importance of Being Earnest at Intiman Theater; Arms and the Man and The Rivals at Portland Center Stage; The Misanthrope, Betrayal and The Elephant Man at Andak Stage Company; King Lear, Oedipus Rex and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at American Players Theater; Much Ado About Nothing at The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; The Rivals at Denver Center Theater Company and Orpheus Descending at New York Stage & Film, Inc. His film and television appearances include Batman Forever, “Judging Amy,” “Charmed,” “Get Real,” Prophet of Evil, Dead in the Water and NBC’s “Days of Our Lives.” He received his BA from Vassar College, and his MFA from the American Conservatory Theater.
Tony Ward (Brendan) created the role of The Man in the world premiere of Lucinda Coxon’s Vesuvius and appeared in Terra Nova at SCR. Broadway credits include The Norman Conquests at The Old Vic and Twelve Angry Men with Richard Thomas at Roundabout Theatre Company (national tour). New York credits include Wonder of The World at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Two Orphans at New York Stage & Film, Inc., Beasley’s Christmas Party at Keen Company, The Elephant Man and Beyond the Horizon with Synapse Productions, and four summers with the Lincoln Center Theatre’s Director’s Lab. Baltimore Center Stage credits include The Three Sisters, King Lear, The Wilder Plays and As You Like It. Additional regional work includes Morphic Resonance at Westport Country Playhouse; Edward II and As You Like It at Yale Repertory Theatre; The Steward of Christendom at Huntington Theatre Company; Of Mice and Men at Virginia Stage Company; Twelve Angry Men at Studio Arena Theatre; The Rainmaker and Beasley’s Christmas Party at Merrimack Repertory Theatre; Arms and the Man, Othello and A Doll’s House with The Acting Company; and three summers at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwright’s Conference. Film and television include Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse, “The Guiding Light” and “Law and Order.” Ward received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Conor McPherson (Playwright) was born in Dublin in 1971. He attended the University College in Dublin, where he began to write and direct. His plays include Rum & Vodka, The Good Thief, This Lime Tree Bower, St. Nicholas, The Weir (Olivier Award, Best Play), Dublin Carol, Port Authority, Shining City (Tony Award nomination, Best Play) and The Seafarer. Film work includes I Went Down, Saltwater, Samuel Beckett’s Endgame and The Actors. Other awards include the George Devine Award; Critics’ Circle Award; Evening Standard Award; Meyer Whitworth Award; Stewart Parker Award; two Irish Film & Television Academy Best Screenplay Awards; CICAE Best Film Award, Berlin Film Festival (Saltwater); Best Film and Best Screenplay Awards, San Sebastian Film Festival (I Went Down).
Warner Shook (Director) previously directed the SCR productions of Crimes of the Heart, The Importance of Being Earnest, Born Yesterday, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, The Circle, You Can’t Take It With You, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and Beyond Therapy. For seven years he was Artistic Director of Intiman Theatre, where he directed Angels in America, The Little Foxes, Three Tall Women, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Private Lives, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Royal Family and many others. He also directed Intiman’s world premiere of The Kentucky Cycle, plus the subsequent productions at the Mark Taper Forum, the Kennedy Center and on Broadway, where it won the Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for the Tony Award. In Los Angeles, he was privileged to direct Angela Lansbury and Dana Ivey in a benefit performance of Peter Shaffer’s Lettice and Lovage; and recently he staged the world premiere of Gore Vidal’s On the March to the Sea with Chris Noth, Michael Learned, Charles Durning and Richard Easton at Duke University. He was reunited with Lansbury on Broadway for the benefit performance of This Is On Me – An Evening of Dorothy Parker at the Schoenfeld Theatre. He also staged Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia? at the Mark Taper Forum. Other regional credits include the Long Wharf Theatre (world premiere of The Mandrake Root, written by and starring Lynn Redgrave), The Old Globe, Hartford Stage Co, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Seattle Repertory Theatre (Doubt starring Kandis Chappell) and more recently ACT Theatre in Seattle, where his production of Clare Boothe Luce’s The Women broke the 40-year box office record for the theatre. Last summer, his production of Neil Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue, with Stephen DeRosa and Veanne Cox, was the runaway hit of the season at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA.
Factsheet
The Weir by Conor McPherson directed by Warner Shook
CREATIVE TEAM: Thomas Buderwitz (set design), Angela Balogh Calin (costume design), Peter Maradudin (lighting design), Jim Ragland (sound design) and Jennifer Sherman (stage manager).
CAST: Richard Doyle (Jack), James Lancaster (Finbar), Daniel Reichert (Jim), Tony Ward (Brendan) and Kristen Potter (Valerie).
SYNOPSIS: No one tells tall tales like these Irishmen in their favorite pub. Until they’re outdone one stormy night by a mysterious woman’s haunting tale of love and loss.
TICKETS: $20-$46 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.
RUNS: Mar 13 – Apr 3, 2011 PREVIEWS: Mar 13 SUN at 2 p.m. Mar 15 TUES at 7:45 p.m. Mar 16 WED at 7:45 p.m. Mar 17 THURS at 7:45 p.m. OPENING NIGHT: Mar 18 FRI at 7:45pm REGULAR PERFORMANCES: Mar 19 SAT at 2 p.m. Mar 19 SAT at 7:45 p.m.(Press Night) Mar 20 SUN at 2 p.m. Mar 20 SUN at 7:45 p.m. Mar 22 TUE at 7:45 p.m. (Post-Show Discussion) Mar 23 WED at 7:45 p.m. (Post-Show Discussion) Mar 24 THU at 7:45 p.m. Mar 25 FRI at 7:45 p.m. Mar 26 SAT at 2 p.m. (Inside the Season) Mar 26 SAT at 7:45 p.m. Mar 27 SUN at 2 p.m. Mar 27 SUN at 7:45 p.m. Mar 29 TUE at 7:45 p.m. Mar 30 WED at 7:45 p.m. Mar 31 THU at 7:45 p.m. Apr 1 FRI at 7:45 p.m. Apr 2 SAT at 2 p.m. (ASL-Interpreted) Apr 2 SAT at 7:45 p.m. Apr 3 SUN at 2 p.m.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS Tuesday, March 22 and Wednesday, March 23 Discuss the play with members of the cast following the performance. Free.
INSIDE THE SEASON Saturday, March 26, 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.
