THE HAPPY ONES World Premiere by Julie Marie Myatt directed by Martin Benson September 27 - October 18, 2009 Julianne Argyros Stage
Orange County, California, 1975. For Walter Wells, it’s the happiest place on earth. He has a beautiful wife. Two great kids. A house with a pool. Contentment. Until fate strikes a devastating blow, leaving Walter with no reason to put the pieces of his life back together. He resists attempts to help, especially the unexpected — and unwanted — offer from a Vietnamese refugee named Bao Ngo, who bears his own sadness. Then, across a cultural divide, Walter and Bao find a game to share, a song, a meal and then a way back in this uplifting — and surprisingly funny — new play by a rising star in American theatre.
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Playwright Bio
Julie Marie Myatt is thrilled to be returning to South Coast Repertory. Her play, My Wandering Boy premiered at SCR in the 2007 and was part of Pacific Playwrights Festival. It was also produced in New York as part of the 2007 Summer Play Festival. Her play Someday, premiered as part of Cornerstone Theatre Company’s Justice Cycle in 2008. Her play Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter has been playing at small theatres across the country after premiering at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; a tour of that production went to the Kennedy Center as part of the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. Her play Boats On A River premiered at the Guthrie Theater, was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and was recorded for the LA Theatre Works radio play series, “The Play’s The Thing.” Her ten-minute play, Mr. and Mrs. premiered at the 2007 Humana Festival. Her play The Sex Habits of American Women was produced by the Guthrie Theater, Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, among others, and premiered at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Her work has been developed or seen at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, A.S.K. Theatre Projects, LAByrinth Theater Company, Denver Center Theatre Company, among others. She received a Walt Disney Studios Screenwriting Fellowship, a Jerome Fellowship at the Playwrights’ Center, and a McKnight Advancement Grant. She is currently working on commissions for ACT Seattle, Roundabout Theatre, and Yale Repertory. She is a resident member of New Dramatists.
