RELEASE: September 24, 2007

SOUTH COAST REPERTORY REELS IN 'GOLDFISH' FOR FIRST NEWSCRIPTS READING OF THE SEASON

COSTA MESA, Calif. (Sept. 24, 2007)—South Coast Repertory’s first NewSCRipts reading of the 2007-08 season will be John Kolvenbach’s Goldfish. Commissioned by SCR, Goldfish is the 102nd play to receive a staged reading as part of its venerable play reading program. The NewSCRipts reading of Goldfish will take place on October 22 at 7:30 p.m. on the Julianne Argyros Stage. Tickets are $12 each and may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

A bittersweet romantic comedy, Goldfish makes plain that one’s greatest loves can overcome one’s greatest fears. Albert is a top student, heading for an elite college after years of caring for his widowed father, a gambling addict. When Albert falls headlong for Lucy, he must overcome her mother’s objections, his father’s destruction of their finances, and finally his own terribly divided loyalties.

Kolvenbach is the author of Love Song, on an average day, Gizmo Love, The Gravity of Means and the recently completed Fabuloso. Love Song had its world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in spring 2006, and its West Coast premiere at Marin Theatre Company in fall 2007. on an average day premiered at the Comedy Theatre on the West End, starring Woody Harrelson and Kyle MacLachlan, directed by John Crowley. Gizmo Love premiered at WHAT on Cape Cod and opened in London in fall 2006. The Gravity of Means premiered at MCC Theater in New York.

The annual series of Monday evening play readings by emerging and established playwrights was established in 1985 as a way to bring the audience into the process of creating new work. After each public reading, audience members engage in lively exchanges with the playwright and become active participants in the play’s development, providing invaluable feedback for the writer. Plays selected for the NewSCRipts series have earned a remarkable six Pulitzer Prize nominations with Margaret Edson’s Wit winning the prize in 1999.

South Coast Repertory’s NewSCRipts series of play readings is generously underwritten by Elaine J. Weinberg. Orange Coast Magazine is the Media Partner.

TICKETS to the NewSCRipts reading of Goldfish can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office. NewSCRipts tickets are $12 each and include audience discussions with the playwright and dramaturg. Special NewSCRipts subscriptions are also available. NewSCRripts subscribers see all four NewSCRipts play readings plus a bonus “Subscriber’s Choice” reading at the Pacific Playwrights Festival for only $48. Contact the SCR box office for additional information.

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 Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available off Anton Blvd. on Park Center Drive.

CALENDAR:  A Little Night Music (9/7-10/7), Shipwrecked! (9/23-10/14), Doubt, a parable (10/19-11/18), The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) (11/2-18), A Christmas Carol (11/24-12/24), La Posada Mágica (The Magical Journey) (12/7-23).

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 400 productions, 104 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