RELEASE: January 29, 2008

DAVID EMMES AND MARTIN BENSON AWARDED THE MARGO JONES MEDAL

America’s Longest-Running Artistic Team Set to Celebrate South Coast Repertory’s 45th Season

COSTA MESA, Calif. (January 30, 2008) — South Coast Repertory Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson have been named the recipients of the 2007-08 Margo Jones Medal. The prestigious award honors those who have demonstrated a significant impact, understanding and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, with a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theater everywhere. The venerable duo has guided South Coast Repertory from a small touring company into one of the country’s leading professional theaters, now approaching its 45th season and known world-wide for its development of new work for the stage. The Ohio State University Libraries and College of the Arts will present the award to Emmes and Benson on May 1 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, kicking off the theater’s nationally-renowned Pacific Playwrights Festival.

“We are honored to receive the Margo Jones Medal and are thrilled to be included among the pioneers of the regional theater movement,” said David Emmes. “We are especially pleased to receive this award because the work of Margo Jones continually inspires us in our mission to nurture new and established theatrical voices,” added Martin Benson.

Founded in 1961 by playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee with additional support from J. B. Tad Adoue III, the Margo Jones Medal commemorates pioneers of the American professional regional theater movement. Jones supported and nurtured new plays at the theater she founded in Dallas in 1947, most famously the work of Lawrence and Lee, William Inge and Tennessee Williams. The award is administered by the The Ohio State University’s Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute which collects, preserves, and makes available research materials in the performing arts. Previous recipients include Lucille Lortel, Joseph Papp, Zelda Fichandler, Lloyd Richards, Jane Alexander, Al Hirschfeld, Ellen Stewart, Jon Jory and Andre Bishop.

David Emmes and Martin Benson founded South Coast Repertory in 1964 and through the years, the theater has been the recipient of many honors and awards. In 1988 the company received a special Tony Award in recognition of its outstanding contributions to the American theater, especially its attention to new plays and playwrights. SCR was named one of America’s Best Regional Theaters by TIME magazine and The New York Times recently noted, “Nationally recognized as an incubator of major talent, South Coast has mounted an impressive list of acclaimed plays, long before the East Coast establishment got wind of them.”

South Coast Repertory has premiered 103 plays and has given commissions to nearly 150 writers. Over 80 percent of new plays launched at SCR have gone on to subsequent productions at theaters across the nation, including all of the major resident companies in New York City. Among the important plays that SCR has introduced into the American repertoire are Margaret Edson’s Wit (winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize), David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole (winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize), Donald Margulies’ Sight Unseen, Collected Stories andBrooklyn Boy, Richard Greenberg’s Three Days of Rain (as well as six other Greenberg plays), Craig Lucas’s Prelude to a Kiss, Beth Henley’s Abundance, Howard Korder’s Search and Destroy, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel and Amy Freed’s The Beard of Avon.

Producing Artistic Director David Emmes has received numerous awards for productions he has directed during his SCR career, including a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for the direction of George Bernard Shaw’s The Philanderer. He directed the world premieres of Amy Freed’s Safe in Hell, The Beard of Avon and Freedomland, Thomas Babe’s Great Day in the Morning, Keith Reddin’s Rum and Coke and Neal Bell’s Cold Sweat; the American premieres of Terry Johnson’s Unsuitable for Adults and Joe Penhall’s Dumb Show. Emmes has served as a theater panelist and onsite evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, on the Executive Committee of the League of Resident Theatres, and as a panelist for the California Arts Council. After attending Orange Coast College, he received his BA and MA from San Francisco State University, and his PhD in theatre and film from USC.

Artistic Director Martin Benson has distinguished himself in the staging of contemporary work, including the world premiere of Horton Foote’s Getting Frankie Married — and Afterwards and the critically acclaimed California premiere of William Nicholson’s Shadowlands. He has won accolades for his direction of five major works by George Bernard Shaw, including the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Award-winners Major Barbara, Misalliance and Heartbreak House. Among his numerous world premieres is Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize winning Wit, which he also directed at Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Alley Theatre in Houston. Benson has received the LADCC Distinguished Achievement in Directing award an unparalleled seven times. He also directed the film version of Sally Nemeth’s Holy Days using the original SCR cast. Mr. Benson received his BA in Theatre from San Francisco State University.

After the May 1 Margo Jones Medal award ceremony, the Pacific Playwrights Festival begins with a weekend of new plays in readings and workshops that attracts audiences and theater professionals from across the country. Two fully-produced plays, the World Premieres of Tony Award winner Richard Greenberg’s The Injured Party and “Six Feet Under” writer/producer Kate Robin’s What They Have, will anchor the Festival. The Festival will take place May 2 through May 4 and the complete lineup will be announced at a later date.

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:  The Importance of Being Earnest (2/8-3/9), Charlotte’s Web (2/8-24), NewSCRipts #3 (2/25), Culture Clash in AmeriCCa (3/16-4/6), NewSCRipts #4 (3/31), What They Have (4/4-5/4), The Injured Party (4/20-5/11), Pacific Playwrights Festival (5/2-4), Taking Steps (5/16-6/15), Imagine (5/30-6/15).

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, 103 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.