RELEASE: March 11, 2008

SOUTH COAST REPERTORY ANNOUNCES PACIFIC PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL LINEUP

Festival Features SCR-Commissioned Plays by Amy Freed, Richard Greenberg, Lauren Gunderson, John Kolvenbach, Lynn Nottage, Kate Robin and Sharr White

David Emmes and Martin Benson to Receive Margo Jones Medal

COSTA MESA, Calif. (March 11, 2008)—South Coast Repertory’s Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF) will celebrate its 11th annual edition with a lineup composed of seven SCR-commissioned plays from an array of writers. Since its creation in 1998, PPF has grown into one of the most important festivals of new scripts in the United States. This year’s Festival will take place during the May 2 through May 4 weekend with a workshop production, four staged readings and two fully-staged World Premieres on South Coast Repertory’s two major stages. Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

SCR’s ten previous Festivals have introduced 57 new plays to the national stage including Amy Freed’s The Beard of Avon, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, Nilo Cruz’ Anna in the Tropics, Rolin Jones’ The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow and David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole.

On the eve of the Festival, May 1, Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson will receive 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. Previous recipients include Lucille Lortel, Joseph Papp, Zelda Fichandler, Lloyd Richards, Jane Alexander, Al Hirschfeld, Ellen Stewart, Jon Jory and Andre Bishop. Representatives of the Ohio State University Libraries and College of the Arts will present the award to Emmes and Benson.

The Pacific Playwrights Festival will feature fully-produced productions of new plays by Kate Robin and Richard Greenberg, a workshop production of a play by Sharr White and staged readings of plays by Amy Freed, Lauren Gunderson, John Kolvenbach and Lynn Nottage.

“Any time you can anchor a festival with productions of new plays by Richard Greenberg and Kate Robin, you’re in pretty good shape,” said Festival co-Director John Glore. “And then to add readings of new work by Amy Freed and Lynn Nottage, who have contributed so notably to SCR’s programming in the past, only strengthens the foundation for this year’s Festival.”

“We’re also extremely pleased to introduce PPF audiences to the work of three rising young writers: Sharr White, John Kolvenbach and Lauren Gunderson, whose first commissions from SCR resulted in extraordinary plays that we are proud to include in this year’s Festival,” added Festival co-Director Megan Monaghan.

• At the center of the 11th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival are the fully-staged World Premieres of What They Have by Kate Robin and The Injured Party by Richard Greenberg.
• Robin’s play Anon. was commissioned by SCR and presented as part of the theater’s 2004 NewSCRipts series. Writer and supervising producer of HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” her other plays include Intrigue With Faye, Swimming In March, The Light Outside, Bride Stripped Bare and Given Away. Chris Fields directs.
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• Greenberg received the Tony Award for his play, Take Me Out. South Coast Repertory commissioned and presented the World Premieres of Greenberg’s Hurrah at Last (PPF 1998), The Violet Hour, Everett Beekin (PPF 1999), A Naked Girl on the Appian Way (PPF 2005), Night and Her Stars, The Extra Man and Three Days of Rain (a Pulitzer Prize finalist), and also commissioned Our Mother’s Brief Affair, presented at last year’s Festival. Trip Cullman directs.
• PPF veteran Amy Freed returns to SCR with a staged reading of You, Nero. Her past SCR commissions are The Beard of Avon (PPF 2001), Safe in Hell (PPF 2003)and Freedomland (a Pulitzer Prize finalist). Her other plays include Restoration Comedy, The Psychic Life of Savages and Still Warm. Her plays have been widely produced in the regional theater as well as Off-Broadway. Prizes and awards include the Charles MacArthur Award, the Joseph Kesselring Prize and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award. Sharon Ott directs.
• Lauren Gunderson is represented by a staged reading of Emilie – The Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life at the Petit Théâtre at Cirey Tonight. A playwright, screenwriter, short story author and actor, Gunderson’s work has received the Berrilla Kerr Award for American Theatre, Young Playwright’s Award and Eric Bentley New Play Award. She has been produced Off-Broadway (Parts They Call Deep) and Off-Off Broadway (Sus Manos). Kate Whoriskey directs.
• John Kolvenbach’s Goldfish was presented earlier this year as part of SCR’s NewSCRipts series. The London Evening Standard calls Kolvenbach a playwright with “robust humor.” The West End productions of Love Song and on an average day were critical favorites. His other plays include Gizmo Love, Fabuloso and The Gravity of Means. Loretta Greco directs.
• Lynn Nottage brings her newest work, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, to the 2008 Festival. Co-commissioned with CENTERSTAGE, Intimate Apparel (PPF 2002) received numerous awards, including the 2004 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play and the Outer Critics Circle Best Play Award. Her other plays include Ruined, Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’knockers and Poof! Her honors include the MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” Award. Mark Rucker directs.
• Up and coming playwright Sharr White’s Sunlight will receive four workshop performances during the three days of the Festival. His produced plays include Six Years, The Dream Canvas, The Last Orange Dying, Safe from the Future and Iris Fields. David Emmes directs.

The Honorary Producers of the Pacific Playwrights Festival are Bette & Wylie Aitken, Pamela & Curtis Reis, Jean & Tim Weiss and Linda & Tod White. Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting the Pacific Playwrights Festival and to The Shubert Foundation, whose generous grant supports all of SCR’s play development efforts.

Coast Magazine is the Media Partner and The Wyndham Orange County Hotel is the Official Hotel of the Pacific Playwrights Festival.

TICKET PRICES for the 11th Pacific Playwrights Festival range from $12 per individual reading, $20 for the workshop performance and $31-$62 for What They Have and The Injured Party. The festival runs from May 2 through May 4. Tickets can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

(Please note: Theater professionals interested in attending the festival should contact Kristina Leach at (714) 708-5841 or kristina@scr.org. A special Festival Package consisting of one ticket to each of the seven events is available. Members of the press should contact Jeffrey Weiser at (714) 708-5561 or jeffw@scr.org.)

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: 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, 107 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 Julianne Argyros Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio.

11th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival Lineup

Fully-Staged World Premiere Productions

WHAT THEY HAVE
by Kate Robin
directed by Chris Fields
(Previews April 4 – April 10; Runs April 11 - May 4)

PPF Schedule:
Friday, May 2 at 8pm; Saturday, May 3 at 2:30 & 8pm; Sunday, May 4 at 2:30 & 7:30pm

Connie and Jonas are wealthy, and what they have is success—she as a movie producer and he as a TV writer. Suzanne and Matt struggle financially, and what they have is envy. Parenting, painting and the Law of Attraction collide in What They Have, Kate Robin’s new play where lives can change in a heartbeat, and things aren’t necessarily what they seem.

Kate Robin’s play Anon. was presented as part of SCR’s 2004 NewSCRipts series. Anon. received productions at Atlantic Theater Company and Echo Theater Company. Her other plays include Intrigue With Faye (MCC Theater, New York Stage and Film), Swimming In March (The Market Theater, winner IRNE Best Play of 2001 award), The Light Outside (Flea Theater), Bride Stripped Bare (ThreadWaxing Space) and Given Away (Playwrights Collective). Her plays have also been developed at Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, JAW/West at Portland Center Stage and Ensemble Studio Theatre. Television and film credits include “Six Feet Under” (writer/supervising producer) and “Coming Soon.” Robin received the 2003 Princess Grace Statuette for playwriting and is an alumna of New Dramatists.

THE INJURED PARTY
by Richard Greenberg
directed by Trip Cullman
(Previews April 20 – 24; Runs April 25 – May 11)

PPF Schedule:
Friday, May 2 at 7:45pm; Saturday, May 3 at 2pm & 7:45pm; Sunday, May 4 at 2pm & 7:45pm

The Injured Party is set in a specific New York City moment—2005, when the art installation Cristo’s The Gates captured the imagination of city dwellers with its 23 miles of billowing fabric in Central Park. One of the viewers was Maxine, 94 years old and enormously rich. Her grandson Seth, who studiously avoided The Gates, is not so rich, hopelessly stalled—and determined that “redistribution must commence.” A bevy of inimitable New Yorkers aid and/or hinder Seth in this ingenious new comedy about family, love, art, money and ambition.

Richard Greenberg received the Tony Award for his play, Take Me Out. South Coast Repertory commissioned and presented the World Premieres of Greenberg’s A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, The Violet Hour, Everett Beekin, Hurrah at Last, Night and Her Stars, The Extra Man and Three Days of Rain, a Pulitzer Prize finalist which was recently revived on Broadway. SCR has also produced his play The Dazzle. Greenberg’s other plays include Eastern Standard, Jenny Keeps Talking, The American Plan and The Maderati. A staged reading of the SCR-commissioned Our Mother’s Brief Affair was presented at the 2007 Pacific Playwrights Festival.

Workshop Production

SUNLIGHT
by Sharr White
directed by David Emmes

Friday, May 2 at 7:45pm; Saturday, May 3 at 2:30pm & 7:45pm; Sunday, May 4 at 2:30pm

Matthew Gibbon is a charismatic college president who thrives on controversy. On one fearless night, he wreaks havoc upon his own campus and then sits back to watch as those around him try to survive the chaos. But this time he may have gone too far. Will his unprincipled pursuit of his own deepest principles finally bring him down?

Sharr White’s plays include Six Years (Actor’s Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival of New American Plays), The Dream Canvas (Todo Con Nada), The Last Orange Dying (Ohio Theatre), Safe from the Future (Raw Space), Heaven and All Things Lovely (in a hotel suite overlooking Times Square), Iris Fields (Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Key West Theatre Festival) and The Escape Velocity of Savages (Dr. Henry and Lillian Nesburn Award as part of the Julie Harris Award in Playwriting). In Los Angeles, Untitled, Oil on Canvas, Heaven and All Things Lovely and A Sunrise in Times Square have been seen at Apartment A Theatre Company in Venice.

Staged Readings

BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK
by Lynn Nottage
directed by Mark Rucker

Friday, May 2 at 1:00pm

As African-Americans began to break into film in 1930s Hollywood, most were relegated to ‘shucking and jiving.’ But Vera, personal maid to the mega star Gloria Mitchell, goes after a meatier role in Gloria’s big budget movie, The Belle of New Orleans. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark follows the complicated relationship of these two women into the 1970s and then the present day, revealing much that was hidden about the roles they played and the lives they led.

Lynn Nottage is the author of Intimate Apparel, which was produced in New York at the Roundabout Theatre Company after its World Premiere production at CENTERSTAGE and South Coast Repertory. The play received numerous awards, including the 2004 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play, the Outer Critics Circle Best Play award, the John Gassner Award, the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg 2004 New Play Award and the 2004 Francesca Primus Award. Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine, was first produced by Playwrights Horizons and recently received a highly-acclaimed production at the Tricycle Theatre in London. Her plays Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’knockers and Poof! have been produced and developed at theaters throughout the country. Her play Ruined will join the Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2008-09 season following its World Premiere at The Goodman Theatre. Nottage wrote the feature film Side Streets (Merchant Ivory Productions) and is currently writing an adaptation of Edwige Danticat’s novel The Dew Breaker for HBO Films. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for literary excellence, the 2005 Guggenheim grant for playwriting and the MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” Award.

EMILIE – The Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life at the Petit Théâtreat Cirey Tonight
by Lauren Gunderson
directed by Kate Whoriskey

Friday, May 2 at 3:30pm

Passionate. Independent. A great beauty. A prodigious scientific intellect. These are the qualities that inspired this story of 18th century Parisian noblewoman Emilie du Châtelet—and her lifelong affair with the Enlightenment superstar Voltaire. In this highly theatrical rediscovery of one of history’s great women, Emilie must defend her life by tallying her achievements in love and philosophy—and search for a formula that will convince the world of her worth.

Lauren Gunderson is a playwright, screenwriter, short story author and actor. Her work has received the Berrilla Kerr Award for American Theatre, Young Playwright’s Award, Eric Bentley New Play Award, Essential Theatre Prize, and many others. She has been produced Off-Broadway (Parts They Call Deep), Off-Off Broadway (Sus Manos), and has had many new plays produced in Atlanta including The Van Gogh Café, Leap and Background, as well as regionally (A Short History of Nearly Everything and Embody). Gunderson has worked on commissions for the Alliance Theatre’s Collision Project, Actor’s Express Theatre, City University of New York and has developed plays with Magic Theatre, Horizon Theatre Company, JAW/West in Portland, and others. Leap was published with the Theater at Emory’s Playwriting Center and her first collection of plays, Deepen the Mystery: Science and the South Onstage, was published with iUniverse. Gunderson is currently pursuing her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship.

GOLDFISH
by John Kolvenbach
directed by Loretta Greco

Saturday, May 3 at 10:30am

Goldfish is a bittersweet comedy about two college students who fall quirkily in love. She’s loquacious. He’s solitary. But she persists, and—to his amazement—sweeps him off his feet. Then problems develop: namely, her mother and his father. In this wistful romance, dealing with eccentric parents stretches the power of love to its limits and sends Albert and Lucy on an imaginative search for a happy ending.

John Kolvenbach is the author of Love Song, on an average day, Gizmo Love, Fabuloso and The Gravity of Means. Love Song premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre directed by Austin Pendelton, and went on to the West End, where it was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. The London production was directed by John Crowley, with Neve Campbell, Cillian Murphy, Kristen Johnston and Michael McKean. on an average day ran at the Comedy Theatre on the West End in 2002, with Woody Harrelson and Kyle MacLachlan, also directed by John Crowley. Gizmo Love premiered on Cape Cod in 2004. The Gravity of Means premiered in New York at MCC Theater. Kolvenbach will direct Fabuloso on the Cape this summer.

YOU, NERO
by Amy Freed
directed by Sharon Ott

Sunday, May 4 at 10:30am

Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but who could have imagined the back story? In this comic take on an infamous historical event, Nero decides to add a little fun to bleak times by commissioning a play. The Story of Me (or I, Nero) could be the Colosseum’s biggest hit ever—if its hapless author lives to tell the tale.

Amy Freed’s plays include the SCR commissions The Beard of Avon, Safe in Hell and Freedomland (a Pulitzer Prize finalist). Her other plays include Restoration Comedy, The Psychic Life of Savages and Still Warm. Freed’s plays have been widely produced at regional theaters (Goodman Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, The Wilma Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, The Old Globe) as well as Off-Broadway (Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop). Other prizes and awards include the Charles MacArthur Award, the Joseph Kesselring Prize and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award.

11th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival Schedule

Fact Sheet

PACIFIC PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

RUNS: May 2 – May 4, 2008

SYNOPSIS: The 11th annual edition of one of the preeminent festivals of new plays in the United States features seven new plays over three action-packed days.

TICKETS: $12 staged reading; $20 workshop production; $31-$62 fully-staged production.

Fully-Staged World Premiere Productions

WHAT THEY HAVE
by Kate Robin
directed by Chris Fields
(Previews April 4 – April 10; Runs April 11 - May 4)
PPF Schedule:
Friday, May 2 at 8pm; Saturday, May 3 at 2:30 & 8pm; Sunday, May 4 at 2:30 & 7:30pm
Kate Robin’s poignant and funny play about two entertainment industry couples in Los Angeles.

THE INJURED PARTY
by Richard Greenberg
directed by Trip Cullman
(Previews April 20 – 24; Runs April 25 – May 11)
PPF Schedule:
Friday, May 2 at 7:45pm; Saturday, May 3 at 2pm & 7:45pm; Sunday, May 4 at 2pm & 7:45pm
A new comedy about family, love, art, money and ambition by Tony Award-winner Richard Greenberg.

Workshop Production

SUNLIGHT
by Sharr White
directed by David Emmes
Friday, May 2 at 7:45pm; Saturday, May 3 at 2:30pm & 7:45pm; Sunday, May 4 at 2:30pm
On one fearless night, a charismatic college president wreaks havoc upon his own campus. Will this unprincipled pursuit of his deepest principles finally bring him down?

Staged Readings

BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK
by Lynn Nottage
directed by Mark Rucker
Friday, May 2 at 1:00pm
In 1930s Hollywood, African-Americans in film were relegated to ‘shucking and jiving’ until the personal maid of mega star Gloria Mitchell goes after a key role.

EMILIE – The Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life at the Petit Théâtre at Cirey Tonight
by Lauren Gunderson
directed by Kate Whoriskey
Friday, May 2 at 3:30pm
A Parisian noblewoman, almost forgotten by history, must defend her life by tallying her achievements in love and philosophy—including an enduring affair with Enlightenment superstar Voltaire.

GOLDFISH
By John Kolvenbach
directed by Loretta Greco
Saturday, May 3 at 10:30am
Albert and Lucy fall quirkily in love, but dealing with eccentric parents stretches their commitment to its limits and sends them off in search of a happy ending.

YOU, NERO
by Amy Freed
directed by Sharon Ott
Sunday, May 4 at 10:30am
Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but in this imaginative back story, his put-upon scribe writes a new play that could be the Colosseum’s biggest hit—if he lives to tell the tale.

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. www.scr.org.

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.