American Icon Series

Daniel Goldstein is the winner of the Kleban Prize for Most Promising Musical Theater Librettist. He wrote the book for and will direct the new musical Kane and Abel, music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Nathan Tysen, for Toho Theater, which will premiere at Theater Orb in Tokyo in January 2025. He was the recipient of an inaugural Calderwood Commission from the Huntington Theatre Company, for which he wrote an original musical with Michael Friedman entitled Unknown Soldier, which had its world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and a New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons, and a third production at Arena Stage. Cast album available on your favorite streaming service. He is the recipient of a New York Voices commission from The Public Theater, with singer/songwriter Dawn Landes, for which they wrote a musical called Row about Tori Murden McClure, the first woman to row across the Atlantic. Row had a concert production outdoors at The Williamstown Theatre Festival and is available on Audible. His play Orange Crush was commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company. He is also the author of The Song of Songs, an adaptation of the Sholem Aleichem novella, and Winter Birds, an adaptation of the Jim Grimsley novel. =celebration, the one-person show he created with Ethan Sandler and Josie Dickson, was seen Off-Broadway, regionally, and at the HBO Aspen Comedy Arts Festival. As a director, Goldstein’s work has been seen on and Off-Broadway and around the world. Graduate of Northwestern University. Dad to Gracie and Ezra.

Tessa Auberjonois* (Joan/Mrs. Molinsky) is honored and humbled to play Joan Rivers at SCR where she previously appeared in The Little Foxes, Appropriate, The Roommate (Best Actress—shared with Linda Gehringer—OC Weekly), Mr. Wolf, Absurd Person Singular, Becky Shaw, Crimes of the Heart, A Wrinkle in Time, Lobby Hero, Hold Please, Everett Beekin and numerous PPF and NewSCRipts readings. Other favorite roles include Eight Nights (Ovation Award for Best Lead Actress), Lady Macbeth (The Antaeus Company); Lydia Languish in The Rivals, title roles in Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Country Wife (Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, D.C.); Myra in Hay Fever (Westport Country Playhouse); Helen in Cripple of Inishmaan (The Wilma Theater); Leah in Bones (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Allison in Trainspotting (Off-Broadway); and How to Fight Loneliness for Utah Shakespeare, directed by David Ivers. She recurs on “Monster(s),” “How I Met Your Father” and “The Affair.” Other credits include “Lucifer,” “Modern Family,” “Shameless,” “On the Verge,” “The Summer People,” “I’m Dying Up Here,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “ER,” “Boston Legal,” Birth and “OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes,” (2017 Behind the Voice Actors Award nomination). Auberjonois teaches in Los Angeles, is a graduate of London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, a member of The Antaeus Company and a 2017 recipient of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship. This performance is lovingly dedicated to her “Roomie,” the incomparable Linda Gehringer. Insta: @tessalatessa.

Andrew Borba* (Dr. Molinsky/Edgar Rosenberg/Johnny Carson/Others) is honored and thrilled to be working on the birth of this heartening, funny new play. An actor and director, Borba has worked at theatres around the country, including South Coast Repertory (Sight Unseen, In the Next Room or the vibrator play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Lovers & Executioners, Pacific Playwrights Festival), Pasadena Playhouse, The Old Globe, Berkeley Repertory, The Antaeus Company, Boston Court Pasadena, Chalk Repertory, La Mirada Theatre, New Swan Shakespeare Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (five seasons), PlayMakers Repertory, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Detroit Public Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Stage Company, Long Wharf Theatre, and others. On film, he has appeared in small parts in big films and big parts in small films and has had recurring and guest appearances on more than 50 television series. For eight seasons, Borba was the Artistic Director of the acclaimed Chautauqua Theater Company. Honors BA, Brown University; MFA, New York University. He lives in Los Angeles, is Head of the Graduate Acting program at UC Irvine, and is a 2024 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow. Insta: @borba154

Elinor Gunn* (Melissa/Young Joan) is truly honored and grateful to make her debut at SCR in this hilarious play with this exceptional cast. Notably, she has worked with Sir Alan Ayckbourn in the American premiere of Sugar Daddies at ACT Theatre in Seattle, and Paula Vogel in the inaugural Hearst Theater Lab Initiative Distinguished Visiting Playwright-in-Residence at UCLA. At SCR, she has appeared in readings of  A Million Tiny Pieces by Spenser Davis (Pacific Playwrights Festival), Louder by Caroline McGraw (NewSCRipts), Funnie by Jessica Moss (NewSCRipts), and Alumni Relations by Brendan Pelsue. Other recent theatre credits include Ariel in The Tempest (The Antaeus Company), For the Love Of (or, the roller derby play) (Kirk Douglas Theatre), and The Angel Next Door (Laguna Playhouse, North Coast Repertory). Her television credits include guest starring on “9-1-1” (Fox), “Legacies” (CW), “The Dropout” (Hulu), and the upcoming new show “Paradise City” (Hulu). @elinor_gunn

Zachary Prince* (Jimmy/Blake/Harold/Chet/Others) an OC native, is honored and ecstatic to return to SCR, where he last appeared in a Youth Conservatory summer workshop production of Alice in Wonderland as a three-headed “Queen of Hearts.” His Broadway credits include Mother Play, Honeymoon in Vegas, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and Baby It’s You. Off-Broadway, he appeared in The Last Five Years at Second Stage (dir: Jason Robert Brown). Internationally, he appeared in An American in Paris (Adam) at Théâtre du Châtelet. He also appeared in the national tour of Jersey Boys (Frankie Valli). His favorite regional credits include A Transparent Musical (Josh) at Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group, Grand Horizons (Brian) at Asolo Repertory, The Glass Menagerie (Tom) at Pioneer Theatre, Ragtime (Tateh) at Bay Street Theatre, Triangle (Ben/Vincenzo; Theatre Bay Area Award, Lead Actor) at Theatreworks Silicon Valley and Into the Woods (Baker) at Kansas City Rep (dir: Moisés Kaufman). His television credits include “FBI: Most Wanted” (season 6 premiere). Prince is also the director of Stephen Brower’s Palatable Gay Robot, a one-man show currently touring North America (Playbill Pick, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023). He earned his BFA at Carnegie Mellon University. Insta: @zachyprince; zacharyprince.com

Rafael Goldstein* (Dr. Molinsky/Edgar Rosenberg/Johnny Carson/ Jimmy/Blake/Harold/Chet/Others Understudy) has been working on and around the stages of Los Angeles since he was 12, spending most of those years at A Noise Within in Pasadena, where he is a Resident Artist. Last year, at San Diego’s Cygnet Theatre, he played Jake in the world-premiere of Keiko Green’s Sharon, earning a Craig Noel Award nomination. He is thrilled to be making his official South Coast Repertory debut in the world premiere of Green’s You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!, coming this spring. rafaelgoldstein.com 

Lily Holleman* (Joan/Mrs. Molinsky/Melissa/Young Joan Understudy) appeared at South Coast Repertory previously in Abundance, The Trip to Bountiful and Circle Mirror Transformation. Her Los Angeles Theatre credits include Coney Island Christmas (Geffen Playhouse), Bleed Rail (Boston Court Pasadena; Ovation and LA Weekly awards nominee), Where the Great Ones Run (Rogue Machine), God Save Gertrude (Boston Court), Crumble: Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake (Moving Arts), and All About Walken (touring). Her film credits include Funny Story, The Thinning: New World Order, The Love Witch, The Lady Killers, and @urFRENZ. Her television appearances include “NCIS: New Orleans,” “Shameless,” “Southland,” “Key & Peele,” “Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union” and “Queen Sized.” From 2015-22, Holleman revived and served as President of The Los Angeles Breakfast Club. Currently, Holleman can be seen several times a month performing her own sketch comedy with the House Team, Speakeasy, and improv comedy with House Team, Beverly, at the Pack Theater in Los Angeles. She has a bi-monthly improvised comedy/music podcast called “Public Library Rocks!” For more information visit linktr.ee/lilyholleman

David Ivers (Director/Artistic Director) is responsible for the overall artistic operation of the theatre. The 2019-20 season was the first he programmed for SCR and during that season, he directed She Loves Me. In addition, he directed the 2021 Pacific Playwrights Festival reading of Coleman ’72 by Charlie Oh and the 2022 reading of Spenser Davis’ A Million Tiny Pieces. He spent August of last season directing Guthrie Theater’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest. He was last seen onstage at SCR as John in Richard Greenberg’s world premiere of A Shot Rang Out and as part of his SCR tenure created the theatre’s Outside SCR program in partnership with Mission San Juan Capistrano. Prior to his appointment as Artistic Director, he directed the SCR-Berkeley Repertory Theatre co-production of One Man, Two Guvnors. Before arriving to SCR in his current capacity, Ivers was artistic director for Arizona Theatre Company and, before that, served more than 20 years as an actor and director at Utah Shakespeare Festival, with the last six as artistic director. He was a resident artist at Denver Center for the Performing Arts for a decade, acting in and/or directing more than 40 plays, and has helmed productions at many of the nation’s leading regional theatres, including the Guthrie Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and South Coast Repertory. Ivers’ early career included serving as associate artistic director of Portland Repertory Theatre and appearing in productions at some of the nation’s most prestigious theatres, including Portland Center Stage and the Oregon, Alabama and Idaho Shakespeare festivals. He has taught at the University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Southern Utah University and Southern Oregon University. He earned his BA from Southern Oregon University and his MFA from the University of Minnesota.

Wilson Chin (Scenic Design) is making his SCR design debut. His designs on Broadway include Cost of Living (five Tony nominations, Pulitzer Prize winner), Pass Over (Drama Desk, Lortel and Henry Hewes Award nominations for set design) and Next Fall (two Tony nominations). Off-Broadway designs include Jonah (Roundabout Theatre Company), Sumo (Public Theater/Ma-Yi Theatre), A Bright New Boise and Sunset Baby (Signature Theatre), The Animal Kingdom (Connelly Theatre), The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons) and Space Dogs (MCC, Lortel Award nomination). Chin also designed the current international tour of Annie, set to play Madison Square Garden this holiday season starring Whoopi Goldberg. Regional credits include The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical (La Jolla Playhouse and Signature Theatre), Anne of Green Gables and Summer Stock (Goodspeed Musicals) and Blue Man Group (Orlando). His opera credits include Turandot (Washington National Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lyric Opera of Chicago) and Eine Florentinische Tragödie/Gianni Schicchi (Canadian Opera, Dora Award winner). Chin is a proud Eastern Region Board member of Local USA 829. Instagram: @wilsonchindesign

Kish Finnegan (Costume Design) is delighted to return to SCR, having designed SCR’s recent Outside SCR production of The Old Man and the Old Moon, American Mariachi in 2019 as well as Outside SCR’s 2021 return of American Mariachi, along with as You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Million Dollar Quartet. She makes her home in Tucson, AZ, where she is the resident costume designer for Arizona Theatre Company (ATC). Her recent design credits include several world premieres, including the new musical Justice at ATC, The Kite Runner at San Jose Repertory, The Tutor at The Village Theatre in Washington and a one-woman version of A Christmas Carol with Phoenix-based Childsplay. Finnegan is a graduate of California Institute for the Arts. She began her career designing costumes for Team USA Synchronized Swimming and for aquatic shows in Las Vegas, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia.

Philip Rosenberg (Lighting Design) is making his SCR design debut. His Broadway and West End credits include Mrs. Doubtfire, Pretty Woman, The Elephant Man, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and It’s Only a Play. His work regionally has been seen at The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, Guthrie Theater, The Old Globe, TheatreWorks, Hartford Stage, Alliance Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center Theatre, Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, McCarter Theatre, Manhattan School of Music, Portland Stage Company, TACT, Barrington Stage Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Dorset Theatre Festival, Bay Street Theatre, Goodspeed Opera, Two River Theatre Company, George Street Playhouse, and Westport Country Playhouse.

Beth Lake (Sound Design) is making her SCR design debut. Her Broadway credits include McNeal (with Justin Ellington), Uncle Vanya (with Mikhail Fiksel), and Camelot (with Marc Salzberg). Off-Broadway credits include for colored girls... , The Play That Goes Wrong, The Wolves and Freud’s Last Session. Regionally, she has designed A Little Night Music (Pasadena Playhouse), Into the Woods, (Guthrie Theater), Kinky Boots (Bucks County Playhouse), Selling Kabul, Ghosts, (Williamstown Theater Company), Kiss My Aztec (Hartford Stage with Jessica Paz), A Thousand Splendid Suns (ACT, Old Globe, Arena Stage) and The Revolutionists, An Iliad, The Price (Gulfshore Playhouse). Broadway Associate: The Cottage, for colored girls…, Pass Over, Is This a Room?, Dana H, My Fair Lady, The Play That Goes Wrong, Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. She earned her MFA at UC Irvine and is a member of USA829, IATSE.

Jerry Patch (Dramaturg) served as dramaturg on more than 150 new plays, including the world premieres of Abundance, Freedomland, Golden Child, Intimate Apparel, Search and Destroy, Three Days of Rain, Ruined and Wit. He was the founding project director for South Coast Repertory’s Pacific Playwrights Festival and artistic director of the theatre program of Sundance Institute. A professor of theatre and film, he was consulting dramaturg for Roundabout Theatre Company (New York) for nearly a decade and resident artistic director at The Old Globe in San Diego. He is now artistic consultant for Manhattan Theatre Club where he served over a decade as Director of Artistic Development, and is Resident Dramaturg at SCR.

Larry Amoros (Script Supervisor) is an acclaimed ghostwriter and collaborator with an eclectic and diverse background. He has put three books on The New York Times Best Seller List since 2013: I Hate Everyone Starting with Me, with the late Joan Rivers; The Book of Joan: Tales of Mirth, Mischief and Manipulation, with Melissa Rivers; and, Diary of a Mad Diva, which garnered Joan Rivers a posthumous 2015 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word album. His most recent book collaboration is Lies My Mother Told Me, with Melissa Rivers. Previous works include Joy Behar’s humor book, The Great Gasbag: An A to Z Guide to Surviving Trumpworld, and Bianca del Rio’s, Blame It on Bianca del Rio: An Opinion on Everything from an Expert on Nothing. Amoros’ sports background includes a 10-year run writing for ESPN’s “ESPY Awards,” “The NASCAR Awards” and “The NHL Awards.” He was part of the writing staff of “The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor,” and in 2016, he served as Creative Producer/Head Writer of A Tribute to Joan Rivers, at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Amoros also worked on many TV series and specials, including HLN’s “The Joy Behar Show,” “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” “The Nanny” the newsmagazine, California Connected and Barry Manilow’s Emmy Award-winning PBS Special, Music & Passion. A native New Yorker, Amoros currently resides in Southern California.

Matthew Meeks* (Stage Manager) is excited to make his SCR debut with Joan. His regional credits include Little Shop of Horrors, The Importance of Being Earnest, Into the Woods, SITI Company’s The Bacchae and A Christmas Carol with Guthrie Theater; Hamlet, The River Bride, The Gift of the Magi, A Doll’s House, A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, Heartbreak House and Exit the King with American Players Theatre; The Hatmaker’s Wife and Mlima’s Tale with Ten Thousand Things; The Sound of Music with Artistry Theater; and Yuletide Celebration (2022 & 2023) with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Thanks to you for supporting and celebrating live art!

Lauren Buangan* (Assistant Stage Manager) is a stage manager based out of the Orange County and Los Angeles area. Her previous SCR stage management credits include Coleman ’72, A Christmas Carol, Nina Simone: Four Women, and Million Dollar Quartet, among others. She has also served as assistant stage manager at Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles on Tiny Father, Fat Ham, and The Lonely Few. Buangan holds a BA in Theater from UCLA, a Certificate of Achievement in Film from Orange Coast College, and studied drama at Queen Mary University of London.