Marking a Milestone With Celebration

The concept was born on a restaurant napkin in a Long Beach diner. It took its first breath in a Newport Beach club, grew from a store front to the forefront of American theatre and helped turn a lima bean field into a cultural field of dreams. Of such humble beginnings are landmarks created, traditions started and, yes, stars born.

Starting this month, South Coast Repertory celebrates its 60th season of showcasing leading-edge theatre for Southern California theatregoers.

We invite you to join us for a season that SCR Artistic Director David Ivers described as rich with hope, joy and the diverse, talented voices SCR is known for showcasing. From the first production of Tartuffe at the Newport Ebell Club in November 1964 to a landmark season with two world premieres—including a new musical from an SCR legacy playwright—SCR continues to illustrate why it is a destination theatre for artists, actors—and audiences.

“I think we always have to be mindful of where we came from in order to navigate how we move forward,” Ivers said. “The rich tapestry of SCR’s 60 years gives us such firm footing and such a firm foundation for us to celebrate all that art has to offer. Art offers entertainment. It offers redemption. It offers joy. But art is also subversive. It is also challenging and it also demands—as Hamlet said—that we hold a mirror up to nature.

“Our job going forward is always to be standing on the shoulders of what we know, while exploring with wonder and curiosity and a kind of boldness that allows us to innovate.”

That innovation is the lifeblood of SCR. It illustrates how the theatre’s impact on Orange County and the American theatre goes beyond the Tony Award it received in 1988. It goes beyond the dozens of regional awards, the scores of world premieres debuting on its stages or the theatre careers launched.

It goes to the vision of Founding Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson, who one night in a Long Beach diner, sketched out the rough idea for SCR on a napkin. Their vision of a world-class regional theatre in Orange County that would serve as an artistic home to many of American theatre’s newest plays leaped off that napkin and eventually turned one corner of that Costa Mesa lima bean field into an artistic destination, where audiences and artists dream of seeing and performing all kinds of works.

We welcome you to experience a memorable season of engaging, entertaining theatre. Welcome!