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By Margaret Jordan

Meet the Cast of “Joan”

Audiences for Joan, written by Daniel Goldstein, will enjoy the performances of an Orange County native with Broadway credits and three of the most dynamic and accomplished stage actors in the region—who have numerous SCR credits.

Running Oct. 27-Nov. 24 on the Julianne Argyros Stage as part of SCR’s ongoing American Icon Series, Joan tells the story of the trailblazing comedian who reinvented herself many times over. This hilarious and heartbreaking account of a famously edgy show business pioneer takes you from Greenwich Village nightclubs to “The Tonight Show” to Hollywood’s red carpets. Joan Rivers made and remade her career through triumph, tragedy and motherhood.

Tessa Auberjonois returns to SCR as Joan Rivers and Mrs. Molinsky, having most recently appeared in the 2022 productions of The Little Foxes and Appropriate. She has a long and rich history at SCR, with appearances in The Roommate, Crimes of the Heart, A Wrinkle in Time, Lobby Hero and Everett Beekin, among others, including numerous PPF and NewSCRipts readings. Some of her other favorite roles include Allison in Trainspotting Off-Broadway, Helen in Cripple of Inishmaan at the Wilma Theater and Anna and Older Rebecca in Eight Nights at The Antaeus Company, for which she won an Ovation Award for Best Lead Actress. She is a graduate of London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and The DG School of Drama at Yale. She is a member of Antaeus Theatre Company and a 2017 recipient of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship.

Andrew Borba also returns to SCR as Dr. Molinsky/Edgar Rosenberg/Johnny Carson/Others. You may have previously seen him in Sight Unseen, In The Next Room or the vibrator play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Lovers & Executioners and in readings at the Pacific Playwrights Festival. His regional credits include the Pasadena Playhouse, The Old Globe, La Mirada Theatre, five seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theater Center and Portland Stage Company, among many others. For eight seasons, he was the Artistic Director of the acclaimed Chautauqua Theater Company. He is the head of the Graduate Acting program at UC Irvine and a 2024 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow.

Elinor Gunn makes her SCR stage debut as Melissa and Young Joan, but you may have seen her in several NewSCRipts readings, including A Million Tiny Pieces, Louder and Funnie. Previously, 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. Her other recent theatre appearances include For The Love Of (or, the roller derby play) at Kirk Douglas Theatre, The Angel Next Door at Laguna Playhouse and North Coast Repertory and Ariel in The Tempest at The Antaeus Company.

Zachary Prince (Jimmy/Blake/Henry/Chet/Others) returns 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. His favorite regional credits include A Transparent Musical at Mark Taper Forum, The Glass Menagerie at Pioneer Theatre and Ragtime at Bay Street Theatre, among others. He is also the director of Stephen Brower’s Palatable Gay Robot, a one-man show currently touring North America. He earned his BFA at Carnegie Mellon University.

Lily Holleman (Understudy, Joan/Mrs. Molinsky/Melissa/Young Joan) returns to SCR, having previously appeared in Circle Mirror Transformation, The Trip to Bountiful and Abundance. Her Los Angeles theater credits include Where the Great Ones Run at Rogue Machine Theatre, Bleed Rail at The Theatre at Boston Court, All About Walken at The Dragonfly and Coney Island Christmas at Geffen Playhouse. She 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.

Rafael Goldstein (Understudy, Dr. Molinsky, Johnny Carson, Announcer/Others) has been working on and around the stages of Los Angeles since he was 12. He is a resident artist at A Noise Within in Pasadena. Last year, at San Diego’s Cygnet Theatre, Goldstein played Jake in the world-premiere of Keiko Green’s Sharon, earning a Craig Noel Award nomination. He will make his official SCR debut in the world-premiere of Green’s You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! this spring.

About the author

South Coast Repertory

South Coast Repertory is a Tony Award-winning theatre is known for producing classics, contemporary hits and world premieres, for having the largest new-play development program in the nation and for advancing the art of theatre in service to the community. 

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