Amy Brenneman Featured in SCR's World Premiere of GALILEE, 34

South Coast Repertory has announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere of Galilee, 34 by Eleanor Burgess. Directed by Davis McCallum, the story exploring the disciples in the aftermath of the Crucifixion, runs April 21-May 12, 2024 on the Julianne Argyros Stage.

Known for her Emmy-nominated role in “Judging Amy,” “The Old Man,” and numerous film credits (Casper, Fear, Daylight, Heat, Friends and Neighbors, among others), Amy Brenneman makes her SCR debut as Miriam of Nazareth. She joins a stellar cast featuring Eric Berryman (Yacov of Nazareth), Christopher Cruz (Linus/Stranger), Teresa Avia Lim (Miri of Magdala), Sharon Omi (Elishiva), Benjamin Pelteson (Shimon of Bethsaida), Jeremy Rabb (Mattiyahu/Ezra) and Raviv Ullman (Saul of Tarsus).

Berryman (“Atlanta”, Get Your Ass In the Water and Swim Like Me off-Broadway), Cruz (El Huracán at The Old Globe), Lim (Junk on Broadway), Pelteson (ESPN 30 for 30 film Silly Little Game), Rabb (original cast of Rock of Ages) and Ullman (Phil in “Phil of The Future,” “Rita Rocks”) all make their SCR debuts. Omi (Eat with Me, 50 First Dates) returns to SCR for the first time since appearing in the 1994 production of A Christmas Carol.

The design and creative team includes Sandra Goldmark, set design; Dina El-Aziz, costume design; Josh Epstein, lighting design; Bray Poor, sound design; and Charles Haugland, dramaturg. Joanne DeNaut, CSA, is the casting director and Darlene Miyakawa is the production stage manager.

Galilee, 34 takes a look at what happened to the disciples after the Crucifixion of Yeshua or Jesus. The healer from Nazareth is dead—and his followers are determined to keep sharing his message. The problem is the Roman Empire wants them out of the picture. And they don't have a leader. And they can't quite agree on exactly what that message is. With wit and intelligence, one of the country's most exciting writers takes audiences back to the start of a world-changing movement for a deeply personal look at those who made it happen.

“Eleanor Burgess' Galilee, 34 asks evocative and smart questions about ‘what if?' On a cover page of the script she writes, ‘None of this happened, but all of it is true.' I love how this encapsulates Eleanor's adventurous, intelligent, hilarious and human new play about the chronicling of biblical history,” Ivers said. “As she wrestles with the legacy of Yeshua in an ancient world, Galilee, 34 elevates voices left out, illuminates new context and builds the foundation for a dimensional and complicated narrative. Galilee, 34 is a thrilling addition to our PPF roster of world premiere productions.”

Galilee, 34 was a reading at the 2023 Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF), where it was well-received. It continues SCR's commitment to producing and showcasing new works from talented playwrights. In 2024, it's one of two anchoring productions of PPF.

A high-school history teacher before she became a writer, Burgess spent three years researching and writing Galilee, 34, diving into Jewish and Christian theology, the Roman Empire, the history of the Kingdom of Judea and the daily life of the people living there in the first century CE.

“There was a clear jumping-off point that led me to think about these people,” she said. “What if you're a human being who has encountered the divine and who is now struggling to hold onto that feeling and to figure out what the divine looks like when applied to real, daily life? What if the way forward wasn't all revealed to them, but instead they were normal human beings who had to figure out what to do—and they disagreed about it?

“I wanted to tell the most famous story on Earth as if the outcome weren't a foregone conclusion. What if the figures we've turned into saints were capable of jealousy, uncertainty, grief, cruelty? Even failure? My goal with Galilee, 34 was to take things we've turned into hallowed traditions and put a human face on them.”

A versatile and prolific writer, Burgess's work has been produced across the United States and internationally, at Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre Center, Geffen Playhouse, Huntington Theatre Company, the Alliance Theatre, Writers Theatre, Finborough Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Geva Theatre Center, InterAct Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre, Festival, Portland Stage Company, and Centenary Stage. She has also developed work with The New Group, New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Salt Lake Acting Company, Lark Play Development Center, and The Kennedy Center/NNPN MFA Playwrights Workshop. She has been a member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, Page 73's writers' group Interstate 73, The Civilians' R&D Group, and New York Theatre Workshop's 2050 Fellowship.

Her television credits include work on “Perry Mason” for HBO, “WeCrashed” for Apple TV and “Interview with the Vampire” for AMC. Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, Burgess studied history at Yale College and Dramatic Writing at NYU/Tisch.

The Artistic Director of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival for the last decade, McCallum is an award-winning director with numerous New York and regional credits. His notable New York City credits include Greater Clements and The Harvest (Lincoln Center Theatre), Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick), Fashions for Men and London Wall (Mint Theater), The Whale and Pocatello (Playwrights Horizons), Water by the Spoonful (Second Stage) and February House (The Public Theater), among many others. McCallum earned a Callaway Award nomination for The Whale, which won a Lortel Award for Best Play, and Water by the Spoonful won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His regional credits include the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dallas Theater Center, The Old Globe, Guthrie Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown Festival and the Humana Festival, among others.

A Rhodes Scholarship recipient and Oxford graduate, McCallum graduated from Princeton and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Galilee, 34 received generous support from Lead Honorary Producer Julia Voce and The Playwrights Circle, which includes Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, Julie and Robert F. Davey, David Emmes and Paula Tomei, Stephen G. and Regina Oswald Foundation and Samuel and Tammy Tang.

Tickets range in price from $29 to $105, with additional discounts available for educators, seniors and theatregoers ages 25 and under. Tickets may be purchased online at www.scr.org or by phone at (714) 708-5555. More information is available at www.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 David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available on Park Center Drive, off Anton Boulevard.

2023-24 Remaining Productions: Prelude to a Kiss, The Musical, April 5-May 4. Galilee, 34, April 21-May 12. The annual showcase of new works, the Pacific Playwrights Festival, runs May 3-5. Outside SCR's The Old Man and The Old Moon at Mission San Juan Capistrano, July 20-Aug. 11.

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