SCR Holds PRINCE OF ATLANTIS Reading, 1/10

Steven Drukman's The Prince of Atlantis will have a staged reading January 10 at 7:30 p.m. as part of South Coast Repertory's NewSCRipts series. The Prince of Atlantis is the 113th play to receive a staged reading in SCR's venerable play reading program.
 
Set in the Down the Lake section of Boston, where the jargon is all their own, and so is the bombast, this tender-and funny-play is all about family, loyalty and love. At its center is Joey Colletti, one of the biggest seafood importers in the East, who got in a little trouble with his company and landed in a minimum security prison. To add to his woes, the son he never knew is anxious to meet him but isn't aware of his current address. Joey expects his brother, Kevin, can put the kid off for nine months until he gets out. But Kevin has a couple of problems of his own. 
 
Drukman's play Truth and Beauty was part of the 2002 Pacific Playwrights Festival. The Bullet Round was read as part of NewSCRripts and received its world premiere in 2009 at the Arena Stage in Portland, Oregon. In This Corner, about the Louis/Schmeling boxing bouts, premiered in January 2008 at The Old Globe and won the Critics Circle "Best New Play" award.  His newest play, The Innocents, will premiere this spring at Asolo Repertory Theatre. Other produced plays are Another Fine Mess (Portland Center Stage, 2003 Pulitzer Prize Nomination for Drama), Going Native, Flattery Will Get You, Collateral Damage and Snowmaiden. His awards include the Edgerton Award for New Plays, Craig Noel Award, Paul Green Award, Alfred P. Sloan Award, Ovid Foundation and Boston Theatre Works, among others. He has written for The New York Times, The Village Voice, The International Herald Tribune and The Nation, is a former theatre critic for Artforum and WNYC-FM, and the former senior editor of American Theatre magazine. Drukman is an Associate Arts Professor at New York University, where he teaches playwriting.
 
The annual NewSCRipts series of three Monday evening play readings by emerging and established playwrights was launched in 1985 as a way to bring the audience into the process of creating new work. After the readings, which take place on the Julianne Argyros Stage, audience members engage in lively exchanges with the playwright and become active participants in the play's development, providing invaluable feedback for the writer. Plays selected for the NewSCRipts series have earned six Pulitzer Prize nominations, with Margaret Edson's Wit winning the prize in 1999.
 
South Coast Repertory's NewSCRipts series of play readings is generously underwritten by Elaine J. Weinberg.
 
TICKETS to the NewSCRipts reading of The Prince of Atlantis can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office. NewSCRipts tickets are $12 each and include audience discussions with the playwright and dramaturg.
 
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.
  
ABOUT SCR: 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 445 productions, 117 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 Segerstrom Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio.