SCR Presents THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE by Julia Cho, 3/26-4/25
By: BWW News Desk Mar. 06, 2010
The Language Archive, Julia Cho's new romantic comedy about love and miscommunication, has its world premiere at South Coast Repertory March 26 through April 25.
The play, which just won the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, tells the story of George, a brilliant linguist who knows how to talk to everyone except his wife, Mary, who is about to leave him, and his assistant, Emma, who has a not-so-secret crush on him. Meanwhile, at work, he's in danger of losing his chance to record the dying Elloway language. Its last two speakers - an elderly married couple - are in the midst of a fight, and they refuse to speak their native tongue until they resolve the argument.Leo Marks plays George, Betsy Brandt is Mary and Laura Heisler is Emma. SCR veterans Tony Amendola and Linda Gehringer play Ellowan natives Resten and Alta.When presenting Cho with the Blackburn prize, which is given annually to an outstanding new English-language play written by a woman, judge and Tony-winning director Doug Hughes called the play "funny and filled with surprises - a humane, wise work about the terrifying inadequacy of language to bridge the distance between human beings."
Mark Brokaw, who is directing the production, said that at heart, it's a story about people looking for someone who speaks their language: "We're all looking for someone who hears us, and gets us - not just the words themselves but what's said between the lines."
The Language Archive's creative team includes Neil Patel (set design), Mark McCullough (lighting design), Rachel Myers (costume design), Steven Cahill (sound design), Chrissy Church (stage manager) and Jamie Tucker (assistant stage manager).Discuss the play with members of The Language Archive cast during free post-show discussions led by South Coast Repertory's literary team.INSIDE THE SEASON: Saturday, Apr. 10, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. $12
Inside the Season is a series of interactive classes that provide a comprehensive inside look at the theatrical production process. Each two-hour class features creative personnel from South Coast Repertory's current production. Inside the Season is offered on select Saturday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 each and can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or at the Box Office. (Tickets to The Language Archive are sold separately.)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 Theater Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available off Anton Blvd. on Park Center Drive. COMING UP: Doctor Cerberus (April 11 - May 2), Crimes of the Heart (May 7 - June 6), Ben and the Magic Paintbrush (May 21 - June 6).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 440 productions, 112 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. BIOGRAPHIES
Julia Cho (Playwright) is the author of The Piano Teacher, Durango, The Winchester House, BFE, The Architecture of Loss and 99 Histories, which have been produced at SCR, The Vineyard Theatre, The Public Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, East West Players and The Theatre @ Boston Court, among others. An alumna of The Juilliard School and NYU's Graduate Dramatic Writing Program, Ms. Cho is a member of New Dramatists. The Language Archive was commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company.Mark Brokaw (Director) is making his SCR directorial debut. New York premieres include Lisa Loomer's Distracted at Roundabout Theatre Company, Paula Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home and How I Learned To Drive at The Vineyard Theatre, Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero at Playwrights Horizons and London's Donmar Warehouse, This is Our Youth at Second Stage Theatre, Douglas Carter Beane's As Bees in Honey Drown and Wendy Wasserstein's Old Money at Lincoln Center Theater, The Dying Gaul by Craig Lucas and Lisa Kron's 2.5 Minute Ride at The Public Theater, Mouth to Mouth at The New Group, and Lynda Barry's The Good Times Are Killing Me. His regional credits include the Sondheim Celebration at The Kennedy Center (A Little Night Music), as well as Guthrie Theater, Center Theatre Group, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Huntington Theatre Company and the Gate Theatre in Dublin. Mr. Brokaw is an Associate Artist of the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York. Tony Amendola (Resten) returns to SCR after appearing in The Heiress. Mr. Amendola has appeared at many leading theatres throughout the country. He was a resident actor, director and associate artist at Berkeley Repertory Theatre from 1980 to 1990. His credits there include Pillowman, American Buffalo, Belly of the Beast, A View from the Bridge and Twelfth Night. Other theatre credits include Uncle Vanya, Glengarry GLen Ross and Othello at American Conservatory Theater, Lewis and Clark and Our Country's Good at Mark Taper Forum, Cymbeline and Timon of Athens at The Old Globe, Triumph of Love at La Jolla Playhouse, Filumena at Williamstown Theatre Festival (which later went on to New York), Waiting for Godot and Mad Forest at Matrix Theatre Company, The Rite of Spring at Disney Hall, and the theatre event Tamara. Film and television credits include Blow, The Legend of Zorro, The Mask of Zorro, Lone Star, The Perfect Sleep, Read You Like a Book, "Dexter," "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," "The West Wing," "Alias," "CSI," "Seinfeld," "26 Miles," "Dollhouse" and a longtime role on "Stargate SG-1" as the Jaffa Warrior Bra'Tac. He is a member of AEA, SAG, AFTRA and The Antaeus Company. Betsy Brandt (Mary) appeared at SCR previously in Beth Henley's Ridiculous Fraud and the Pacific Playwrights Festival readings of Truth and Beauty and Scab. Other theatre credits include The Royal Family at Intiman Theatre, Much Ado about Nothing at the Arizona Theatre Company, Ctrl Alt Delete at San Jose Repertory, The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Tacoma Actors Guild, The Little Foxes at Intiman Theatre and Portland Center Stage, Thirst at American Conservatory Theater, Taking Sides at Jewish Ensemble Theatre, where she was awarded Best New Actress by the Michigan Alliance of Professional Theatres, The Fantasticks at Bathhouse Theatre, and Albertine in Five Times at Illinois Repertory Theatre. Her film credits include Shelf Life, Memphis Bound... and Gagged and Confidence. She is a series regular on "Breaking Bad" and has appeared on "Boston Legal," "Side Order of Life," "Miami Medical," "CSI," "Close to Home," "Medical Investigation," "Navy NCIS," "The Practice," "ER," "Without a Trace," "The Guardian," "JAG," "Judging Amy" and the made-for-television movie Back When We Were Grownups. Linda Gehringer (Alta) has appeared at SCR in the world premieres of The Piano Teacher (also by Julia Cho), A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, Getting Frankie Married-and Afterwards, Hold Please, But Not for Me and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, a role which she repeated in its New York premiere at the Atlantic Theatre Company. Other SCR credits include: The Retreat from Moscow, A Delicate Balance, All My Sons, Relatively Speaking, The Carpetbagger's Children, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Arcadia and Good as New. She was most recently seen at the Goodman Theatre in The Crowd You're in With (Jeff nomination) and The Old Globe in The Women and Since Africa. She has played leading roles in theatres across the country, including Arena Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, Baltimore Center Stage, LaJolla Playhouse, Berkshire Theatre Festival, New York Stage and Film, Mark Taper Forum, Ojai Playwright's Festival and seven seasons with Dallas Theater Center. She holds an MFA from the University of Minnesota, which she attended on a Guthrie Fellowship, and has won numerous critical awards. She is currently recurring on the new FX series "Justified." Other television credits include four seasons on "Evening Shade" and guest-starring roles on "Weeds," "Gilmore Girls," "Without a Trace," "Cold Case," "The West Wing," "Frasier," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Ally McBeal," "The Practice," "The Division" and "Dallas," among others, and the film As Good as It Gets. Laura Heisler (Emma) is making her SCR debut. She made her Broadway debut in Coram Boy, and has appeared Off-Broadway and regionally, including at Playwrights Horizons (Doris To Darlene and People Be Heard), Williamstown Theatre Festival (Top Girls and Bus Stop), The Old Globe (Compleat Female Stage Beauty and Taming of the Shrew), McCarter Theatre Center (A Seagull in the Hamptons), Naked Angels (The Mistakes Madeline Made), Soho Repertory (Everything Will Be Different), and many others. She originated the role of Eurydice in the world premiere production of Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice at Madison Repertory, and the role of Lily in the world premiere of David Adjmi's Stunning at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Film and television work includes YellowBrickRoad, Cold Souls, Forged, Coach, "Bones," "Numb3rs," "The Middle" and "Ugly Betty."Leo Marks (George) returns to SCR, where he previously appeared as Bill Walker in Major Barbara. Other theater credits include All the King's Men at Intiman Theatre (as Jack Burden), Defiance at Pasadena Playhouse (Ticketholder Award, Best Supporting Actor), Lincolnesque at The Old Globe, Dead End at Ahmanson Theatre, Joan Rivers at Geffen Playhouse, A Perfect Wedding at Kirk Douglas Theatre, Somewhere in the Pacific (directed by Mark Brokaw) at Playwrights Horizons, Huck Finn and The Comedy of Errors at Actors Theatre of Louisville, as well as many times at LA's Evidence Room. He played Hamlet last year at Theater 150. He's a founding member of New York's Elevator Repair Service, and a new member of LA's Antaeus Company. Television work includes "The New Adventures of Old Christine," "Prison Break," "K-Ville," "Law and Order: SVU," "Law and Order," "Six Feet Under," "NYPD Blue," "The Practice," "Frasier" and "Gilmore Girls." He's a two-time LA Weekly Award nominee, for Best Leading Actor in Harold Pinter's Betrayal, and for Best Supporting Actor in The Cherry Orchard, and he won an OBIE in 2007 for his work in Heather Woodbury's Tale of 2 Cities: An American Joyride on Multiple Tracks. He will appear in the upcoming indie film Callers.
Photo: Playwright Julia Cho. Photo courtesy of South Coast Repertory.
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