South Coast Rep's NewSCRipts Series to Feature GOING TO A PLACE WHERE YOU ALREADY ARE, 12/8

Do you believe in heaven? If so, what does it look like? That's what playwright Bekah Brunstetter explores in her new work, Going to a Place where you Already Are. It's up next for South Coast Repertory's NewSCRipts reading series on Monday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m., on the Julianne Argyros Stage. Tickets are available online at www.scr.org. The play is an SCR commission.

It's the story of Roberta and Joe, who have reached that point in life where an invitation to a funeral is far more common than an invitation to a wedding. It's a part of getting older. Ellie, Joe's granddaughter, is always working, with little time for self-reflection, or relationships...or pretty much anything that takes her away from the screens of her phone and computer. But when these three are forced to confront mortality's inevitability, their outlook on life changes entirely. With thoughtful storytelling, quiet wit and an enigmatic angel, Going to a Place where you Already Are looks at beginnings and endings and where we go after we're gone.

Brunstetter hails from Winston-Salem, N.C., and currently lives in Los Angeles. Her plays include Cutie and Bear (upcoming: the Roundabout), A Long and Happy life (Naked Angels Commission), Be A Good Little Widow (Ars Nova, Collaboraction, The Old Globe), Oohrah! (The Atlantic Theater, Steppenwolf Garage, the Finborough Theater / London) and House of Home (Williamstown Theater Festival), among others. She previously has written for MTV ("Underemployed," "I Just Want My Pants Back") and is currently a story editor on ABC Family's "Switched at Birth."

The reading will be directed by Matt August.

Past NewSCRipts readings include Donald Margulies' Collected Stories, Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain and Amy Freed's Freedomland, all of which went on to New York productions. Plays selected for the NewSCRipts series have earned six Pulitzer Prize nominations; Margaret Edson's Wit won the prize in 1999.

SCR launched the NewSCRipts play reading series in 1985 to bring audiences into the process of creating new works with emerging and established playwrights. After each public reading on the Julianne Argyros Stage, audience members engage in lively exchanges with the playwright and are active participants in the play's development by providing valuable feedback for the writer.

South Coast Repertory's NewSCRipts series is generously underwritten by Elaine J. Weinberg.

Tickets to the NewSCRipts reading of Going to a Place where you Already Are may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office. Tickets are $15, and include an audience discussion with playwright Brunstetter and dramaturg Kelly L. Miller.

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 off Anton Blvd. on Park Center Drive.

ABOUT SOUTH COAST REPERTORY: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson, is led by Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei. SCR is widely recognized as one of the leading professional theatres in the United States. SCR is committed to theatre that illuminates the compelling personal and social issues of our time, not only on its stages but through its wide array of education and outreach programs. While its productions represent a balance of classic and modern theatre, SCR is renowned for its extensive new-play development program, which includes the nation's largest commissioning program for emerging and established writers and composers. Each year, it showcases some of country's best new plays in the Pacific Playwrights Festival, which attracts theatre professionals from across the country. Of SCR's 485 productions, one-quarter have been world premieres, whose subsequent stagings achieved enormous success throughout America and around the world. Two SCR-developed works have won Pulitzer Prizes, and another eight were named Pulitzer finalists. In addition, SCR works have won several Obie Awards and scores of major new-play awards. Located in Costa Mesa, California, SCR's David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center is home to the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio. Today, SCR produces 13 shows and eight public readings each season. More information is available at www.scr.org.

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