THE WHALE, Pacific Playwrights Festival, THE FANTASTICKS and More Set for South Coast Rep, March-June 2013

South Coast Repertory has announced its upcoming events and productions, March-June 2013. Details below!

MARCH 2013

March 10-31 Julianne Argyros Stage
The Whale
By Samuel D. Hunter
Directed by Martin Benson
Charlie is different from most of us. He's an online writing teacher with one friend, a nurse who nearly kills him with kindness, and one acquaintance, a troubled young missionary who's determined to rescue his soul. He's in bad health but refuses to be hospitalized. And, he weighs 600 pounds. When his estranged daughter turns up suddenly, Charlie makes a deal to buy her time, if not her affections. He hopes their connection will give her life-and his-meaning at last.
Tickets: $20- $70. See last page for performance times.
Link: http://www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=5303

March 29-April 28 Segerstrom Stage
Smokefall
By Noah Haidle
Directed by Anne Kauffman
This is the story of three generations of an eccentric Midwestern family on the verge of big changes. Time present, time past and time future converge as family members await the arrival of twins, so the promise of new life is in the air-but so is the inevitability of change and loss. Magical and tragic, funny and forlorn, paradoxical and profound, Haidle's tale offers a lyrical meditation on the mystery and fragility of life. A world premiere co-production with Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois.
Tickets: $20 - $70 See last page for performance times.
Link: http://www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=5091

APRIL 2013

April 6-14
The Nightengale
Nicholas Studio Junior Players (Student Production)
Story by Hans Christian Andersen
Adapted for the stage by Marisha Chamberlain
Directed by Mercy Vasquez
In ancient China, the Lord High Emperor rules from his porcelain palace where gardens stretch to the sea and flowers bloom underwater. In the forest far away, a nightingale sings. The Emperor hears about her beautiful song and sends his kitchen servant, Wu Ling, to bring the bird to the palace, where she's told to sing forever. Then one day a jeweled mechanical bird takes her place, and the nightingale, forgotten, flies away. Soon, the jeweled bird, like all mechanical things breaks, the Emperor grows ill and longs for the beautiful song of his real nightingale. But even emperors must learn that birds have to be free to come and go, sharing their songs with everyone. SCR's Junior Players, chosen by audition after at least two years in the Theatre Conservatory, portray all the characters-and three different actors play Wu Ling.
Tickets: $10 See last page for performance times.
Link: http://www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=5091

April 14- May 5 Julianne Argyros Stage
The Parisian Woman
By Beau Willimon
An intriguing new play by the writer-producer of "House of Cards", and the Oscar-nominated film The Ides of March, Beau Willimon sets his new play in the Capitol Hill section of Washington, D.C., where powerful friends are the only kind worth having. Inspired by a scandalous French comedy about bad conduct in high places is swift, savvy and impossible to resist. Tom is a lawyer in the private sector, with his sights on a government job. Chloe is beautiful, bright and bored. But she has a passionate side, and it has nothing to do with her love affairs. How far will they go to achieve political stardom? On Capitol Hill, powerful friends are the only kind worth having-and scandal is a way of life.
Tickets: $20- $70. See last page for performance times.
Link: http://www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=5329

April 26-28
16th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival
The Pacific Playwrights Festival annually presents seven new plays in staged readings and full productions during a three-day period. Audiences consist of local playgoers and representatives from theatres nationwide. PPF provides a gathering place for writers and theatre professionals to connect and share ideas and interests in the context of a festival that promotes the latest and best in American playwriting. This year's festival will feature world premiere productions by Noah Haidle, and Beau Willimon, and staged readings of plays by Carla Ching, Jordan Harrison, Michael Hollinger, Zoe Kazan and Gregory S Moss.
Link: http://www.scr.org/plays/pacificplaywrightsfestival.aspx

Readings include:

Trudy and Max in Love (Or That Forever Feeling)
By Zoe Kazan
When: Friday, April 26, at 1 p.m., on the Julianne Argyros Stage
The spark of love sometimes sets unexpected fires. Trudy and Max have no business falling for each other, but once they do, their lives get very hot and very complicated in a New York minute.

Hope and Gravity
By Michael Hollinger
When: Friday, April 26, at 3:30 p.m., on the Segerstrom Stage
When an elevator crashes in a major city, ten lives intersect in surprising ways-through love and sex, poetry and dentistry, in offices, backyards and hotel rooms-revealing the barely perceivable threads that connect us all.

Fast Company
By Carla Ching
When: Friday, April 26, at 8 p.m.; Saturday April 27, at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sunday, April 28, at 2:30 p.m., in the Nicholas Studio
They're a family. Sort of. They're grifters. For sure. But when the biggest con of a lifetime comes along, will money trump loyalty or will they finally settle down for more than a card game?

Reunion
By Gregory S Moss
When: Saturday, April 27, at 10:30 a.m., on the Julianne Argyros Stage
This darkly comic drama shatters every cliché about high school reunions as three male friends relive the debauchery and reveal the secrets that brought them back-twenty years later.

Marjorie Prime
By Jordan Harrison
When: Sunday, April 28, at 10:30 a.m., on the Segerstrom Stage
What's the difference between life lived and a life remembered? "Gone but not forgotten" takes on a new meaning in this speculative drama about the desire to keep our dearly departed with us.

Productions include:

March 29-April 28 Segerstrom Stage
Smokefall
World Premiere, co-production with The Goodman Theatre
By Noah Haidle
Directed by Anne Kauffman
This is the story of three generations of an eccentric Midwestern family on the verge of big changes. Time present, time past and time future converge as family members await the arrival of twins, so the promise of new life is in the air-but so is the inevitability of change and loss. Magical and tragic, funny and forlorn, paradoxical and profound, Haidle's tale offers a lyrical meditation on the mystery and fragility of life. A world premiere co-production with Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois.

April 14- May 5 Julianne Argyros Stage
The Parisian Woman
World Premiere
By Beau Willimon
An intriguing new play by the writer-producer of "House of Cards", and the Oscar-nominated film The Ides of March, Beau Willimon sets his new play in the Capitol Hill section of Washington, D.C., where powerful friends are the only kind worth having. Inspired by a scandalous French comedy about bad conduct in high places is swift, savvy and impossible to resist. Tom is a lawyer in the private sector, with his sights on a government job. Chloe is beautiful, bright and bored. But she has a passionate side, and it has nothing to do with her love affairs. How far will they go to achieve political stardom? On Capitol Hill, powerful friends are the only kind worth having-and scandal is a way of life.

MAY 2013

May 10 - June 9 Segerstrom Stage
The Fantasticks
Music by Harvey Schmidt
Book and lyrics by Tom Jones
Directed by Amanda Dehnert
A carnival midway of magic, mischief and theatrical thrills! Amanda Dehnert, celebrated throughout the American theatre for re-imagining classics, has added a multitude of visual delights and fantastical illusions to the original charm and beautiful ballads (like the haunting "Try to Remember") of The Fantasticks. When two scheming fathers conspire with the mysterious El Gallo to keep their daughter and son apart (to be sure they'll fall in love!) the dewy-eyed lovers venture into the real world. But as fantasy turns to reality, El Gallo is there to remind them that "without the hurt, the heart is hollow" in one of the most popular musicals of all time, which the Washington Post calls, "Fresh and alive again."
Tickets: $23- $75. See last page for performance times.
Link: http://www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=5168

May 2-5 Nicholas Studio
Lost Moon Radio: America
Lost Moon Radio
Studio SCR
DJ Jupiter Jack has hosted KTSH's Fourth of July broadcast for 28 years. Until now. Pushed out by two shock jocks and the increasing corporatization of his station, Jack finds himself examining the state of America and his career while he's on the air. As Jack spins tracks about the U.S. of A., we see each one as a sketch or song performed live onstage by actors and a band. The resulting collage is part comedy show, part rock concert, and part intimate journey through the mind of a man who is grappling with a changing America.
Time: May 2 at 7 p.m.; May 3 at 8 p.m.; May 4 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; May 5 at 3 p.m.
Tickets: $20-$35.
Link: http://www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=5679

May 24 - June 9 Julianne Argyros Stage
The Night Fairy
Adapted by John Glore
From the book by Laura Amy Schlitz
Directed by Oanh Nguyen
Flory is a fairy no taller than an acorn, who loses her exquisite wings in a fight with a bat, falls into the garden of a "Giantess" and takes up residence in a birdhouse. This magical story from a Newbery Medal winner is as visually bewitching as the night fairy herself. But Flory is as fierce and ferocious as she is elegant, and she's about to discover that she needs every drop of bravery-and equal amounts of understanding and compassion-in her new life among the daylight creatures.
Tickets: $20- $32. See last page for performance times.
Link: http://www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=5118

JUNE 2013

June 6-9 Nicholas Studio
Eternal Thou
Mathew McCray
Studio SCR
Framed by the spiritual philosophies of the mystic Martin Buber, Eternal Thou is a high-tech science fiction drama about the future of the Internet and man's search for spiritual enlightenment. In Eternal Thou, the cast dives in and out of the unwieldy signals of the Internet to reprogram its central code and protect it from forces that threaten its survival. The Internet, presented as the central character of the play, is on a search for enlightenment that parallels our own. This critically acclaimed production was a 2012 Critic's Pick in Backstage and received rave reviews throughout Los Angeles. Recommendation: Contains adult language.
Tickets: $15-$35.
Link: http://www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=5687

June 19-23 Nicholas Studio
Neva
By Guillermo Calderòn
South Coast Repertory, co-produced with Center Theatre Group and La Jolla Playhouse
Studio SCR
Neva tells the story of Anton Chekhov's widow, the actress Olga Knipper, who arrives in a dimly lit rehearsal room in St. Petersburg in the winter of 1905. As Olga and two other actors await the rest of the cast, they huddle together, act out scenes from their lives and muse on their art form and love. Outside, unseen striking workers are being gunned down in the streets by the Tsarist regime. Guillermo Calderón savagely examines the relationship between theatre and historical context in this tightly crafted piece that allows a palpable terror to creep through the theatre walls.
Tickets: $25-$35.
Link: http://www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=5699

EDUCATION PROGRAMS - THEATRE CONSERVATORY

June 22- Aug. 3 or Aug. 5-17
KIDS AND TEENS ACTING CLASSES / SUMMER ACTING WORKSHOP
Summer Acting Workshop is a two-week introduction to theatre for students new to SCR. Kids and teens build self-esteem and confidence and make new friends within their peer groups (grades 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-12). Each day begins with an invigorating all-camp warm-up. Class time follows, as students join their age groups for two lively hours of interactive instruction in voice, movement, character development and more-led by SCR's staff of theatre professionals. The final hour is spent with special guests who bring to life various aspects of theatre, such as design, improvisation, combat, singing and playwriting-something different every day. The two-week program concludes with students sharing their work onstage in a demonstration project for invited family and friends.
Tuition: $325 per 2-week session; $295, discounted price for siblings.

March 25- May 15
ADULT ACTING CLASSES / SPRING SESSION
Students 18 and over choose from a variety of classes developed to suit individual pace and interests. Courses range from Improvisation to Fundamentals of Acting to Actors Workshop for career-minded students, as well as two levels of playwriting. Many sessions also include Acting for the Camera and Musical Theatre. Classes meet weekly 7-10 p.m. Call (714) 708-5510 for schedule.
Tuition: $295 per 8-week session.

April 6-14
The Nightengale
Nicholas Studio Junior Players (Student Production)
Story by Hans Christian Andersen
Adapted for the stage by Marisha Chamberlain
Directed by Mercy Vasquez
In ancient China, the Lord High Emperor rules from his porcelain palace where gardens stretch to the sea and flowers bloom underwater. In the forest far away, a nightingale sings. The Emperor hears about her beautiful song and sends his kitchen servant, Wu Ling, to bring the bird to the palace, where she's told to sing forever. Then one day a jeweled mechanical bird takes her place, and the nightingale, forgotten, flies away. Soon, the jeweled bird, like all mechanical things breaks, the Emperor grows ill and longs for the beautiful song of his real nightingale. But even emperors must learn that birds have to be free to come and go, sharing their songs with everyone. SCR's Junior Players, chosen by audition after at least two years in the Theatre Conservatory, portray all the characters-and three different actors play Wu Ling.
Tickets: $10 See last page for performance times.

For information about education programs, call (714) 708-5577 or visit our website at www.scr.org.

PERFORMANCE TIMES
2012-13 Season
Segerstrom Stage:
o Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m.
o Thursday - Saturday evenings at 8 p.m.
o Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m.
*Note: No weekend matinees during previews.
Julianne Argyros Stage:
o Tuesday - Sunday evenings at 7:45 p.m.
o Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.
*Note: No Sunday evenings during previews.

Theatre for Young Audiences:
o Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
o Sunday at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
*Note: No Saturday matinees during previews.

Junior Players
o Saturday-Sunday, April 6-7, at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
o Saturday-Sunday, April 13-14, at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
*Note: Actors are students from SCR's Theatre Conservatory.

TICKET INFORMATION
2012-13 Season
Segerstrom Stage and Julianne Argyros Stage: $20-$80.
Theatre for Young Audiences: $20-$32.
Junior Players: $10
Discounts for previews, patrons ages 25-years- and-younger, full-time students and educators with valid ID, seniors, and groups of 10 or more (at most performances). SCR also offers Today Tix, special ticket bargains on the day of performance only and subject to availability. Patrons 25-years-old-and-under and full-time students get $10 Rush Tix the day of performance, subject to availability. Patrons age 15-to-25 may also sign up for a free MyStage membership to receive $10 tickets to any performance. Details here: http://www.scr.org/tickets/mystage.aspx.
Ticket Services Office: By phone at (714) 708-5555, online at www.scr.org or in person at 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

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