The new works which will play during the California company's ninth annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (May 5-7). The Studio will play on the Segerstrom Stage (March 31-May 7) while Blue Door performs on the Argyros Stage (April 23-May 14) — the latter replacing the previously-announced Bossa Nova by Kirsten Greenidge.
"The structure of both these plays is particularly distinctive and theatrical, advancing stories that engage and challenge," stated SCR artistic director David Emmes. "The unconventional theatre forms employed in these premieres – drawing upon the world of choreography and solo performance – provide unique insight into the motivation of d’Amboise and Barfield’s exceptional characters.”
d’Amboise directs and choreographs his work The Studio which takes a behind-the-scenes look at the New York dance world as it tells the story of a very well known choreographer with an unknown private life. At work on a new ballet, the choreographer works with two dancers — a weathered veteran and an eager newcomer. The Studio was previously scheduled to debut at SCR in 2004 but was "indefinitely postponed for additional development." Emanuel Azenberg and Ben Sprecher produced a New York workshop of the work in November 2004.
The director-choreographer has also worked as a performer. On Broadway, he co starred with Bernadette Peters in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance, earning him a Tony nomination. His choreography was featured in the original production of High Society and Terrence Mann's Romeo and Juliet.
He comes from a dance-heavy family: his sister is Charlotte d' Amboise — whose credits include Sweet Charity, Contact, Chicago, Company and Carrie. Their father is choreographer-performer Jacques d'Amboise (Shinbone Alley) Barfield, a solo performer, pens Blue Door which "entwines solo performance techniques with conventional dramatic form." The work was read as part of the company's NewSCRipts play reading series.
The Playwrights Horizons-commission work finds "a mathematics professor [who] endures a sleepless night as he is visited by four generations of ancestors. From slavery through Black Power to the halls of academia, the professor is challenged and enlightened by the struggles of his forefathers."
The new season at SCR continues with the American premiere of Terry Johnson's Hitchcock Blonde (Feb. 3-March 12, 2006), Tracy Letts' Man from Nebraska(March 12-April 2, 2006) followed by the two aforementioned world premieres and Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (May 19-June 25, 2006).
Tickets to shows at South Coast Rep, at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, CA are available by calling (714) 708-5555. For more information, visit www.scr.org.
