Ethan McSweeny directs the production which will close out the Playhouse's six-play subscription season, Nov. 16-Dec. 19, with an opening night Nov. 21.
Blessing's Shakespearean comedy Fortinbras opened the company's Mandell Weiss Forum in 1991 and his new Bard spin-off The Scottish Play will open the third space, 450 -seat Potiker Theatre in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center.
"I'm thrilled to be asked to open a new theatre at La Jolla Playhouse for the second time. The production of Fortinbras that inaugurated the Forum was one of the most cherished experiences of my career and the opportunity to be part of things once again is a double honor. I only wish my 'co-author' William Shakespeare, creator of the two obscure Elizabethan works which inspired my plays, could be present as well," scribe Blessing stated in a release. "However, I believe he's filming in New Zealand around that time."
The new comedy The Scottish Play centers on a theatre director with a wayward past, who plans an extravaganza production of Macbeth to jumpstart his career. But the infamous curse causes fires, floods, frogs, squirrels, ex-wives and a hunky Hollywood half-wits to rain down upon the production.
Blessing's previous works seen at La Jolla Playhouse include A Walk in the Woods, Two Rooms, Down the Road and Going to St. Ives. Other plays include Patient A, Thief River, Eleemosynary, Cobb, Whores, Black Sheep and Chesapeake. *
Tony Taccone directs the David Edgar's two-play cycle Continental Divide — which comprises Daughters of the Revolution and Mothers Against — which explores American politics through both sides of a gubernatorial race — a subject not lost on California audiences.
Soho Rep artistic director Daniel Aukin directs Melissa James Gibson's Suitcase. The urban comedy centers on two young women toiling away at their dissertations while shutting out their boyfriends.
Romanian director Nona Ciobanu will direct the commedia dell'arte fairy tale The Love of Three Oranges by Gozzi about a hypochondriac prince and the cousin who plots with her lover against him with an evil witch.
Des McAnuff will direct Jersey Boys, a world premiere musical that centers on the musical group The Four Seasons by book writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice with composer Bob Gaudio and lyricist Bob Crewe. The musical has changed its dates to Oct. 5-Nov. 21 with an opening on Oct. 17.
The complete La Jolla season (subject to change) is as follows:
