Performances will play SCR's Julianne Argyros Stage Sept. 27-Oct. 18. Opening is Oct. 2. The play, set in Garden Grove, CA, in the mid-1970s, was commissioned by SCR. Martin Benson, SCR's artistic director, will direct.

Here's how SCR bills the play: "Raphael Sbarge plays Walter, an appliance-store owner who has the perfect life until fate intervenes. There to help in his time of need are his best friend, Gary (Geoffrey Lower), a not-very-good minister with a taste for alcohol; Mary-Ellen (Nike Doukas), Gary’s party-hearty new girlfriend; and Bao (Greg Watanabe), a Vietnamese refugee still haunted by his own troubled past."

"It's a riveting play that deals with a shocking event and its aftermath through the reactions of immensely compelling characters, and at the same time, it's very funny," Benson stated.

The Happy Ones is Myatt's second SCR production, after 2007's My Wandering Boy. Myatt, a resident of Los Feliz, wrote Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, seen at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and The Kennedy Center.

The Happy Ones' creative team includes Oanh Nguyen (associate director), Ralph Funicello (set design), Angela Balogh Calin (costume design) Tom Ruzika (lighting design) Paul James Prendergast (sound design), John Glore (dramaturg) and Jennifer Ellen Butler (stage manager).

Tickets may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.