Among other works featured in the upcoming California stage's season is the world premiere of Amy Freed's Safe in Hell, John Strand's Lovers and Executioners and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's The Emperor's New Clothes.
The Costa Mesa theatre complex houses two stages: the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage and the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage.
Set to kick off the Segerstrom season is Alfred Uhry's The Last Night of Ballyhoo, directed by Warner Shook. The 1997 Tony Award-winning play follows a Jewish girl's search for an escort to the annual Ballyhoo dance. Next is Ted Tally’s Terra Nova, about the race to the South Pole. Martin Benson directs the work which pits five Englishmen against five Norwegians, battling each other and the harsh polar conditions.
Sophocles’ Antigone will receive a SCR staging by director Kate Whoriskey. The ancient Greek text tells the tale of a woman who — against the king's decree — buries the body of her slain brother following a fierce civil war. Amy Freed’s Safe in Hell takes its inspiration from 17th century father and son preachers. The world premiere work is directed by David Emmes. Mark Rucker closes out the season with his staging of Edmond Rostand's tale of vicarious love in Cyrano de Bergerac.
At the Argyros Stage, SCR audiences will take in the West Coast premiere of Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize winner Anna in the Tropics. The pre-Depression American tale tells the story of Cuban-American cigar factory workers who learn of Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina." Juliette Carrillo directs the work which premiered at Florida's New Theatre. The season continues with John Strand’s Lovers and Executioners as directed by Bill Rauch. The work is based on the Montfleury play La Femme Juge et Partie about a husband who abandons his wife — whom he thinks unfaithful — on a remote island. Next up is Alan Ayckbourn's Intimate Exchanges, which features 16 different endings. The comedy which, employs two actors as six characters, will be directed by Martin Benson. The final production on the Argyros Stage will be a new play as part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival still to be announced.
In addition to the main season attractions, SCR will present holiday productions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on the Segerstrom Stage and its 10th annual production of La Posada Mágica on the Argyros Stage.
The musical The Emperor's New Clothes by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the team behind such Broadway musicals as Once on This Island, My Favorite Year and Ragtime, will play the Argyros Stage as part of the Theatre for Young Audiences season at SCR. The two other productions scheduled are John Olive's Sideways Stories from Wayside School, adapted from the Louis Sachar novel, and The Wind in the Willows by Richard Hellesen and Michael Silversher.
The compete lineup at South Coast Rep is as follows: (subject to change)
