Leah C. Gardiner directs the California debut which began performances April 23 at the company's Argyros Stage for a run through May 14.
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 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."
Last seen at SCR in The Miser, Cathey has appeared in The Green Bird on Broadway and Off-Broadway's White Chocolate. The actor — also seen on stage in Henry IV, Talk, Art, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Macbeth, Crowbar and Bad Penny — has appeared in such films as "The Machinist, " "S.W.A.T.," "Pooty Tang," "American Psycho," "Seven," "Clear and Present Danger" and HBO's "Everyday People" and "Boycott."
Gilliard, Jr. has played in Topdog/Underdog, Abstract Expression, Zooman and the Sign, Police Boys, Life During Wartime and Tell Pharaoh. His film work includes "The Machinist," "Gangs of New York," "Brother to Brother," "Cecil B. Demented," "The Waterboy" and "Next Stop Wonderland." He was a series regular on television's "The Wire" and "George." The design team includes Dustin O'Neill (sets), Naila Aladdin Sanders (costumes), Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz (lights) and Jill BC Du Boff (sound). John Glore serves as dramaturg and Randall K. Lum is the stage manager.
Barfield's previous works include Dent, The Quick, The Houdini Act, 121º West and Pecan Tan. Blue Door was commissioned by Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons, where a production will play in the fall. Delroy Lindo will direct a production at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in April 2007.
The season at SCR currently continues with the world premiere of Christopher d'Amboise's The Studio (through May 7) and Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (May 19-June 25).
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.
