Playwright Meyer Wins Top SCR Prize

Marlane Meyer, a Los Angeles playwright best known for “Kingfish” and “Etta Jenks,” has won the top prize in South Coast Repertory’s first California Playwrights Contest with a new work entitled “The Geography of Luck.”

First prize--worth $5,000--was announced Wednesday by the Costa Mesa theater, which will stage the world premiere of Meyer’s play as part of its 1989 California Play Festival in the spring.

CalFest, as SCR has dubbed the monthlong festival, will also mark the world premieres of Robert Daseler’s “Dragon Lady,” the second-prize winner, and Beth Henley’s previously announced “Abundance,” along with staged readings of five unproduced plays by emerging California writers.

“The response to the contest was overwhelming,” SCR co-founder David Emmes said. “It not only brought out 575 submissions, it was a catalyst for the writing of plays.”

Meyer, who turned 38 on Tuesday, was in New York and could not be reached for comment. “The Geography of Luck” was described by SCR as a play about a former pop singer, now an ex-con, who hopes to change his luck by going to Las Vegas.

Second prize brought $3,000. Daseler, 43, is the director of public relations for Claremont McKenna College in Claremont. He had never written a play before, Emmes said. “Dragon Lady” is said to be about a 16-year marriage that has reached a crossroads and deals with rootless people who cling to the familiar.

The third prize--worth $2,000--went to “Soiled Eyes of a Ghost” by Erin Cressida Wilson, who divides her time between Los Angeles and San Francisco. SCR has described her work as an unconventional “dream play” about the yearnings of an adolescent girl. It will receive a staged reading at the festival.

CalFest is partially underwritten by a $43,000 challenge grant from the California Arts Council but will cost more than $250,000 to mount, Emmes said.

“Abundance” is scheduled to launch the festival on the SCR Mainstage on April 21. “The Geography of Luck” will bow on the Second Stage on May 5, and “Dragon Lady” will open May 16.

The latter two will run on the Second Stage in “mini-repertory” on alternate days between May 16 and 21.

“Folk Tales, Too” a new children’s play by SCR dramaturge John Glore, will also be presented as part of the festival at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

The staged readings at SCR are scheduled as follows: “Romantics” by Jeremy Lawrence, March 27; “Soiled Eyes,” May 13; “Pani Helenie” by Richard Hellesen, May 15; “The Land of Plenty” by Sam Garcia, May 19, and “The Story of Yachiyo” by Philip Kan Gotanda, May 20.

Before it bows at CalFest, “The Geography of Luck” will receive two public readings (Feb. 23 and 25) at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, which has been closely associated with Meyer’s work.

LATC produced the world premieres of Meyer’s “Kingfish” last fall and “Etta Jenks” in January, 1988. It is planning a full production of “Geography” for the fall of 1989, an LATC spokeswoman said. (“Geography” was developed in workshops at the River Arts Repertory in Woodstock, N.Y.)

1989 CALIFORNIA PLAY FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:

The Plays:

“Abundance” by Beth Henley, April 21-May 25 (Mainstage).

“The Geography of Luck” by Marlane Meyer, May 5-21 (Second Stage).

“Dragon Lady” by Robert Daseler, May 16-June 4 (Second Stage).

“Folk Tales, Too” by John Glore, May 13 & 14 and May 20 & 21 (Founders Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center).

Staged Readings:

“Romantics” by Jeremy Lawrence, March 27.

“Soiled Eyes of a Ghost” by Erin Cressida Wilson, May 13.

“Pani Helenie” by Richard Hellesen, May 15.

“The Land of Plenty” by Sam Garcia, May 19.

“The Story of Yachiyo” by Philip Kan Gotanda, May 20.

(All readings will be on the Mainstage or Second Stage; individual locations will be announced later.)