SCR Lists Possible Upcoming Plays for the 1989-90 Season

In a newsletter mailed this week to about 23,000 subscribers, South Coast Repertory has announced several plays being considered by artistic directors David Emmes and Martin Benson for the Costa Mesa theater’s 11-play, 1989-90 season.

Among the contemporary plays they are mulling for the six Mainstage productions are Alan Ayckbourn’s “Woman in Mind,” Hugh Whitemore’s “Breaking the Code,” Richard Hellesen’s “Once in Arden” and Howard Korder’s “Search and Destroy.”

Korder’s and Hellesen’s plays, if chosen, would be world premieres. The latter, previously entitled “Pani Helenie,” will receive a staged reading on May 15 at SCR’s California Play Festival.

In the slot reserved for a classic work on the Mainstage, the potential choices include Moliere’s “The Miser,” Noel Coward’s “Design for Living,” Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage” and Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”

Among the plays being considered for the five Second Stage productions are Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” Albert Innaurato’s “Gus and Al,” Sally Nemeth’s “Holy Days” and Philip Kan Gotanda’s “The Story of Yachiyo.”

Gotanda’s play, which was commissioned by SCR, will receive a staged reading on May 20 in the California Play Festival. If chosen for a production next season, it will be a world premiere.

The theater also has announced that SCR dramaturge Jerry Patch will direct Robert Daseler’s “Dragon Lady,” which will open May 5 on the Second Stage as part of the festival. The play, Daseler’s first, won second prize (and $3,000) in SCR’s statewide play competition to elicit new work for the festival.

Patch has cast Richard Doyle and Hal Landon Jr., both SCR founding members, along with Julie Fulton, who appeared last season in “Dog Logic,” and Robin Pearson Rose, who will be making her SCR debut.