SCR Will Open With ‘Chorus of Disapproval’

South Coast Repertory will launch its 1989-90 season with Alan Ayckbourn’s “A Chorus of Disapproval,” theater officials announced Monday. The Mainstage production of the British backstage comedy about a maladroit provincial troupe will run Sept. 8 to Oct. 15 under David Emmes’ direction.

The rest of the Costa Mesa theater’s 26th subscription season will unfold on the Mainstage as follows:

Hugh Whitemore’s “Breaking the Code” (Oct. 26 to Nov. 30); the world premiere of Howard Korder’s “Search and Destroy” (Jan. 12 to Feb. 18); William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (March 2 to April 8); the world premiere of Richard Hellesen’s “Once in Arden” (April 20 to May 27), and a sixth offering to be announced (June 8 to July 15).

On the Second Stage, the season will open with Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune” (Sept. 22 to Oct. 22), followed by Sharman MacDonald’s “When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout” (Nov. 10 to Dec. 10); a new play to be announced (Jan. 26 to Feb. 25); David Williamson’s “Emerald City” (March 16 to April 15), and a final play to be announced (May 4 to June 3).

The 10th annual production of “A Christmas Carol,” adapted from the Charles Dickens story, will run Dec. 5 to 24 on the Mainstage as a non-subscription offering.

SCR also has announced that staged readings of three plays will highlight its fourth annual Hispanic Playwrights Project (Aug. 11 and 12): Edit Villarreal’s “My Visits With MGM (My Grandmother Marta),” Cherrie Moraga’s “A Shadow of a Man” and Octavio Solis’ “Man of the Flesh.”

Another Orange County troupe, the Alternative Repertory Theatre in Santa Ana, announced Monday that it will open its third season with Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata” (Sept. 29 to Nov. 18). The second slot (Jan. 11 to Mar. 10) will be, in descending order of preference and depending on the availability of rights, either Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” his “Endgame” or Peter Nichols’ “Joe Egg.” Lorna C. Hill’s “Yaller Bitch” will follow (April 6 to May 26). A Directors Festival (June 5 to July 2) will close the season.