‘Holy Days’ Will Premiere at SCR

The American premiere of Sally Nemeth’s “Holy Days,” a play set in Kansas during the dust bowl years of the Great Depression, will replace Steve Tesich’s “The Speed of Darkness” as the third production in South Coast Repertory’s Second Stage season.

The Tesich play, which had been announced in October, was dropped because of “difficulties in finalizing the acquisition of production rights,” according to an SCR press release.

Artistic director Martin Benson, reached Tuesday at the theater, said “the problem arose last week: What it came down to is that Tesich is rewriting the play for Berkeley Repertory (in the Bay Area), where it is due to open about the time our version would have opened. The contract was not finalized, and Tesich didn’t want to do an earlier version here.

“We said, ‘Fine. We’ll go to a play we’d been considering from the beginning.’ It wasn’t a question of money. It was a question of timing. We may do his revised version some other time.”

Benson, who was scheduled to stage “The Speed of Darkness,” will direct “Holy Days,” which is to run Jan. 26 to Feb. 25 with the first preview on Jan. 23.

Nemeth is in her early 30s and spent her formative writing years in Chicago, according to SCR literary manager John Glore. SCR learned of “Holy Days” after its 1988 world premiere in London at the Soho Poly Theatre. Her only other major production has been “Mill Fire,” said Glore. It was staged at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre earlier this year and was remounted this fall in New York by the Women’s Project.

Nemeth also is the author of “Pagan Day” and “One Wolf,” which have received small productions in Chicago and New York, and “Modern Lit,” which was commissioned in 1982 by the Actors Theatre of Louisville but has never been produced, according to her agent, Mary Harden.

Benson and SCR producing artistic director David Emmes obtained a script of “Holy Days” after reading its London reviews and were so impressed that they commissioned a new play from Nemeth earlier this year. The playwright, who now lives in New York, recently delivered a first draft tentatively titled “Spinning into Blue,” Benson said.

Two actors had been cast in “Speed of Darkness.” One, Richard Doyle, has been re-cast for “Holy Days,” Benson said. Jimmie Ray Weeks was let go, however. Devon Raymond, who made her SCR debut in “Hard Times” last season and currently is playing Belle in “A Christmas Carol,” also has been cast in “Holy Days.”