SCR to Stage Its 1st Work by U.S. Black : Theater: Cheryl L. West’s ‘Jar the Floor’ will open in November; 1994-95 season lineup also includes several classics.

South Coast Repertory’s 31st season will include the company’s first production ever of a work by a black American playwright, “Jar the Floor” by Cheryl L. West, in addition to the world premiere of a new work by Craig Lucas.

The 1994-95 Mainstage season will open with Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” Sept. 9 to Oct. 9, theater officials said. In addition to “Jar the Floor,” the Second Stage season will feature the world premiere of “Wit,” the first work by playwright Margaret Edson.

“Jar the Floor,” now in its West Coast premiere run on the Cassius Carter Stage at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, throws four generations of black women together in a battle between mothers and daughters. West, 37, is an emerging voice with several plays under her belt; her first, “Before It Hits Home,” which examines AIDS within a black family, has been optioned by filmmaker Spike Lee.

Artistic director Martin Benson said that “Jar the Floor” was already being considered when The Times noted in February that Orange County’s largest professional theater company had never staged a play by a black American playwright in its 30-year history.

“We don’t choose plays based on the ethnicity of the authors,” Benson said. He added, however, that the article did spur discussion on whether the Tony-winning troupe had done enough to solicit submissions from black American playwrights.

“Jar the Floor” will run Nov. 4 to Dec. 4 on the Second Stage, with previews beginning Nov. 1.

Additionally, “A Christmas Carol” will return to the Mainstage in December. Further productions will be announced in about a month, Benson said.

The world premiere of Craig Lucas’ “God’s Heart” marks the resumption of a productive relationship between the playwright and the company. Past associations have included world premieres of “Three Postcards” and “Prelude to a Kiss,” which went on to Broadway and a Hollywood movie.

“God’s Heart” was developed in conjunction with SCR, but the playwright turned down a commission on the play, according to Benson: “He said, ‘Consider this play yours. I’m writing it for you guys.’ ” It is described in press materials as a “sweeping commentary on urban life.” Previews of “God’s Heart” open Feb. 24 on the Mainstage, and the play closes Feb. 24.

“Wit” is the first play by Margaret Edson, who teaches English as a second language at an elementary school in Washington. The play is about a professor who faces a consuming illness. It was developed through SCR’s Collaboration Laboratory, and received a reading at SCR last November.

Previews of “Wit” will open on the Second Stage March 14, and it will continue through April 16, 1995. Edson has already received a commission from SCR to write another play.

Benson will direct “Streetcar,” which he also directed for the company in 1968. “It just seemed time to do it again,” he said, adding that he considers one of the two greatest American plays, along with Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”

Under consideration for remaining slots on the Mainstage season are SCR-commissioned plays still under development, including works by Donald Margulies, Eric Overmyer and David Henry Hwang. Other possibilities include “The Country Wife” by William Wycherley, Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit” and Alan Ayckbourn’s “Intimate Exchanges.”

Works that may appear on the Second Stage in 1994-95 include David Mamet’s controversial “Oleanna,” A.R. Gurney’s “Later Life” and the world premiere of Cecilia Fannon’s “Green Icebergs,” which will receive a reading at SCR on May 2.