SCR Honors 3 New York Playwrights

South Coast Repertory’s ninth annual Hispanic Playwrights Project to develop new plays by Latinos will feature staged readings of unproduced scripts by three writers from New York, theater officials announced Tuesday.

The project--to run July 28 through Aug. 7--will culminate with the readings of Henry Guzman’s “Inkarri’s Return” on the SCR Mainstage Aug. 5 and of Nilo Cruz’s “Dancing on Her Knees” and Luis Santeiro’s “A Royal Affair” on the Second Stage Aug. 6.

The scripts are works in progress and were chosen from submissions by 40 writers. Guzman, Santeiro and Cruz will participate in two weeks of private workshops before the readings.

Guzman has written several full-length plays and had a short play produced at New York’s Public Theater. “Inkarri’s Return,” described as a collage using popular songs, won the New York University Festival of New Works in 1992.

Santeiro has written for the PBS television series “Que Pasa, USA?” and “Sesame Street” and won Emmy awards for both. “A Royal Affair” focuses on a woman named Hilda Costales, “a ross between Candide and Walter Mitty.”

Cruz has written several plays and a musical. His “Night Train to Bolina” will premiere in the fall at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre. “Dancing on Her Knees” involves a pair of “deceased cabaret dancers” and a “tragic transvestite.”

“Una Noche del Teatro ‘94,” a fund-raiser for the playwrights project and SCR’s other outreach programs, will be July 23 at the theater. Tickets: $35 and $100.