South Coast Repertory Will Premiere Two Productions

New York City in the early 1900s is the setting for two world premiere productions announced today for South Coast Repertory’s 2002-2003 season. Also among the five plays announced--four others will be chosen later--are comedies by George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare and a West Coast premiere from Canadian newcomer Michael Healey.

Playgoers will encounter a theater complex expanded and refurbished to the tune of $19 million.

“There’s no part of our theater center that will look like ‘the old part.’ Everything will look of a piece and new,” said David Emmes, the producing artistic director who helped launch South Coast in a Newport Beach storefront in 1964.

Emmes said that Shaw’s “Major Barbara,” a large-scale play with three settings, was chosen to showcase the improved production values of the refurbished 507-seat main stage, which will now be known as Segerstrom Stage. To signal South Coast’s continued emphasis on new work, the world premiere of Richard Greenberg’s “The Violet Hour” was chosen to launch the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage.

“The Violet Hour” concerns a recently returned veteran of World War I who tries to start a book-publishing business. It will be the seventh Greenberg’s play South Coast has produced--more than any other living playwright.

The other world premiere, Lynn Nottage’s “Intimate Apparel,” runs on the Segerstrom Stage and focuses on an African American seamstress at the turn of the 20th century and her work creating fancy underwear for wealthy socialites and prostitutes alike. A previous play by Nottage, “Crumbs From the Table of Joy,” was seen at South Coast in 1996. Theatergoers can preview “Intimate Apparel” in an April 27 staged reading that is part of South Coast’s annual Pacific Playwrights Festival.

Shakespeare’s “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” will be seen on the Segerstrom Stage. South Coast is revisiting the Shaw and Shakespeare plays, having previously produced “Major Barbara” in 1983 and “Two Gentlemen of Verona” in 1977.

Healey’s “The Drawer Boy” concerns two aging men, best friends since boyhood, who live together on a farm; their equilibrium is upset when a young actor comes to research their lives for a play. It runs on the Argyros Stage. The Argyros Stage replaces the 161-seat Second Stage; the smaller space will now be known as the Nicholas Studio in a new, 99-seat configuration intended mainly for in-house play workshops and education programs. Because of the size increase, plays will run for 24 performances on the Argyros Stage, compared to 40 performances on the existing Second Stage.

Also planned are South Coast’s two nonsubscription holiday perennials. “A Christmas Carol” plays for the 23rd year on the Segerstrom Stage and “La Posada Magica” returns for its ninth annual production on the Argyros Stage.

Subscription prices are $125-$243 for the five Segerstrom Stage plays (an increase of $1 per show from this year’s price) and $104-$190 for the four Argyros Stage plays (no increase for the cheapest seats, but a $2.50 per show price hike for the most expensive ones).

*

The Schedule

* Segerstrom Stage

“Major Barbara,” Oct. 18-Nov. 17. Previews start Oct. 11.

“A Christmas Carol,” Dec. 4-24. Previews start Nov. 30.

“Two Gentlemen of Verona,” Feb. 28-March 30, 2003. Previews start Feb. 21.

“Intimate Apparel,” April 11-May 11, 2003. Previews start April 4.

Plays to be announced will run Jan. 10-Feb. 9, 2003, and May 30-June 29, 2003.

* Julianne Argyros Stage

“The Violet Hour,” Nov. 8-24. Previews start Nov. 5.

“La Posada Magica,” Dec. 14-24. Preview, Dec. 13.

“The Drawer Boy,” March 21-April 6, 2003. Previews start March 18.

Plays to be announced will run Jan. 31-Feb. 16, 2003, and May 2-18, 2003.