South Coast slate features 4 premieres

Four of the nine plays in South Coast Repertory’s 2004-05 season will be world premieres, the theater has announced, among them the previously billed “Brooklyn Boy” by Donald Margulies, whose “Dinner With Friends” won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Margulies’ play about a bestselling novelist facing temptation, including blandishments from Hollywood, will run Sept. 10 to Oct. 10 in Costa Mesa, then head to Broadway in January 2005 under the auspices of the premiere’s co-producer, the Manhattan Theatre Club.

The other world premieres are “On the Mountain” (Jan. 7-23, 2005), Christopher Shinn’s play about a thorny relationship between a mother and her 16-year-old daughter; “Vesuvius” (April 29-May 15, 2005), Lucinda Coxon’s drama about a relationship blooming under the famed Italian volcano; and a premiere-to-be-named slotted for April 8 to May 8, 2005.

“The Retreat From Moscow” (Oct. 1-17), a West Coast premiere, is British playwright William Nicholson’s (“Shadowlands”) portrait of a married couple experiencing upheaval at midlife.

“Habeas Corpus” (Oct. 22-Nov. 21) is Alan Bennett’s 1973-vintage comedy about the sexual revolution hitting Britain, while Sarah Ruhl’s “The Clean House” (Jan. 28-Feb. 27, 2005) concerns a Brazilian immigrant housekeeper with a gift for making people laugh. SCR also will revive Arthur Miller’s illegal-immigration story, “A View From the Bridge” (May 27-June 26, 2005).

“Brooklyn Boy,” “Habeas Corpus,” “The Clean House,” “A View From the Bridge” and the fourth world premiere will play in the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage. “The Retreat From Moscow,” “On the Mountain,” “Vesuvius” and another play to be announced will be mounted in the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage. Staged-reading previews of “The Clean House” and “Vesuvius” will be May 7, during SCR’s annual Pacific Playwrights Festival.

SCR also will present its holiday staples, “A Christmas Carol” (Dec. 3-26) and “La Posada Magica” (Dec. 12-23), as well as a Theatre for Young Audiences season that includes “The Hoboken Chicken Emergency” (Nov. 5-21), based on a book by Daniel Pinkwater; “Pinocchio” (Feb. 4-20, 2005); and a third play to be announced.