South Coast Repertory reopens with ‘A Shot Rang Out,’ a play with pandemic resonance

Live stage plays at Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory will return Saturday when a one-man production, “A Shot Rang Out,” debuts in a preview with a message sure to resonate with audiences beginning to reemerge from their own pandemic isolation.

Written in 2020 by Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Greenberg exclusively for SCR and directed by Tony Taccone — whose works include “Angels in America” with Tony Kushner, Green Day’s “American Idiot” and Carrie Fisher’s “Wishful Drinking” — the play touches on love, loss, reckoning and rediscovery.

Veteran actor and South Coast Repertory artistic director David Ivers, tasked with memorizing the 9,500-word script for the performance penned with him in mind, portrays John, an actor returning to the stage after a long absence.

John draws inspiration from movies, the theater and 20^th-century pop culture to share with the audience, in a manner both hilarious and heartbreaking, his personal loss and what he’s learned about himself, relationships and the human condition.

While the play does not explicitly reference COVID-19 or the coronavirus pandemic, its themes are sure to hit home for anyone who’s experienced loneliness or disconnectedness during the long-lasting crisis, according to Taccone.

“I think this play is talking about our experience as a country, as a species,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s this really engaging, entertaining exploration of both what [John] lost and suffered through and his desire and ability to retake control of his own life.”

The director’s own debut at SCR, with the play “I Get Restless,” was scheduled for April 2020 but got sidelined when the pandemic drew the curtain on all live performances.

‘A Shot Rang Out’ playwright Richard Greenberg.

(Photo by Mark Avery/ SCR)

To recognize those who served on the frontlines of the pandemic, 1,000 complimentary tickets to “A Shot Rang Out” are being made available to healthcare workers and up to three of their guests who register online through Oct. 24.

Taccone said it was fitting for the nonprofit South Coast Repertory to extend such an offer.

“This is a community event first and foremost, so the fact the theater is making an offer to healthcare workers, I think it’s not just super important, it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

SCR managing director Paula Tomei said the decision came out of talks among executive staff as one way to recognize one group of pandemic heroes, who went above and beyond the call of duty.

“This seemed like the time to try to give back and see if we couldn’t offer something that gave people a little bit of an escape and something that might lift their spirit in this moment,” she added.

“A Shot Rang Out” director Tony Taccone.

( Photo by Cheshire Isaacs)

Speaking in a promotional video created by SCR for “A Shot Rang Out,” Ivers said he hopes John’s story might bring about a catharsis for audience members about their own recent experience.

“There are a lot of things about what we’ve been through in the last two years that are deeply emotional and powerful in hard and challenging ways. But I think everyone has a story about something that was a silver lining,” he said.

“I hope that this play, in a way, stokes the memory of that and keeps alive its possibility, even when we’re not in a pandemic.”

“A Shot Rang Out” runs Oct. 2 through Nov. 6. Tickets range from $26 to $93 with discounts available for educators, seniors and theatergoers under 25. Healthcare workers may visit scr.org/forms/complimentary-tickets to request free admission for themselves and up to three guests through Oct. 24.

For more information, visit scr.org

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