EURYDICE, CHINGLISH, et al. Set for South Coast Rep's 2012-13 Season

South Coast Repertory's 49th season will offer audiences an exciting blend of current hits and world premieres. The season begins with Alan Ayckbourn's hilarious farce, Absurd Person Singular, and will include new plays by some of the hottest writers on the theatre scene, including the world premiere of Noah Haidle's Smokefall and a second world premiere to be announced; Sarah Ruhl's comic tale of loss, Eurydice; the Southland debuts of Bill Cain's touching How to Write a New Book for the Bible, Amanda Dehnert's trailblazing musical take on Shakespeare, The Verona Project, and David Henry Hwang's hit comedy Chinglish; and the West Coast premieres of Samuel D. Hunter's poignantly funny The Whale and Stephen Adly Guirgis' Broadway hit The Motherf**ker with the Hat.

The 2012-13 season was chosen by SCR's Artistic Director Marc Masterson. "I am excited by the range and vitality of these plays in my inaugural season at SCR," Masterson said. "From sparkling new work to plays with recent Broadway pedigrees, the writers and artists assembled for this season draw on long relationships with our audience."

The 2012-2013 season will also include the 33rd rendition of the holiday favorite A Christmas Carol, starring Hal Landon Jr., Nov. 24 through Dec. 24, 2012.

Also on tap is the 16th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival, one of the preeminent festivals of new plays in the United States. The festival, which features five staged readings and two full productions, will take place Apr. 26-28, 2013.

And SCR's Theatre for Young Audiences season features three beloved children's stories brought to life on stage, Robin Hood, Anastasia Krupnik and The Night Fairy.

Season tickets are currently available by subscription only, and may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office. Packages range from $48 to $517.50. Single tickets will be available to the public on August 5.

ABOUT SCR: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely recognized as one of the leading professional theatres in the United States. SCR is committed to theatre that illuminates the compelling personal and social issues of our time, not only on its stages but through its wide array of education and outreach programs. While its productions represent a balance of classic and modern theatre, SCR is renowned for its extensive new-play development program, which includes the nation's largest commissioning program for emerging and established writers and composers. Each year, it showcases some of country's best new plays in the Pacific Playwrights Festival, which attracts theatre professionals from across the country. Of SCR's more than 460 productions, one-quarter have been world premieres, whose subsequent stagings achieved enormous success throughout America and around the world. Two SCR-developed works have won Pulitzer Prizes, and another eight were named Pulitzer finalists. In addition, SCR works have won several OBIE Awards and scores of major new-play awards. Located in Costa Mesa, California, SCR's Folino Theater Center is home to the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio. Today, SCR produces 13 shows and eight public readings each season.

The 2012-2013 Season

Absurd Person Singular by Alan Ayckbourn (Sept. 7 – Oct. 7, 2012) Segerstrom Stage
He's back! England's most prolific and pithy playwright-and one of SCR's most popular-outdoes himself this time by setting a party in the living room but keeping the drama in the kitchen. Three kitchens, in fact, on three successive Christmas Eves when relationships change, fortunes soar and then dive and the social kaleidoscope gets all shook up. Add an off-stage couple whose jokes are really bad, some of the most ingenious failed suicide attempts ever devised and lots of gin, and you've got a ferociously funny farce with very sharp teeth. Take a bite! Directed by David Emmes.

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