Introducing the cast of "Ordinary Days"

Nancy Anderson (Claire) has appeared on Broadway as Mona in "A Class Act" and as Helen and Eileen in "Wonderful Town." She played Lois/Bianca in the National Tour (Helen Hayes nomination) and the London premiere of "Kiss Me Kate" (Olivier nomination) filmed for PBS’ Great Performances. She can also be seen on PBS in "South Pacific" in Concert at Carnegie Hall (Reba McIntyre). Last year, she was featured in "The Women" at The Old Globe, and this past summer, she appeared in the Broadway-bound "White Noise."

David Burnham (Jason) just returned from New York, where he played Fiyero in the Broadway production of "Wicked" after creating the role in the original Los Angeles workshop productions. He was an original Broadway cast member of the musical "The Light In The Piazza," performing both on the 2005 Tony Awards and the PBS telecast “Live From Lincoln Center.” He is the 2007 recipient of the Helen Hayes Award for best actor as well as the 2007 best actor Garland Award for his portrayal of Fabrizio in the national tour of "The Light In The Piazza."

Deborah S. Craig (Deb) is best known for originating the role of Marcy Park on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Based on her own childhood, Marcy Park became the first Korean-American character created on Broadway and earned her critical raves as well as a Drama Desk Award. On television, she was a recurring guest star on JJ Abrams’ “Six Degrees.” She can also be seen in the feature film "Ghost Town" with Ricky Gervais, the indie comedy "818" and the upcoming film "Just Wright" with Queen Latifah.

Nick Gabriel (Warren) has played the Emcee in "Cabaret" at CenterREP, Vincent in "Beast on the Moon" and Orpheus in "Metamorphoses" at Capital Repertory Theatre, Austin in "I Love You Because" at North Coast Repertory Theatre, Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" with the Saratoga Shakespeare Company, the Charlatan in "Petrouchka" with the Albany-Berkshire Ballet, Bashmachkin in "The Overcoat" with the Egress Theatre Company at the Brooklyn Lyceum, Benny in "Martha&Me" for FringeNYC, Prince Charming in "The Magic of Frederick Loewe" with the Bandwagon Theatre Company at the Wings Theater and Howard Carter in "The Mystery of King Tut" for TheatreWorks/USA.

Check back next week for video greetings from the cast!

"Doctor Cerberus" Awarded New Play Grant

SCR’s upcoming production of "Doctor Cerberus," by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (pictured above), has been awarded this year’s new-play grant from The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation’s Theatre Visions Fund.

The national Theatre Visions Program grant goes to only one production each year, so it’s a particular honor that SCR has snagged it for the second time (the Foundation also awarded our production of "On The Jump"in 1999).

Half of the $50,000 grant goes to support the production itself, $10,000 goes directly to the playwright and the rest will fund two new commissions. (SCR gets to choose which ones.)

We hear that this year’s process was especially competitive and that it was Roberto’s exemplary playwriting skills that put him over the top.

SCR Presents Chance Theatre's Acclaimed "Jesus Hates Me"

South Coast Repertory will present the Chance Theater’s remounting of its popular production Jesus Hates Me in SCR’s Nicholas Studio Feb. 26-28 and March 5-7, 2010.

Jesus Hates Me is the hilarious and provocative first play from Wayne Lemon, who has written for such television shows as Grace Under Fire and The Torkelsons. It is set somewhere in South Central Texas at the “Blood of the Lamb” Miniature Golf Course. Ethan, an ex-high school football star, is desperate to find identity, sanity, faith and freedom under the gaze of a Wal-Mart mannequin transformed into Jesus on the cross at the 17th hole. The play covers one insightful, unpredictable and hilarious week in Ethan’s life as he tries to escape from his over-zealous, bi-polar mother, a suicidal dishwasher, a pot-smoking cop and a beer-swillin’ good ol’ boy, not to mention the possible love of his life, and, of course, the J-man himself.

“South Coast Repertory is pleased to host this remounting of the Chance Theater’s acclaimed production of Jesus Hates Me,” said Associate Artistic Director John Glore. “This partnership is born of an idea that began to take shape among the members of SCR’s artistic staff almost two years ago, out of a desire to make greater use of the company’s Nicholas Studio (SCR’s former Second Stage), to create stronger ties with other performing arts organizations in Orange County and to offer alternative programming that might attract new theatergoers to both organizations. In presenting this Chance Theater production, SCR has an opportunity to try out an idea which, if successful, may well lead to further collaborations of this kind in the future.”

The Chance Theater’s Artistic Director Oanh Nguyen will again direct Jesus Hates Me, which will feature the same cast that appeared in the 2009 production. Chance Dean plays Ethan, Timothy Covington is Trane, Karen Webster is Annie, Jennifer Ruckman is Lizzy, Dimas Diaz is Boone and Ben Green is Georgie.

"When we presented the West Coast Premiere at the beginning of this year, I was very curious to see what the Orange County audience reaction would be to a comedy called Jesus Hates Me, which has a Wal-Mart Jesus mannequin as one of the central set pieces," said Nguyen. "We definitely heard from people who imagined, just from the title, that it must be sacrilegious. However, the response I heard time and again from those who actually attended was roaring laughter and a feeling that they had watched a personal journey of young people who had lost their way."

The creative team includes Starlet Jacobs (Scenic Designer), KC Wilkerson (Lighting Designer), Erika C. Miller (Costume Designer), Michael Irish (Fight Choreographer) and Tanae Beyer (Stage Manager).

Tickets can be purchased beginning Jan. 15 at SCR, either online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or by visiting the box office at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Performances run at 8 p.m. on Feb. 26, 27, March 5 and 6, and at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 28 and March 7. Tickets are $35, with discounts available for students, seniors, educators and groups of 10 or more.

Audience Falls for ‘Falling Leaves’

Author Adeline Yen Mah signs copies of her memoir, Falling Leaves, Tuesday night at South Coast Repertory

Yen Mah has turned her memoir into a play, which had its first staged reading at SCR Tuesday as part of the Ancient Paths, Modern Voices festival presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. Mah, a retired anesthesiologist who lives in Huntington Beach, first published the story of her unhappy childhood in a wealthy, backstabbing Chinese family in 1998. It sold more than a million copies. The staged reading – which was sold out – starred Jeanne Sakata as Adeline and Dom Magwili, Donald Li, Emily Kuroda and Alberto Isaac as her untrustworthy siblings. Oanh Nguyen directed. Also on hand was a film crew from Voice of America, which will broadcast a story about Adeline and her play in countries across Asia.

South Coast Repertory Adds "The Language Archive" to the 2009-10 Season

Julia Cho’s The Language Archive, (pictured above during the 2009 Pacific Playwrights Festival) is the story of a brilliant linguist who finds himself at a loss for words when he learns his wife is leaving him, will fill the final slot in South Coast Repertory’s 2009-10 season.

The world premiere, which runs March 26 through April 25, 2010, on the Segerstrom Stage, was commissioned by New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company and is being produced by special arrangement with the company. Mark Brokaw, a Roundabout Associate Artist, will direct.

“I think Mark is one of the leading directors in American theatre today,” said SCR Producing Artistic Director David Emmes. “And we have a long relationship with Julia Cho. It’s been really exciting to see her deepening her talent.”

Emmes said he knew he wanted to produce The Language Archive at SCR immediately after its reading at the Pacific Playwrights Festival last spring: “The play possesses a wonderful charm and displays a tremendous theatrical imagination.”

The Language Archive tells the story of George, a man consumed with preserving and documenting the dying languages of far-flung cultures. Closer to home, though, language is failing him. He doesn’t know what to say to his wife, Mary, to keep her from leaving him, and he is oblivious to the deep feelings his lab assistant, Emma, has for him.

This is Cho’s second SCR production; her first was the 2007 world premiere of The Piano Teacher, about the lasting effects of childhood trauma and human beings’ great capacity for denial. Brokaw just directed After Miss Julie, currently playing on Broadway with Sienna Miller. He has extensive on- and Off-Broadway credits, but this will mark his SCR directorial debut.