COSTA MESA, CALIF.: South Coast Repertory has announced their 22nd Pacific Playwrights Festival (April 26-28), jam-packed with staged readings, fully staged productions, and a playwrights panel.
The weekend will kick off with a reading of a new musical version of Prelude to a Kiss (April 26), with music and lyrics by Dan Messé and Sean Hartley, and book by Craig Lucas. This musical version of Lucas’s 1988 play shares the romance and woe of Rita and Peter, a young couple trying to fight their way back to each other after an unsavory turn of events. David Ivers will direct.
Next up will be The Canadians (April 26), by Adam Bock, which follows Gordy, a homebody faced with a life-altering decision and the journey that ensues. Jaime Castañeda will direct.
Following that is Mask Only (April 26), by Ana Nogueira, about the test of a theatre obsessed friendship after new people enter their lives. Mike Donahue will direct.
Next up is Unlikeable Heroine (April 27), by Melissa Ross. Diana, the new school president of Kensington College, is faced with a controversy before her seat is even warm. Gaye Taylor Upchurch will direct.
The weekend will conclude with Whitelisted (April 28), by Chisa Hutchinson, which tells the haunting of Rebecca, a woman facing both figurative and literal demons. Sarah Rasmussen will direct.
Throughout the weekend two fully staged plays will be presented. Poor Yella Rednecks, by Qui Nguyen, is the story of an immigrated couple as they are thrown into constructing their new lives in Arkansas (and it’s a sequel to his popular play Vietgone). May Adrales will direct. The play will run March 30-April 27.
Sheepdog, by Kevin Artigue, is about Amina and Ryan, an interracial Cleveland cop couple. They are partners on and off duty, until Ryan shoots a young black man at work. Leah C. Gardiner will direct. The play will run April 14-May 5.
There will be a panel discussion with a handful of the featured playwrights on the final day. It will be free to the public.
South Coast Repertory, created more than five decades ago, is dedicated to producing projects that reflect on current worldwide issues while furthering education and servicing the community.
