Kandis Chappell and Melanie Lora take on the celebrated roles of Professor Ruth Steiner and Lisa Morrison in Donald Margulies’ Collected Stories at South Coast Repertory. Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-nominated play about two women writers at opposite stages of their careers is one of SCR’s best-known commissions and has achieved worldwide success. Directed by Artistic Director Martin Benson, Collected Stories will run from May 15 through June 14, 2009 on the Segerstrom Stage. Low-priced previews are available from May 15 through May 21. Opening night is May 22. Press night is Saturday, May 23 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets to Collected Stories may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.
Ensconced in her Greenwich Village apartment, Professor Ruth Steiner, a middle-aged short story writer and professor, agrees to take on a 26-year-old graduate student as her assistant. Over the course of six years, their student-teacher relationship evolves. The question of who has control over memories—the one who lives them or the one who writes about them—is the complex dilemma that confronts the young author and her revered mentor, with whom she collides on her race toward fame.
“I’m so pleased to have this fantastic opportunity to revisit one of
South Coast Repertory’s most successful commissions,” said Benson. “We are fortunate to be able to once again have
Kandis Chappell in the role of Ruth, along with Melanie Lora as Lisa.”
Collected Stories received its World Premiere in 1996 on SCR’s Second Stage. The production starr
Ed Chappell and Suzanne Cryer, and won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Production of a Play and Best Original Play. After its New York premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club, Collected Stories received a commercial Off-Broadway run, and the Los Angeles production at the Geffen Playhouse was subsequently filmed for PBS. Since then, Collected Stories has been produced throughout the U.S. and the world.
In addition to Collected Stories, Margulies is the author of four plays that were commissioned and premiered by
South Coast Repertory:
Brooklyn Boy and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sight Unseen, which received Broadway productions, and Shipwrecked! An Entertainment – The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont as Told by Himself. Dinner with Friends, which had its West Coast Premiere at SCR, won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize.
Director
Martin Benson is the co-founder of SCR and has directed over one-fourth of the plays produced here. In May 2008, he and David Emmes received the
Margo Jones Award for their lifetime commitment to theatre excellence and to fostering the art and craft of American playwriting. He has distinguished himself in the staging of contemporary work, including
William Nicholson’s The Retreat from Moscow, the world premiere of
Horton Foote’s Getting Frankie Married — and Afterwards and the critically acclaimed California premiere of Nicholson’s Shadowlands. He has won accolades for his direction of five major works by
George Bernard Shaw, including the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Award-winners Major Barbara, Misalliance and Heartbreak House. Among his numerous world premieres is Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, which he also directed at Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Alley Theatre in Houston. He has directed American classics including Ah, Wilderness!, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Delicate Balance and A View from the Bridge. Benson has received the LADCC Distinguished Achievement in Directing awards an unparalleled seven times for the three Shaw productions,
John Millington Synge’s Playboy of the Western World,
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Sally Nemeth’s Holy Days and Wit. He also directed the film version of Holy Days using the original SCR cast. Along with Emmes, he accepted SCR’s 1988 Tony Award for Outstanding Resident Professional Theatre and won the 1995 Theatre LA Ovation Award for Lifetime Achievement. Benson received his BA in Theatre from San Francisco State University.
The creative team includes Tom Buderwitz (Set Design), Angela Balogh Calin (Costume Design), Tom and
Donna Ruzika (Lighting Design), Mark Johnson (Sound Design), John Glore (Dramaturg), Jamie Tucker (Stage Manager) and Chrissy Church (Assistant Stage Manager).
Valerie and Geoffrey Fearns are the Honorary Producers of Collected Stories. KOCE-TV is the Segerstrom Season Media Partner. Orange County Jewish Life is the Media Partner.
Associated events taking place during the run of Collected Stories include:
Post-show discussions: Wednesday, May 27 & Tuesday, June 2
Discuss the play with members of the Collected Stories cast during free post-show discussions led by
South Coast Repertory’s literary team after the 7:30 p.m. performances on May 27 & June 2.
Inside the Season: Collected Stories Saturday, June 6, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. $12
Inside the Season is a series of interactive seminars that provide a comprehensive inside look at the theatrical production process. Each two-hour session is led by School and Community Programs Director Linda Sullivan Baity and features creative personnel from
South Coast Repertory’s current production. Inside the Season is offered on select Saturday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 each and can be purchased online at www.scr.org or by calling the Box Office at (714) 708-5555. (Tickets to Collected Stories are sold separately.)
Tickets to Collected Stories can be purchased 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 begin on May 15 and continue through June 14. Ticket prices range from $20 to $64. Low-priced preview performances are available from May 15-21. Performance times: Previews: Friday, May 15 and Saturday, May 16 at 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, May 17, Tuesday, May 19 and Wednesday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m.; and Thursday, May 21 at 8:00pm. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m.; and Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 25 years of age and under, educators, seniors and groups of 15 or more. There will be a “Pay-What-You-Will” performance on Saturday, May 23 at 2:30 p.m. ($10 Minimum) and an ASL-interpreted performance on Saturday, June 13 at 2:30 p.m.
South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Folino Theater Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available off Anton Blvd. on Park Center Drive.
Coming up: Pacific Playwrights Festival (5/1-3), The Brand New Kid (5/29 – 6/14).
Tony Award-winning
South Coast Repertory, under the artistic direction of David Emmes and
Martin Benson, is widely recognized as one of the leading professional theaters in the United States. Founded in 1964, SCR is committed to theater that illuminates the compelling personal and social issues of our time, not only on its stages but through its education and outreach programs. While its productions represent a balance of classic and modern theater, SCR is renowned for its extensive new play development program, including the Pacific Playwrights Festival. Of SCR’s more than 400 productions, over 100 have been world premieres with subsequent stagings achieving enormous success across America and around the world. SCR-developed works have garnered eight Pulitzer Prize nominations with Margaret Edson’s Wit winning the prize in 1999 and
David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole winning in 2007. Located in Costa Mesa, California, in 2002 SCR opened the Folino Theater Center, an expanded three-theater complex that includes the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio.
Donald Margulies is the author of three previous plays that, like Collected Stories (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award winner, 1996), were commissioned and premiered by SCR: the OBIE Award-winning Sight Unseen (1991),
Brooklyn Boy (2004) and Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (2007). Both Collected Stories and Sight Unseen were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Dinner with Friends, which originated at Actors Theatre of Louisville, went on after its West Coast premiere at SCR to win numerous awards, including the 2000 Pulitzer Prize, long runs Off-Broadway and in Paris, and productions all over the United States and around the world. God of Vengeance, adapted from the classic Yiddish drama by Sholem Asch, was presented at PPF in 1999 and produced at ACT Theatre in Seattle and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. His other plays include The Model Apartment (OBIE Award), The Loman Family Picnic, Found a Peanut and Luna Park. What’s Wrong With This Picture? was produced on Broadway in 1994; Sight Unseen and
Brooklyn Boy received their Broadway premieres in 2004 and 2005, respectively, at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Biltmore Theatre. His latest play, Time Stands Still, which just had its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, will have its New York premiere this fall at Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage I. The recipient of the 2000 Sidney Kingsley Award for outstanding achievement in the theatre by a playwright, Margulies was honored in 2005 by the American Academy of Arts and Letters with an Award in Literature. He is a member of the council of the Dramatists Guild of America and teaches playwriting at Yale University
Kandis Chappell created the role of Ruth in the World Premiere production of Collected Stories at SCR. She has appeared in many productions here, most recently Noises Off and The Importance of Being Earnest. Chappell received Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for her work in The Crucible, Woman in Mind, Shadowlands and Collected Stories. She is an Associate Artist of The Old Globe in San Diego where her credits include more than 25 productions. She has played on Broadway in
Neil Simon's Rumors and Getting Away With Murder by
Stephen Sondheim and
George Furth, at Lincoln Center Theater in
Tina Howe's Pride’s Crossing, and at theaters across the country.
Melanie Lora (Lisa) returns to SCR after appearing in the Theatre for Young Audience’s production of Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Theater credits include Taking Steps at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble; American Tales, The Rover and Zastrozzi with The Antaeus Company; The Count of Monte Cristo at Edgemar Theatre; Many Happy Returns at
Laguna Playhouse; Dead End at the Ahmanson Theatre; Arms and the Man at Avo Playhouse; Embedded, Orlando, Moscow and The Seagull at The Actors' Gang; Freshwater at the Getty Villa; Red Light, Green Light at the Evidence Room; and Dreamplay with BoTh theatre Company. Film and television credits include Threshold, The Appearance of Things, Noise, The United States of Leland, “The Eleventh Hour,” “The Money $hot,” Self Storage, Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss, The Westmores, "Castle", “Bionic Woman,” “Numb3rs” and “Gilmore Girls.” She is a member of Pacific Stages and The Antaeus Academy Company.
Photo courtesy of South Coast Repertory.
Kandis Chappell and Melanie Lora
Kandis Chappell and Melanie Lora
Kandis Chappell, Melanie Lora, and Martin Benson
Melanie Lora
Donald Margulies
Kandis Chappell
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