Greenberg, Gunderson & Cho Among Lineup for 12th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival

South Coast Repertory's 12th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF) will shine the spotlight on seven new plays written by America's finest writers. Since its creation in 1998, PPF has grown into one of the most important festivals of new scripts in the United States. This year's Festival will take place during the May 1 through May 3 weekend and will feature five staged readings and two fully-produced World Premieres on South Coast Repertory's Segerstrom and Julianne Argryos Stages. Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

SCR's 11 previous festivals have introduced 78 new plays to the national stage including Amy Freed's The Beard of Avon, Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel, Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics, Rolin Jones' The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow and David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole.

This year's Pacific Playwrights Festival presents fully-produced stagings of new plays by Richard Greenberg and Lauren Gunderson, and staged readings of plays by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Bill Cain, Julia Cho, Howard Korder and David Wiener.

"We had a particularly strong field from which to choose this year's lineup so we're very pleased with the final slate that we've come up with," said PPF Co-Director John Glore. "It's a good mix of returning artists and newer voices, and a nice diversity in subject matter and style."

Joining John Glore as Festival Co-Director is Kelly Miller, SCR's newly appointed Literary Manager. She previously served as Literary Manager for Long Wharf Theatre and PlayScripts, Inc. "I'm thrilled to join SCR in its mission to develop exciting, resonant new work for the American theater," said Miller. "The Pacific Playwrights Festival continues to be a benchmark of new play excellence in the field and I'm honored to be co-directing this year's phenomenal selection of plays."

Anchoring the 12th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival are the fully-produced World Premieres of Our Mother's Brief Affair, a new comedy by Richard Greenberg about two adult siblings who reunite to tend to their elderly mother and are astonished to learn about her long-ago love affair, and Lauren Gunderson's Emilie - The Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life at the Petit Théâtre at Cirey Tonight , the story of an 18th century Parisian noblewoman and her lifelong affair with the Enlightenment superstar Voltaire.

Richard Greenberg received the Tony Award for his play Take Me Out and is currently represented on Broadway by The American Plan, and the recent revival of Pal Joey, for which he wrote the book. South Coast Repertory commissioned and presented the World Premieres of Richard Greenberg's The Extra Man, Night and Her Stars, Three Days of Rain (a Pulitzer Prize finalist), Hurrah at Last (PPF 1998), Everett Beekin (PPF 1999), The Violet Hour, A Naked Girl on the Appian Way (PPF 2005) and The Injured Party (PPF 2008). SCR also commissioned Our Mother's Brief Affair, which received a staged reading at the 2007 Festival. Pam Mackinnon directs.

Lauren Gunderson is a playwright, screenwriter, short story author and actor. Her work has received the Berrilla Kerr Award for American Theatre, Young Playwright's Award and Eric Bentley New Play Award. Lauren Gunderson has been produced Off-Broadway (Parts They Call Deep) and Off-Off Broadway (Sus Manos). Directed by David Emmes, South Coast Repertory's Producing Artistic Director, Emilie was commissioned by SCR and its staged reading was a highlight of last season's Festival.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is represented by a staged reading of Doctor Cerberus, the tale of a boy who finds solace in horror movies. His play King of Shadows was featured as a NewSCRipts reading at SCR in 2007. His other plays include Good Boys and True, Based on a Totally True Story, The Mystery Plays and Dark Matters. For Marvel Comics, he is the Harvey Award-winning author of The Stand. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is currently writing a new book to the classic Charles Strouse/Lee Adams musical It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's SUPERMAN! and also writes for the HBO series "Big Love."

Bill Cain's widely-produced play Stand-Up Tragedy earned six Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for its premiere at the Mark Taper Forum, and later garnered four Washington, D.C. Helen Hayes Awards and the Joe A. Calloway Playwriting Award for its Broadway engagement. 9 Circles, a contemporary drama about military justice during wartime, will receive a staged reading at the Festival. Bill Cain received a George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Achievement as co-creator, writer and producer of the TV series "Nothing Sacred." His play Equivocation is currently playing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and will be produced at the Geffen Playhouse and Marin Theatre Company.

Julia Cho's The Piano Teacher premiered on the Julianne Argryos Stage in 2007 after a staged reading at PPF 2006. The SCR commission later enjoyed a successful New York engagement. Her play 99 Histories was part of the 2002 Festival. This year Julia Cho is represented by The Language Archive, the story of a linguist who suddenly finds himself at a loss for the right words when his marriage unravels. Her other plays include Durango, The Winchester House, BFE and The Architecture of Loss.

Howard Korder returns to the Pacific Playwrights Festival with In a Garden, a drama about an American architect who plays a game of cat and mouse with the Culture Minister of a Middle Eastern country while the world teeters on the brink of disaster. His play Boys' Life was SCR's first NewSCRipts reading in 1985 and went on to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His other plays include Search and Destroy (NewSCRipts 1989, Segerstrom Stage 1990), which has been widely produced and made into a feature film; The Lights (NewSCRipts 1992); The Hollow Lands (NewSCRipts 1998, PPF 1998, Segerstrom Stage 2000); and Sea of Tranquility (PPF 2003), subsequently produced in New York and across the country. Howard Korder is currently a writer and producer on the upcoming HBO series "Boardwalk Empire," created by Martin Scorsese.

David Wiener was born and raised in the shadow of South Coast Repertory in Orange County. Commissioned by SCR, Extraordinary Chambers received a NewSCRipts reading earlier this season. The drama revolves around an American couple who find themselves caught up in the controversy surrounding the UN hearings currently taking place in the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia. His play System Wonderland received a staged reading at the 2006 Festival and received a full production at PPF 2007. David Wiener's other plays include Guts, La Arana, Love Song (of the Apocalypse), Blood Orange, in vitro, Huera, Cassiopeia and Baltimore Star.

The Honorary Producers of the Pacific Playwrights Festival are Sophie & Larry Cripe, John & Sue Murphy and Tod & Linda White. Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting the Pacific Playwrights Festival and to The Shubert Foundation, whose generous grant supports all of SCR's play development efforts. The Honorary Producers of Our Mother's Brief Affair is The Playwrights Circle. The Honorary Producers of Emile are Bette and Wylie Aitken. Special thanks also to the Elizabeth George Foundation for funding SCR's commission to Lauren Gunderson.

Coast Magazine is the Media Partner and The Wyndham Orange County Hotel is the Official Hotel of the Pacific Playwrights Festival.

TICKET PRICES for the 12th Pacific Playwrights Festival are $12 per individual reading, and $31-$64 for Our Mother's Brief Affair and Emilie. The Festival runs from May 1 through May 3. Tickets can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

LOCATION: 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 Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available off Anton Blvd. on Park Center Drive.