South Coast Repertory Sails Into New Year With Stunning Adaptation of MOBY DICK

Whether you enjoyed or avoided Moby Dick in high school, Lookingglass Theatre Company's acclaimed stage adaptation will take your breath away. The production, with its bold use of acrobatics and physical daring, ushers in the New Year on South Coast Repertory's Segerstrom Stage, Jan. 20-Feb. 19. Tickets are now available at www.scr.org.

Lookingglass Artistic Director David Catlin has taken the classic from page to stage and will direct the production at SCR. Like Melville's book, the play sets sail with three words-"Call me Ishmael" -and then follows the bigger-than-life characters on the hunt for the elusive white whale.

"For me, the more impossible the book, the more exciting it is and the more fun it is," Catlin said. "We turned this classic story into something sublime and amazing and it makes for a powerful experience."

The stage is filled with interlocking ropes and cables, framed by arches that hint at both the curved ribs of a whale and the hold of a ship, over an ocean created from a wash of billowing blue silk. Lookingglass' Moby Dick premiered in 2015 to rave reviews. The production was developed with the acclaimed Actors Gymnasium, which infused the storytelling with riveting physical theatre and circus-like acrobatics.

Lookingglass' Moby Dick also brought together three theatre companies-ALLIANCE THEATRE (Atlanta), Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.) and South Coast Repertory- to co-produce and share the experience with their respective audiences. Atlanta INtown called Moby Dick "gigantic, breathtaking, artistic"; and DC Theatre Scene called the show "brilliant... this may be the best thing you'll see in theater all year."

Founded in 1998, Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company is acclaimed for fresh and innovative adaptations of literary classics. Its past productions include Lookingglass Alice, Treasure Island, The Little Prince, Ethan Frome and The Arabian Nights. For Moby Dick, the theatre collaborated with Actor's Gymnasium to bring high-flying physical theatre and circus-like acrobatics to the story.

The cast includes Kelley Abell, Jamie Abelson, Walter Owen Briggs, Cordelia Dewdney, Christopher Donahue, Micah Figueroa, Anthony Fleming III, Kasey Foster, Raymond Fox and Javen Ulambayar, with understudies Adeoye and Chris Mathews.

The design and creative team includes Courtney O'Neill, scenic design; Sully Ratke, costume design; William C. Kirkham, lighting design; Rick Sims, sound design/composition; Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi, aerial and acrobatic choreography; Kathy Logelin, dialect coach; Isaac Schoepp, rigging design; and Philip R. Smith, casting. The production manager is Joshua Marchesi and the stage manager is Mary Hungerford.

Moby Dick has generous support from Honorary Producers Carolyn and Bill Klein, and Sandy Segerstrom Daniels. The Corporate Honorary Associate Producers are Haskell & White LLP and BNY Mellon Wealth Management and the media partner is KCRW.

Tickets start at $22. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 25 years of age and under, fulltime educators, seniors and groups of 10 or more. For complete information, visit: www.scr.org.

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