Video: Inside Rehearsal for The Old Man and The Old Moon at South Coast Repertory

Go inside rehearsals for South Coast Repertory's producton of The Old Man and The Old Moon, with book, music and lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co in this all-new video.

Directed by SCR Associate Artistic Director Kim Martin-Cotten, The Old Man and The Old Moon takes audiences on an epic adventure across land, sea and sky—all in the name of love. Indie-folk music and ingenious staging transform this tall tale into a thrilling theatrical event like no other. The Old Man who keeps the moon filled with light wakes up one morning to find his wife has gone, lured away by a mysterious melody. In his quest to find her, he encounters colorful characters, gets caught in an apocalyptic storm and is swallowed by a giant fish. Can he find her before the moon runs out of light and the world plunges into darkness? The Old Man and the Old Moon is recommended for ages 7 and older.

The Old Man and The Old Moon came from the minds of seven budding theatre artists when they were still students at Carnegie Mellon University. The seven: Alex Falberg, Ben Ferguson, Curtis Gillen, Ryan Melia, Matt Nuernberger, Arya Shahi and Dan Weschler, later founded PigPen Theatre Co. The second play the group wrote, The Old Man and The Old Moon premiered off-Broadway in 2012. It later played the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Writers Theatre outside Chicago, The Old Globe, Kansas City Repertory and the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills.

At each stop, it played to sold-out audiences, bringing critical acclaim for its folk music, innovative, use of low-tech materials, puppetry and storytelling combining wit and whimsy. In his New York Times review, Ben Brantley wrote, “This is a story of time and tides and quests, the sort of fable on which mythologies and religions are founded.”

Martin-Cotten joined SCR in 2021 as Associate Artistic Director and is the Co-Director of the Pacific Playwrights Festival. A producer, director, actor and educator who held the positions of Artistic Producer and Associate Director of New Works for Kansas City Repertory Theatre before coming to SCR, Martin-Cotten has directed The Moors, an eight-person Twelfth Night and a solo adaptation of Othello for Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s young company. Her other directing projects include The Dumbwaiter, Cabaret, Death of A Salesman, Proof and The Taming of the Shrew, among others. Martin-Cotten also served as Project Assistant to Anna Deavere Smith on her initial production of House Arrest First Edition at Arena Stage.

The cast features several SCR veterans, including Jess Andrews (Appropriate and The Little Foxes), Tommy Beck (A Christmas Carol), Huntington Beach native Armando Gutierrez (Million Dollar Quartet), Matt MacNelly (music director for Cambodian Rock Band and understudy for Million Dollar Quartet) and Joe Ngo (Cambodian Rock Band). It also features SCR newcomers Alex Lydon and Ana Marcu.

The design and creative team include Efren Delgadillo Jr. and Stephanie Bernardini, set design; Kish Finnegan, costume design; Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz, lighting design; Jeff Polunas, sound design; Michael Arden Larsen, associate director and movement coordinator and Matt Cotten, puppet designer and assistant director. Joanne DeNaut, CSA, is the casting director. Maisie Chan is the production manager, Kathryn Davies is the production stage manager, and Natalie Figaredo is the assistant stage manager.

Born out of the pandemic, Outside SCR began in 2021 as a way to safely return to live performances. It opened that summer with two plays—American Mariachi and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown—alternating performances. Million Dollar Quartet followed in 2022 and La Havana Madrid last summer. It brings SCR’s productions to new communities and audiences.

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