South Coast Repertory Presents THOMAS REPAIR Reading 10/27

South Coast Repertory's first NewSCRipts reading of the 2008-09 season will be Mat Smart's Thomas Repair. Thomas Repair is the 106th play to receive a staged reading as part of SCR's venerable play reading program. Smart also had the honor of kicking off the 2006-07 NewSCRipts season with his play The 13th of Paris. The NewSCRipts reading of Thomas Repair will take place on October 27 at 7:30pm on the Julianne Argyros Stage. Tickets are $12 each, include audience discussions with the playwright and dramaturg and may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

Thomas Repair centers around Jacob Thomas, who runs an unorthodox repair shop where he promises to fix anything that's broken. But he may have met his match when a mysterious girl – with an even more mysterious ailment – shows up in the middle of the night looking for help. Her skin is turning blue and so is her guitar, and nothing will get rid of the stain, but her problem is much more than skin-deep. As the mismatched pair of misfits dance around each other's secrets, it becomes apparent that both their lives are in need of mending, and the solution may require something that can't be found on the cluttered shelves of Thomas Repair.

Mat Smart wrote The 13th of Paris shortly after a trip to France that was made possible by a commission from SCR. He wrote the book and lyrics for Keep Ishmael, a new rock musical with music by Ethan Deppe that was produced at White Horse Theatre Company in Chicago. The Hopper Collection received productions at the Magic Theatre and Huntington Theatre Company. His New York credits include The Debate over Courtney O'Connell of Columbus, Nebraska and Shoes (SLANT Theatre Project); Chopin's Preludes (The American Living Room Festival at HERE Arts Center); Telescopes (Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab); and Pure (NY Fringe Festival and psNBC's "Highlights of the Fringe"). Smart's other plays include Hand, Foot, Arm, and Face (Baldwin New Play Festival at the University of California - San Diego, recipient of San Diego Playbill's award for Best New Play) and the Bebop Heard in Okinawa (The O'Neill's National Playwrights Conference). 

The annual NewSCRipts series of three Monday evening play readings by emerging and established playwrights was launched in 1985 as a way to bring the audience into the process of creating new work. After each public reading, audience members engage in lively exchanges with the playwright and become active participants in the play's development, providing invaluable feedback for the writer. Plays selected for the NewSCRipts series have earned six Pulitzer Prize nominations with Margaret Edson's Wit winning the prize in 1999.

South Coast Repertory's NewSCRipts series of play readings is underwritten by Elaine J. Weinberg. Orange Coast Magazine is the Media Partner.

South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, California, 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 Boulevard on Park Center Drive.

Upcoming performances include The Heiress (10/17-11/16), Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (11/7-23), A Christmas Carol (11/29-12/27), La Posada Mágica (The Magical Journey) (12/11-23), You, Nero (1/4-25), A Year with Frog and Toad (2/13-3/1) and Noises Off (2/6-3/8).

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, 108 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 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.

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