South Coast Rep Closes DOCTOR CERBERUS, 5/2/10

South Coast Repertory's Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson will close their production of Doctor Cerberus, a new play by HBO's "Big Love" and Marvel Comics' "Spiderman" writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and its World Premiere on May 2nd.

Aguirre-Sacasa's tale of a boy who finds solace in horror movies received a staged reading at this spring's PPF, to a rousing audience response. Bart DeLorenzo, who helmed the reading, returns to direct the production.

According to Emmes, "We're very excited to add this SCR-commissioned play to our 2009-10 Season. Aguirre-Sacasa is one of America's most talented young writers, as imaginative as anyone in theater today, and his originality is well demonstrated in Doctor Cerberus."

A coming-of-age comedy with a twist of terror, Doctor Cerberus is set in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. in the mid-1980s. Thirteen-year-old Franklin Robertson is trying to survive. His parents don't understand him. His older brother torments him, and he would rather write stories than go out with friends. His great comfort comes from the horror movies he watches on a black-and-white TV set in his basement during "Nightmare Theatre," introduced by the enigmatic Doctor Cerberus. In fact, Franklin feels certain that Doctor Cerberus can save his misfit life-if only he can get on the show.

Aguirre-Sacasa's 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." He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Doctor Cerberus is one of two World Premieres that will receive full productions during SCR's nationally renowned Pacific Playwrights Festival which will take place April 23 through April 25, 2010. An additional World Premiere production will be presented on the Segerstrom Stage from March 26 - April 25. Besides the two fully-produced plays, the weekend Festival showcases five new plays, many commissioned by South Coast Repertory, in readings and workshops and attracts audiences and theater professionals from across the country.

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