SCR takes the next step, announces new season

Young Chang

George Barnard Shaw will open South Coast Repertory’s 2002-03 season,

which will inaugurate the new 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage, a

renovated 99-seat Nicholas Stage and a remodeled Segerstrom Stage.

The 39th season, which runs Oct. 11, 2002 through June 29, 2003, will

open on the Segerstrom Stage -- formerly the Mainstage -- with Shaw’s

“Major Barbara” on Oct. 18, and on the Julianne Argyros Stage with

Richard Greenberg’s “The Violet Hour” Nov. 8.

The season will include world premieres by Greenberg, Lynn Nottage

(“Intimate Apparel”), a West Coast premiere by playwright Michael Healey

(“The Drawer Boy”) and a Shakespeare revival (“Two Gentlemen of Verona.”)

Two plays for the Julianne Argyros Stage will be announced later.

The holiday traditions of “A Christmas Carol” and “La Posada Magica”

will open Nov. 30 and Dec. 13, respectively.

And the Nicholas Studio (formerly the Second Stage) will continue to

be used for SCR’s Young Conservatory Players program, the Pacific

Playwrights Festival and the Hispanic Playwrights Project.

A series of celebratory events will run Oct. 5 through Nov. 10 for

what theater leaders call “SCR: Re/Dedication 2002.” A “Light the Night”

gala ball will be held Oct. 5 to dedicate the new theater center and the

weekend of Nov. 8-10 will celebrate the opening of the Argyros stage.

Last month, the Repertory held a “Topping Out” ceremony to mark the

last beam placed on the three-story Argyros building. The end of that

phase marked the beginning of a new phase, involving an increased

fund-raising goal of $50 million.

The first phase of the five-year campaign included a $40-million goal

-- $38 million of which had been raised by the February ceremony.

The campaign is divided into $19 million for construction, $21 million

allotted for the theater’s endowment and $10 million for five annual

operating campaigns.

The expansion also includes a complex of offices and classrooms.