South Coast Repertory – Docent

History: In 1964, South Coast Repertory (SCR) was a band of untested, former theatre students launching an artistic odyssey on little more than raw talent and enthusiasm. Led by David Emmes and Martin Benson, they had emerged from college into the crossfire of a revolution in American theatre. Young theatre artists were out to break Broadway’s hold over America’s stages by founding independent professional theatres. They called theirs a “resident theatre movement,” and by the early 1960s such movements were taking root in cities across America. While the goal of running a nationally renowned arts institution with a fully professional staff and company spurred them on, the young company first went about the business of surviving. For years, everyone involved maintained full-time day jobs and worked nights and weekends without pay at SCR. They designed and built their scenery, sold the tickets, ushered,and -of course acted.

It was between 1967 and 1978 that SCR moved from a local group to a regional force, maturing both artistically and organizationally. Operating income went from $20,000 to $55,000 in the first two seasons. In 1988, SCR earned the highest recognition in regional theatre, the Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement, the thirteenth year such awards were bestowed. During the 1990s, the theatre continued to expand. Subscribers grew to 18,000 per season and the annual budget’reached $8 million. A national reputation for play development was solidified, helped by strong annual support from The Shubert Foundation. As the decade continued, additional funders helped SCR spawn new programs that would support playwrights. Writers were discovered, nurtured, and then championed.

South Coast Repertory was founded in the belief that theatre is an art form with a unique power to illuminate the human experience. David Emmes and Martin Benson are committed to exploring the most urgent human and social issues of our time. and to merging literature, design and performance in ways that test the bounds of theatre’s artistic possibilities. The Repertory undertakes to advance the art of theatre in the service of the community, and aims to extend that service through educational, intercultural, and outreach programs that harmonize with their artistic mission.

Facts:

• Margaret Edson, whose Wit was a premiere at SCR in 1995, won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
• Donald Margulies. whose Sight Unseen and Collected Stories originated at SCR before meeting with New York success, won the 2000 Pulitzer for Dinner with Friends.
• SCR hosts the annual Pacific Playwrights Festival and Hispanic Playwrights Project.

History: In September 2006, the Orange County Performing Arts Center will inaugurate its beautiful, new 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 500-seat, multi-use Samueli Theater and an education center. These new venues and resources, along with South Coast Repertory and, eventually, an independent visual arts facility, will be known as the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. This will be united with the existing Orange County Performing Arts Center, with its 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and 500-seat Founders Hall, by an outdoor plaza, becoming one of the largest and most versatile complexes in the nation dedicated to the arts.

The magnificent new structure has been deSigned by internationally respected Argentine architect Cesar Pelli in concert with one of the world’s foremost acousticians,· Russell Johnson of Artec. The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall’s signature is an undulating curtain of glass that forms the north wall. Pelli wanted to design a “very Southern California” building and to him the walls represent the waves of the Pacific Ocean and the waves of sound that will emanate from the performers. He says, ‘That theatrical sense of being on display is very Orange County.” Pelli had the notion that the lobby should be simple and neutral so that at night, when people are there, the texture and color come from them. The hall will cost $200 million, paid entirely through private funds. Henry Segerstrom donated $40 million of the cost in August of 2000, and this remains the single largest charitable gift in the history of Orange County. On February 6, 2006, The Orange County Performing Arts Center held a groundbreaking celebration for the Concert Hall. The plaza is the unifying vision of Peter Walker & Partners, and will incorporate a major work of art commissioned by the renowned Richard Serra.

Facts:

• The glass of the north wall is totally clear, lacking the greenish tint of most   glass; all the iron has been extracted from it.
• Cesar Pelli was the Dean of the School of Architecture at Yale University from 1977 -84. He was named by the American Institute of Architects as one of the ten most influential living American Artists in 1991 and received its gold medal in 1995. Among his best-known buildings are the Canary Wharf Tower in London (1986), Carnegie Hall Tower in New York (1987 -90), Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (1998), the National Museum of Art in Osaka (2004) and South Coast Metro’s Plaza Tower.