Playwright Rajiv Joseph doesn’t want to disclose much about his new play, Mr. Wolf, other than a hint: it’s a psychological mystery. The play, commissioned by South Coast Repertory, has its world premiere on SCR’s Julianne Argyros Stage, April 12-May 3. It’s directed by Founding Artistic Director David Emmes. This production is part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival. Tickets are available at www.scr.org. South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa.
Here’s the set-up: The universe is vast, but 15-year-old Theresa seeks to understand how and why it came to be. Her guide in that quest is a man named Mr. Wolf. But when we meet her, the only life she has ever known is coming to an end. When the center of her world disappears, she must come to terms with how to find her place in it.
“Rajiv deftly examines the cost of being lost and being found, and he does this with strong and beautiful writing,” said Artistic Director Marc Masterson.
The cast for Mr. Wolf includes Tessa Auberjonois, John de Lancie, Emily Ruth James, Kwana Martinez and Jon Tenney.
The design and creative team includes Nephelie Andonyadis, scenic design; Leah Piehl, costume design; Lap Chi Chu, lighting design; Cricket Myers, sound design; and John Glore, dramaturg. The show’s production manager is Joshua Marchesi and the stage manager is Sue Karutz.
Playwright Rajiv Joseph on the set of his new play, “Describe the Night” at the Shubert Theatre in New York on November 21, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang
Rajiv Joseph came to national attention when his celebrated hit Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo became a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and received an Outstanding New American Play Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. With direction by Moisés Kaufman, Bengal Tiger was a sensational hit at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles in 2009 and moved to the Mark Taper Forum in 2010 where the New York Times described it as a “boldly imagined, harrowing and surprisingly funny drama.” The show made its Broadway debut starring Robin Williams in March 2011. Joseph’s other plays include Gruesome Playground Injuries, All This Intimacy, and Animals Out of Paper (all at Second Stage Theatre); The Leopard and the Fox (adaptation, Alter Ego); Huck & Holden (Cherry Lane Theatre); The North Pool; The Lake Effect; and Guards at the Taj. He is the book writer and co-lyricist for the musical, Fly. Joseph also wrote for the Showtime series “Nurse Jackie” for its third and fourth seasons and was the co- screenwriter of the film Draft Day, which was released last year, starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner. He earned a bachelor of arts in creative writing from Miami University and a master of fine arts in playwriting from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa. Joseph was named a 2010 Rockefeller Fellow by United States Artists. He is the recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award, the Whiting Award, the Glickman Award, the 2013 Equity Jeff Award for The Lake Effect, produced by Silk Road Rising in Chicago and the prestigious 2013 Steinberg Playwright Award from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. Guards at the Taj was awarded the 2015 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, given annually for an unproduced, full-length play of social relevance by an emerging American playwright.
Tickets start at $22. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 25 years of age and under, fulltime educators, seniors and groups of 10 or more. For complete information, visit: www.scr.org.
Mr. Wolf is generously supported by The Playwrights Circle.
Tickets: May be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or by visiting the box office at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Performances run April 12-May 3. Ticket prices start at $22. Low-priced preview performances run April 12-16.
Performance Dates, Times:
- Previews
- Sunday, April 12 at 2 p.m.
- Tuesday-Thursday, April 14-16 7:45 p.m.
Note: Friday, April 17, is an invitation-only performance
- Regular performances
Special notes: There are no Monday performances. There is no evening performance on Sunday, May 3.- Evenings:
- Saturday and Sunday, April 18-19 and April, 25-26, at 7:45 p.m.
- Tuesday-Friday, April 21-24, April 28-May 1, at 7:45 p.m.
- Matinees:
- Saturdays-Sundays, April 18-19, April 25-26, and May 2-3, at 2 p.m.
- Evenings:
- ASL-interpreted: Saturday, May 2, at 2 p.m.
Special Events:
- Post-Show Discussions: Tuesday, April 21, and Wednesday, April 22. Discuss the play with cast members of Mr. Wolf during free post-show discussions led by South Coast Repertory’s literary team. Julianne Argyros Stage.
- Inside the Season: Saturday, May 2, from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Led by members of SCR’s literary staff, this lively two-hour session features in-depth interviews with cast members and artists from SCR’s production staff, revealing secrets and offering insights into SCR’s production of Mr. Wolf. The event includes a guided tour of the set. Julianne Argyros Stage. Tickets are $12 and may be purchased in advance or at the door.
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 David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available on Park Center Drive, off Anton Boulevard.
Current and Upcoming Productions: Of Good Stock by Melissa Ross, March 27-April 26; Mr. Wolf by Rajiv Joseph, April 12-May 3; Theatre Movement Bazaar’s BIG SHOT: A.K.A. This is Not the Godfather, April 22-May3; Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice, May 8-June 7; and OZ 2.5 by Catherine Trieschmann, May 22-June 7. The 18th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival runs April 24-26. More information is available online: www.scr.org.
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Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington, Roscoe Orman. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.
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Crafting a Career
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