The Theatre
Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson, is led by Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Paula Tomei. SCR is recognized as one of the leading professional theatres in the United States. It is committed to theatre that illuminates the compelling personal and social issues of our time, not only on its stages but through its wide array of education and engagement programs.
While its productions represent a balance of classic and modern theatre, SCR is renowned for The Lab@SCR, its extensive new-play development program, which includes one of the nation’s largest commissioning programs for emerging, mid-career and established writers and composers. Each year, SCR showcases some of the country’s best new plays at the Pacific Playwrights Festival, which attracts theatre professionals from across the country. Of SCR’s more than 543 productions, one-quarter have been world premieres, whose subsequent stagings achieved enormous success throughout America and around the world. SCR-developed works have garnered two Pulitzer Prizes and eight Pulitzer nominations, several Obie Awards and scores of major new play awards.
The David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center is home to the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio. SCR is a professional, nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation, partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, foundations, corporations and individuals. It is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a national collective-bargaining association; and Arts Orange County, the official local arts agency.
The theatre operates under an agreement between LORT; Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers; the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an independent national labor union; and United Scenic Artists, the union of scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers.