SCR announces upcoming shows

New and recent works by award-winning playwrights Annie Baker, Sarah Ruhl and Itamar Moses are among the offerings in South Coast Repertory’s 2010-11 lineup, which begins in September. The Costa Mesa theater company said it will mount 10 main productions as part of the upcoming season.

Ruhl’s “In the Next Room (or the vibrator play),” which received a Tony nomination this year for best drama, will make its local debut at SCR in a production running from Sept. 26 to Oct. 17. The comic play is set during the Victorian era and follows the introduction of a new electronic device made specifically for women.

“In the Next Room” previously has been produced at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre.

Baker’s “Circle Mirror Transformation” (Jan. 9 to 30) is set in a dramatic acting class and follows the intersecting lives of the pupils as they interact with the instructor. The play ran at Playwrights Horizons in New York in 2009 and received the Obie Award for best new drama. Sam Gold, who directed the New York production, will stage the play at SCR.

“Becky Shaw” (Oct. 22 to Nov. 21), by Gina Gionfriddo, follows the darkly comic adventures of a group of thirtysomethings as they deal with problems both personal and romantic. The play ran at New York’s Second Stage Theatre in 2009.

Moses will premiere is his new play “Completeness” (April 17 to May 8), an intimate look at the relationship between a computer scientist and a molecular biologist.

Also included in the season are productions of George Bernard Shaw’s “Misalliance” (Sept. 10 to Oct. 10); Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Jan. 21 to Feb. 20); Conor McPherson’s “The Weir” (March 13 to April 3); and Richard Greenberg’s “Three Days of Rain” (May 13 to June 12).

The annual production of “A Christmas Carol” will run Nov. 27 to Dec. 26.

SCR will also produce a to-be-announced world premiere play (April 1 to May 1) as part of the 2011 Pacific Playwrights Festival.

— David Ng