South Coast Repertory Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson have been named the recipients of the 2007-08 Margo Jones Medal. The prestigious award honors those who have demonstrated a significant impact, understanding and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, with a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theater everywhere. The venerable duo has guided South Coast Repertory from a small touring company into one of the country's leading professional theaters, now approaching its 45th season and known world-wide for its development of new work for the stage. The Ohio State University Libraries and College of the Arts will present the award to Emmes and Benson on May 1 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, kicking off the theater's nationally-renowned Pacific Playwrights Festival.
"We are honored to receive the Margo Jones Medal and are thrilled to be included among the pioneers of the regional theater movement," said David Emmes. "We are especially pleased to receive this award because the work of Margo Jones continually inspires us in our mission to nurture new and established theatrical voices," added Martin Benson.
Founded in 1961 by playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee with additional support from J. B. Tad Adoue III, the Margo Jones Medal commemorates pioneers of the American professional regional theater movement. Jones supported and nurtured new plays at the theater she founded in Dallas in 1947, most famously the work of Lawrence and Lee, William Inge and Tennessee Williams. The award is administered by the The Ohio State University's Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute which collects, preserves, and makes available research materials in the performing arts. Previous recipients include Lucille Lortel, Joseph Papp, Zelda Fichandler, Lloyd Richards, Jane Alexander, Al Hirschfeld, Ellen Stewart, Jon Jory and Andre Bishop.
David Emmes and Martin Benson founded South Coast Repertory in 1964 and through the years, the theater has been the recipient of many honors and awards. In 1988 the company received a special Tony Award in recognition of its outstanding contributions to the American theater, especially its attention to new plays and playwrights. South Coast Repertory has premiered 103 plays and has given commissions to nearly 150 writers. Over 80 percent of new plays launched at SCR have gone on to subsequent productions at theaters across the nation, including all of the major resident companies in New York City. Among the important plays that SCR has introduced into the American repertoire are Margaret Edson's Wit (winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize), David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole (winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize), Donald Margulies' Sight Unseen, Collected Stories and Brooklyn Boy, Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain (as well as six other Greenberg plays), Craig Lucas's Prelude to a Kiss, Beth Henley's Abundance, Howard Korder's Search and Destroy, Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel and Amy Freed's The Beard of Avon.
After the May 1 Margo Jones Medal award ceremony, the Pacific Playwrights Festival begins with a weekend of new plays in readings and workshops that attracts audiences and theater professionals from across the country. Two fully-produced plays, the World Premieres of Tony Award winner Richard Greenberg's The Injured Party and "Six Feet Under" writer/producer Kate Robin's What They Have, will anchor the Festival. The Festival will take place May 2 through May 4 and the complete lineup will be announced at a later date.
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 Folino Theater Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available off Anton Blvd. on Park Center Drive.
