T HE ATER
mission accomplished
WHEN LIFE HANDS you COVID … open a theater? With its stages dark, the realization that Zoom allows for only so much, and with the anxiety of a wobbly bottom line, South Coast Repertory needed to look inward for inspira-
tion to secure its future. Or in this case, outward. Enter Outside SCR, a two-play summer season unveiling under the stars at Mission San Juan Capistrano, the historical landmark 21 miles south of the theater. “I am desperate to return to the live experience of storytelling,” says David Ivers, South Coast Repertory‘s artistic director. But it’s not simply about putting on a show. “It’s the gathering.” Ivers says. “It’s the ritual and the witnessing and the sharing of stories to laugh, cry, affirm and
18 PERFORMANCES SPRING 2021
deny that helps shape a context by which we live. That is what I miss.” Even in these times, such a gathering is conceivable on the mission’s 10-acre courtyard, spacious for audiences under whatever social-distance guidelines might be in place come summer. Though seating configuration remains a work in progress, SCR is design-
RENDERING OF THE OUTSIDE SCR STAGE. LEFT, SCR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR DAVID IVERS
ing and building a versatile stage for the space. Dubbed “the container,” it will hold sets for two plays that will run on alternating nights July 15-Aug. 1. The plays, which Ivers calls “triumphant, celebratory, family-friendly summer fare,” are American Mariachi, a comedy with music by José Cruz González, and the 1967 musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, based on the classic Charles M. Schulz comic strip. Tickets range from $10 to $30. Like cultural institutions worldwide, SCR and the mission have been facing
RENDERING BY EFREN DELGADILLO; IVERS COURTESY SCR
Acclaimed Costa Mesa-based South Coast Repertory unveils an outdoor theater at Mission San Juan Capistrano this summer.
