Greenberg's Our Mother's Brief Affair, directed by Pam MacKinnon, runs April 3-May 3. In it, according to SCR, "adult siblings Seth and Abby have reunited to tend to their elderly mother, Anna, who has the habit of playing out periodic deathbed scenes for her children. But this time something is different. This time Anna has a story to tell, about long-ago Saturday afternoons, about escorting young Seth to his viola lessons at Juilliard despite his constant protestations…and about what she did while he played scales. A love affair made out of weekly matinees at a small hotel, with a man whose name is synonymous with betrayal."

Greenberg received the Tony Award for his play, Take Me Out. South Coast Repertory commissioned and presented the world premieres of Greenberg's A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, The Violet Hour, Everett Beekin, Hurrah at Last, Night and Her Stars, The Extra Man and Three Days of Rain, a Pulitzer Prize finalist which was recently revived on Broadway. SCR has also produced his play The Dazzle. He is currently represented on Broadway by the The American Plan and earlier this season by the revival of Pal Joey, for which he wrote the book. His other plays include Eastern Standard, Jenny Keeps Talking and The Maderati.

Gunderson's Emilie — The Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life at the Petit Théâtre at Cirey Tonight, directed by David Emmes, plays April 19-May 10. According to SCR, this is "the true story of an 18th century Parisian noblewoman and her lifelong affair with the Enlightenment superstar Voltaire. In this highly theatrical rediscovery of one of history's great thinkers, Emilie must defend her life by tallying her achievements in love and philosophy — and searching for a formula that will convince the world of her worth."

Gunderson is a New York City (by way of Atlanta) playwright, screenwriter and short story author. She is currently finishing her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has received national praise and awards including the Berrilla Kerr Award for American Theatre, Young Playwright's Award, Eric Bentley New Play Award, Essential Theatre Prize, Virtual Theatre Prizes and many others. She has been produced Off Broadway (Parts They Call Deep), Off-Off-Broadway (Sus Manos) and recently had many new plays produced in Atlanta (including The Van Gogh Café, Leap and Background), as well as regionally (A Short History of Nearly Everything). She has worked on commissions for the Alliance Theatre's Collision Project, Actors Express Theatre, City University of New York and Synchronicity Performance Group.

Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

*

SCR's 11 previous festivals have introduced 78 new plays to the national stage including Amy Freed's The Beard of Avon, Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel, Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics, Rolin Jones' The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow and David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole.

PPF co-director John Glore said of this year's lineup, "It's a good mix of returning artists and newer voices, and a nice diversity in subject matter and style."

Joining Glore as Festival co-director is Kelly Miller, SCR's newly appointed literary manager. She previously served as literary manager for Long Wharf Theatre and PlayScripts, Inc.

Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, under the artistic direction of David Emmes and Martin Benson, was founded in 1964 and is committed to "theatre that illuminates the compelling personal and social issues of our time, not only on its stages but through its education and outreach programs." Its "productions represent a balance of classic and modern theatre" and SCR "is renowned for its extensive new play development program, including the Pacific Playwrights Festival."