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South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 and continuing today under the leadership of Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson, is widely regarded as one of America’s foremost producers of new plays. In its three-stage Folino Theatre Center in Costa Mesa, California, SCR produces a five-play season on its Segerstrom Stage, a four-play season on its Argyros Stage, plus two annual holiday productions. SCR also offers a three-play Theatre for Young Audiences series, and year-round programs in education and outreach. SCR’s extensive new play development program consists of commissions, residencies, readings, and workshops, from which up to five world premieres are produced each season. Among the plays commissioned and introduced at SCR are Donald Margulies’ Sight Unseen, Collected Stories, and Brooklyn Boy; Richard Greenberg’s Three Days of Rain, Everett Beekin, Hurrah at Last and The Violet Hour; David Henry Hwang’s Golden Child, Jose Rivera’s References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, Craig Lucas’ Prelude to a Kiss, Amy Freed’s The Beard of Avon and Freedomland and Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit. These plays were commissioned by SCR and developed through its Pacific Playwrights Festival, an annual workshop and reading showcase for up to eight new plays, attended by artistic directors and literary staff members from across the country. Forty percent of the plays SCR has produced have been world, American or West Coast premieres. In 1988, SCR received the Regional Theatre Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement, particularly in the area of new play development.