San Diego REPertory Theatre’s Ambitious 2012-2013 Season

Zoot Suit
By Luis Valdez
Directed by Kirsten Brandt
Choreography by Javier Velasco
Musical Direction by Bill Doyle
July 14 – Aug. 12, 2012
The Lyceum Stage

San Diego REP is proud to open its 37th season with a brand new production of the most significant work of Latino drama in American theatre. Zoot Suit will be produced through the same partnership between San Diego REP and San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts that made “Hairspray” (2010) and The Who’s TOMMY  (2011) mega-hits on the Lyceum Stage.

Playwright Luis Valdez is America’s greatest Latino playwright. Zoot Suit is his masterpiece – a muscular mix of historical fact and agitprop fiction. A live orchestra will be cookin’ center stage playing a banquet of smoking hot Latin songs with dances staged by award-winning choreographer Javier Velasco. Filled with swagger and swing, Zoot Suit is a not-to-be missed American classic.

Exit Interview
By William Missouri Downs
Directed by Sam Woodhouse
Sept. 29 - Oct. 21, 2012
Opening Night: Friday, Oct. 5
The Lyceum Space

Religion, sex and politics are the big targets of hilarity in the smart contemporary comedies, “Exit Interview.” Politically-radicalized cheerleaders, random commercial interruptions, a showdown between the “poobahs” of religion and science, and a masked gunman all play a role in Down’s satirical examination of facts, faith, and fate in the 21^st century. 

San Diego REP’s production of “Exit Interview” is one of five national New Play Network Rolling World Premieres. Herbert Siguenza, of the group Culture Clash and “A Weekend with Pablo Picasso,” will star as Dick Fig, a professor with a Ph.D. in the works of Bertolt Brecht, who has just gotten the axe at a nameless university and is attempting to answer some loaded questions from Eunice, the university’s unctuous human resources pawn in an exit interview like no other.

A Hammer, A Bell, and
A Song to Sing
World Premiere Production
Written by Todd Salovey
with Vaughn Armstrong, Dave Crossland, and Jim Mooney
Directed by Todd Salovey
Musical Direction and Arrangements by Bruno Louchouarn
Nov. 3 - Dec. 2, 2012
The Lyceum Stage

Back by popular demand is the production that had San Diego singing in three-part harmony and provoked standing ovations at every one of its workshop production performances. This fall, San Diego REP will present an expanded and fully developed production of last season’s runaway hit.

The original cast, folk recording artist Dave Crossland, “Star Trek’s” Vaughn Armstrong, and San Diego favorite Jim Mooney, will return and be joined by an additional stellar singer/musician to once again lead an entire theatre in song.


Reduced Shakespeare Company® in
The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged)
Written and directed by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor
Dec. 5 - 23, 2012
The Lyceum Stage

After a seven year hiatus, a holiday production returns to San Diego REPertory Theatre. Christmas will never be the same once you share the holiday with the inspired lunacy of the masters of condensing the classics – the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Since 1981, the company has delighted audiences throughout North America and England with their reduced versions of “The Complete Works of Shakespeare,” the Bible, “All the Great Books,” “The History of America,” and even the “World of Sports.”

Regardless of your religious persuasion, the Reduced Shakespeare Company promises a good time gift-wrapped in a package of song, parody, an elf ballet, anachronistic dance fever disco moves, and delightfully twisted holiday cheer.

Clybourne Park
By Bruce Norris
Directed by Sam Woodhouse
Jan. 10 - Feb. 10, 2013
The Lyceum Stage

Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and Olivier Award for Best Play, Clybourne Park is an unforgettable new story about race, class, and real estate in America. Jokes fly and hidden agendas unfold in a tale told without good guys or bad guys, just real people with real concerns about the future of their community.

Clybourne Park has been called by critics and audiences both “shockingly entertaining” and “appallingly funny.” It promises to be one of the feistiest and funniest evenings of American theatre in years.

The Mountaintop
By Katori Hall
Mar. 2 - 31, 2013
The Lyceum Space
West Coast Premiere

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said “I may not get there with you, but I want you to know that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.” King, who lived every day in the face of death, was assassinated on April 4, 1968 while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

This imaginative and soul stirring drama premiered in London in 2009 to great acclaim, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Play. REP audiences will be the first to experience this astonishing play in the intimacy of the Lyceum Space, where all seats are within 25 feet of the stage!

Federal Jazz Project
Conceived and written by Richard Montoya
Music composed and curated by Gilbert Castellanos
Directed by Sam Woodhouse
April 6 - May 5, 2013
World Premiere Production

Jazz, like history, can never be silenced. 

Born at Balboa Naval Hospital, Richard Montoya is one of California’s premier contemporary playwrights and a co-founder of the ensemble troupe Culture Clash, a favorite with REP audiences. San Diegan Gilbert Castellanos is a trumpet virtuoso, recognized as a new American master by Downbeat Magazine. Inspired by the weekly jazz sessions Castellanos has hosted for 15 years in downtown San Diego warehouses and clubs, Montoya conceived a brand new fusion of live jazz, spoken word, dance, song and story that celebrates the landscape of San Diego from 1959 to the present.

Count on this world premiere to feature extraordinary music and unforgettable, untold stories of the musicians who have made our city such a fascinating place to call home.

The REP’s box office is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. on non-performance days and noon until curtain on performance days. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets at a discounted rate. Four hours of free parking at Horton Plaza for patrons who validate at the Lyceum Theatre.

Call 619-544-1000

Subscriptions are priced from $112 to $371. Senior and military discounts available. The REP offers subscribers an extensive package of benefits, including discount prices, free ticket exchange privileges; discounts on individual tickets; and discounts at local restaurants. Premier seating guarantees seating in the best 100 sets in both theatres and includes free drink coupons for the season. Individual tickets go on sale June 1, 2012.