SCR Revives INDIAN SUMMER Educational Touring Program

South Coast Repertory will revive the musical play Indian Summer, one of the theatre's most popular Educational Touring Productions, for travel to Southland elementary schools Jan. 21 - April 4, 2009. There will be a free public performance at SCR on Jan. 26.

Set in the mid-19th century, Indian Summer is based on the true story of a young boy who grows up with a Native American tribe. The play directly supports California K-6 State Frameworks for History-Social Science, English-Language Arts and Visual and Performing Arts.

John-David Keller directs the show written by Richard Hellesen with music and lyrics by Michael Silversher. Indian Summer features Matt Bartosch, Daniel Behnke, Eagle Young and Ellen D. Williams. Bartosch and Behnke are recent graduates of SCR's Professional Intensive Program. Sets and costumes are designed by Angela Balogh Calin. Kathleen Allison is stage manager.

For over 40 years, SCR's Educational Touring Production has introduced children to theater by commissioning original musical plays which deal with important issues and making them available to Southern California elementary schools during the winter and spring. The tour reaches nearly 35,000 school children each year. Some of them will be experiencing live theater for the first time. Others will discover that their parents (or even their grandparents) saw the show when they were in elementary school.

Indian Summer is based on the true story of Thomas Jefferson (Jeff) Mayfield, whose family comes to California in 1850, drawn by the rush for gold. Unsuccessful as prospectors, they try to make a living by farming and ranching along the San Joaquin Valley's Kings River. After the death of his wife, Jeff's father is faced with extreme hardships and is forced to be away from home for long periods to look after the land and the cattle. He makes the difficult decision to send his son to live temporarily with the friendly ChoinumNe Yokuts tribe. When it's time to bring Jeff home, the boy chooses to stay with the tribe. During this time-from age six to 16-Jeff learns to appreciate traditional Indian beliefs and values and comes to understand the importance of caring for the land's abundant natural resources.

Richard Hellesen and Michael Silversher have collaborated on 12 Educational Touring Productions and adapted Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows for SCR's Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA). Silversher wrote the music for the TYA production of The Adventures of Pør Quinly by Quincy Long. He is a three-time Emmy nominee and was founding and resident composer and musical director for Sundance Playwrights Lab and Children's Theatre. Hellesen has written for the SCR Mainstage (Once in Arden), Second Stage (Moonshadow) and the Young Conservatory (Twelve Dancing Princesses).

John-David Keller is an SCR Resident Artist, who has worked with the company since 1973 as both an actor (in over 100 plays) and director. This is his 37th season as director of the Educational Touring Production. He has directed all 29 seasons of A Christmas Carol, has appeared in numerous roles in that production and staged three of the theater's TYA shows. He has been concert host for the fifth grade Orange County Philharmonic Society concerts for 23 years and has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Philharmonic.

Angela Balogh Calin has designed numerous productions on SCR's Segerstrom and Argyros Stages, most recently the costumes for Doubt, a parable and the upcoming Noises Off, as well as sets and costumes for nine Educational Touring Productions. She is a resident designer at A Noise Within, has designed over 50 productions for local theaters and worked in film and television in the U.S. and her native Romania.

Matt Bartosch (Jeff) is a graduate of SCR's Professional Intensive Program and appeared in A Christmas Carol and An Italian Straw Hat: A Vaudeville. Other local theater credits include Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar at Curtis Theater and Tobias Ragg in Sweeney Todd at Fullerton College. He appeared as Tulsa in Gypsy and in Man of La Mancha at the Fort Salem Theater in Salem, New York.

Daniel Behnke (Father) is a graduate of SCR's Professional Intensive Program, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA). He recently played Young Marley in SCR's production of A Christmas Carol. Other theatre credits include AADA's Tracers, Arcadia, Beyond Therapy, Glengarry Glen Ross and How the Other Half Loves and The Woolgatherer at Piven Theatre.

Ellen D. Williams (Mother) is a graduate of Cal State Long Beach, where she appeared in shows including Working and Amadeus. She appeared in ABC's Diversity Showcase, 2008, at El Portal Theatre and received an OC Weekly nomination for best supporting actress for her work in Parallel Lives with loud *R* mouth Theatre Company. She has appeared at regional theatres including Carpenter Performing Arts Center and Stella Adler Theatre and will soon be seen in the world premiere of Ixnay at East West Players.

Eagle Young (Koo-Nance) is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Fort Lewis College, where he appeared on the Mainstage as the Stage Manager in Our Town and as the lead in Air Inside the Rose (Irene Ryan nomination, American College Theatre Festival). He appeared Off-Broadway in Skins at La Mama ETC and at North Carolina's historic Waterside Theater as Chief Manteo in the outside drama The Lost Colony, among others.

Bookings are available for performances Jan. 21 - April 4, and available slots fill quickly. Schools and educators wishing to book Indian Summer are encouraged to book early for the best choice of dates.

The show runs 45 minutes with a 45-minute set-up time. Fees are $465 with discounts for back-to-back performances. A free study guide is provided. For more information, please call the SCR Education Department at (714) 708-5549.

A free performance will be offered to the public on a first-come first-served basis on Monday, Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. on South Coast Repertory's Julianne Argyros Stage. For more information call Janis Morrissette, SCR Education Department at (714) 708-5549.

Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation and Bank of America are Honorary Producers of the Educational Touring Production. The program was made possible in part by a grant from the O.L. Halsell Foundation, the Kenneth A. Lester Family Foundation, and the City of Newport Beach Arts Commission.

Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, under the artistic direction of David Emmes and Martin Benson, is widely recognized as one of the leading professional theaters in the United States. Founded in 1964, SCR is committed to theater that illuminates the compelling personal and social issues of our time, not only on its stages but through its education and outreach programs. While its productions represent a balance of classic and modern theater, SCR is renowned for its extensive new play development program, including the Pacific Playwrights Festival. Of SCR's more than 400 productions, 108 have been world premieres with subsequent stagings achieving enormous success across America and around the world. SCR-developed works have garnered eight Pulitzer Prize nominations with Margaret Edson's Wit winning the prize in 1999 and David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole in 2007. Located in Costa Mesa, California, in 2002 SCR opened the Folino Theater Center, an expanded three-theater complex that includes the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio.