The Next Stage
A UC Irvine & South Coast Repertory collaboration ushers in a new era of O.C. theater
By Christine Byrd
South Coast Repertory (SCR) and the Claire Trevor School of the Arts are opening a new act in their longstanding relationship. With support from the Nicholas Endowment, they are launching a bold new partnership that aims to become a model for regional theaters and arts education institutions in uncertain times.
From January through March 2026, SCR will produce two American classics, with UC Irvine M.F.A. students involved behind the scenes and on stage. At the same time, SCR artists will be at UC Irvine teaching drama courses, culminating in hundreds of students experiencing the performances that their peers have worked on.
“We’re thrilled about the partnership between SCR and UCI, which opens up exceptional opportunities for students,” said Daniel T. Stetson, trustee and executive director of the Nicholas Endowment, whose mission is to enrich our community and the world by supporting the performing and visual arts, assisting in the advancement of science and education, and engaging other charities to make a difference in people’s lives. “Through this collaboration, students will receive top-tier training from some of the most respected professionals in the industry. They’ll also have the chance to apply and refine their newly developed acting skills on stage at SCR.”
Artistic Residencies
SCR first raised its curtain in 1964, less than a year before UC Irvine’s classes opened. The Orange County institutions have grown up together and collaborated informally over the years, with faculty working professionally at the theater, students getting early career opportunities, and artists guest lecturing on campus.
“I love UCI students and being on campus, where people are thirsty and hungry for knowledge.”
“There has always been a spoken and unspoken connectivity between SCR and UCI, but now we’re looking to provide a platform for each other in the true sense of partnership, collaboration and community building,” said David Ivers, artistic director for SCR.
Ivers has worked with UC Irvine faculty and students for more than two decades and early in his acting career was directed by the late founding faculty member Robert Cohen and current Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of drama Eli Simon. This year, Ivers held a general audition for UC Irvine M.F.A. actors and hired Doshima Iyorlu as an understudy for fall’s production of Million Dollar Quartet.
“I love UCI students and being on campus, where people are thirsty and hungry for knowledge,” said Ivers. “It reminds us that investigation is still key — that imagination and wonder flourish best alongside virtuosity and hard work.”
Through this new partnership, five UC Irvine students will have formalized roles in the theater’s repertory productions this winter: two actors, a stage manager, a sound designer and a dramaturge.
Joel Veenstra, chair of the Department of Drama, said the partnership will bolster the program: “Through this residency framework, our students can add Tony Award-winning theater credits to their résumés while also building connections and receiving mentorship that will help advance their careers.”
Image: (left to right) SCR Director of Development and Department of Dance alumna Clare Kiklowicz ’06 with Department of Drama student and SCR intern Kate Sheehan ’27. Courtesy of SCR
Educational Experiences
The partnership will also bring SCR teaching artists to UC Irvine as instructors in the drama department, filling in for the M.F.A. students who will be working on the productions instead of in classrooms.
“I think it’s thrilling to have this unique collaboration bringing in professionals with different lenses to invigorate the educational experience of our undergraduate population,” said Veenstra. “It's another exciting opportunity for cross-pollination between our organizations, and it gives even more students opportunities to build relationships with industry professionals.”
Lessons this winter focus on the Tony Award-winning plays being produced by SCR: God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, directed by Marco Barricelli, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, directed by Lisa Rothe. Both center on two married couples and, in darkly humorous ways, reveal power struggles and manipulations beneath a polite social veneer.
“It’s rare for us to get the entire department together in one place, so inviting all the drama students to come experience these plays at one time is momentous.”
“There are so many ways in which these American classics, one from the 1960s and the other set in today’s era, speak to each other, revealing what has changed over the generations and what has stayed the same about our intimate relationships,” said Suzanne Appel, managing director of SCR. “We hope that seeing these plays in the theater after studying them in class will make for a transformative experience for the students.”
Inspiring Audiences
Ultimately, the collaboration will bring hundreds of UC Irvine students to SCR to watch the performances and delve into the art making process with an educational pre-show event and post-show panel.
“It’s rare for us to get the entire department together in one place, so inviting all the drama students to come experience these plays at one time is momentous,” said Veenstra. “We’re trying to create a quintessential college arts experience, reminiscent of when everyone goes to a big football game that they remember and talk about long after they graduate.”
These two plays were specifically selected with the goal of attracting students and first-time theatergoers. While it may seem like edgy new plays will draw younger crowds, SCR leaders point out that those audiences prefer to watch highly recognizable titles as part of their quest to become educated, artistically literate global citizens.
“These classics have endured because there is something timeless and universal about the works that continues to be resonant,” said Ivers. “These plays are structurally beautiful like well-crafted pieces of furniture made from substantive material — they stand the test of time.”
Presenting the plays in repertory format, with two plays in rotation on the same set, creates a special opportunity for both the audience and the creative team.
“There’s an athleticism to performing two plays in repertory, and the intensity of that experience really builds resilience for students of theater,” said Appel. “From the audience's perspective, it’s like taking a vacation in theater-land, where you can see two shows back to back in a day or a weekend.”
Image: (left to right) David Ivers, Joel Veenstra and Suzanne Appel in the Julianne Argyros Theatre, David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, South Coast Repertory. Photo by Will Tee Yang.
Sustaining Theater
Behind the scenes, leaders hope this program will spark a love of theater in a new generation and provide a pathway to the profession for students that will help sustain the industry as it faces financial headwinds. Professional theaters across the country have shuttered in recent years, and several campuses have closed or paused admissions to their theater programs — includig the University of Southern California's graduate acting and dramatic writing programs, and UCLA's 2026 M.F.A. acting cohort.
“There’s an athleticism to performing two plays in repertory, and the intensity of that experience really builds resilience for students of theater.”
“We hope this partnership is a transformative way to invest in our regional theater and the next generation of theater-goers,” said Veenstra. “It’s creating a win-win with some cost savings, collaborative education, and hopefully can help reinvigorate the field.”
After the launch of the pilot this year, Veenstra and colleagues hope to expand the collaboration into future years with additional support. They will also publish reports about the pilot’s impact with the hope that it might become a model for other regional theaters.
“It really does take a village to produce theater, so we’re grateful to the Nicholas Endowment, UC Irvine, and all the other donors who are supporting these productions,” said Appel. “Young people are the future of our art form — both as artists and audiences — and we hope this marks the beginning of a new era in our institutions’ shared story.”
To learn more about the Department of Drama, visit drama.arts.uci.edu. To learn more about South Coast Repertory, visit scr.org.
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