New York Stage and Film has announced a starry lineup of cast members for the company's 2024 summer season at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Broadway and Off-Broadway favorites including Justin Guarini, Damon Daunno, Taran Killam, Larry Owens, Lisa Brescia, and more are among the newly announced cast members.
As previously reported, among the creatives bringing new work to the series are Margaret Cho, Amber Ruffin, Jim Dale, Adam Chanler-Berat, Grace McLean, Bryce Pinkham, Rona Siddiqui, and more.
Cho will bring a new solo show titled Mommy, A One Woman Cho, featuring additional material by Leah Nanako Winkler. Described in press notes as "a work of fiction," the piece will see the comedian sharing all of the things she wishes her mother had actually said. Leigh Silverman and Seonjae Kim are co-directing, with the presentation set for July 19 at Fusco Recital Hall.
Ruffin's new project is a musical titled Bigfoot, about a small town whose mayor blames all problems on the famously elusive creature rather than his own ineptitude. Ruffin is directing and has penned the lyrics to David Schmoll (Second City)'s music, and is co-writing the book with Mystery Science Theater 3000's Kevin Sciretta. The presentation is set for July 21 at the Nelly Goletti Theatre. The cast will feature Justin Guarini (Once Upon A One More Time), with Taran Killam (Spamalot), Janelle McDermoth (We’re Gonna Die), Larry Owens (A Strange Loop), and more.
Game Night, a dance and spoken word piece following seven friends who gather for a night of games that may change their friend group's future, will be presented July 26 and 27 in the Nelly Goletti Theatre. The piece is co-created by Shanessa Sweeney and Ray Mercer, with Sweeney writing the piece, Bongi Duma providing music, and Mercer choreographing. Rufus Bonds, Jr. is directing. The cast will feature Andrew Bryant (Revelations), Daniel Gaymon (Cats), Gabrielle Hamilton (Oklahoma!), Ghrai DeVore Stokes (The Little Mermaid), Fana Minea Tesfagiorgis (In the Heights), Sir Brock Warren (Paradise Square), and Darnell Isaiah Williams (Made to Dance in Burning Buildings) as dancers; with the recorded voices of Ngozi Anyanwu (Last of the Love Letters), McKinley Belcher III (Eric), Charlie Hudson III (A Raisin in the Sun), L’Oreal Lampley (The Tempest), Doron JéPaul Mitchell (July Rising), Reynaldo Piniella (Thoughts of a Colored Man), and Shanessa Sweeney (The Resident).
Kate Douglas is working with director Kate Whoriskey on Tulipa, in which its title character (to be played by Jessica Hecht) explores what truly nourishes us against the Dionysian backdrop of 17th century Tulipmania. Stephanie Crousillat will also be in the cast, with the presentation set for August 1 at Fusco Recital Hall.
Maylis deKarangal's novel Réparer les Vivants is getting a musical adaptation with The Heart, to be presented August 2-3 at the Nelly Goletti Theatre. The piece features a book and additional lyrics by The Great Gatsby scribe Kait Kerrigan and music and lyrics by Anne Eisendrath and Ian Eisendrath. Christopher Ashley (Come From Away) is directing the work, which tracks 24 hours in the life of a dying man's heart and a woman who gets a second chance at life. The cast will include the previously reported Heidi Blickenstaff (Jagged Little Pill), Miguel Cervantes (Hamilton), Drew Gehling (Almost Famous), Gizel Jimenez (Cornelia Street), Jay Armstrong Johnson (Parade), Taylor Iman Jones (Six: The Musical), Zachary Noah Piser (KPOP), and Wren Rivera, with Lisa Brescia (Dear Evan Hansen) joining.
Adam Chanler-Berat and Grace McLean will develop After Peter August 3 in Fusco Recital Hall. Chanler-Berat and McLean have penned the new work, which will feature music and lyrics by McLean and direction by Tyler Thomas. After Peter follows a theatremaker working to finish a piece after her collaborator dies suddenly. The cast is set to include Kyle Beltran (American Rust) and Marin Ireland (Spain), along with musician Erica Swindell.
The season will close with Dignity, Always Dignity, co-created by Zack Fine, Bryce Pinkham, Kirya Traber, and Rona Siddiqui. Pinkham will star in the work, in which a literally washed-up performer attempts to put up one last show before rising waters swallow him up while stranded on a deserted island. The presentation will be given August 4 at Fusco Recital Hall.
Also planned for the upcoming season are a new solo show written and performed by Jim Dale, Living With Laughter, going up July 18.
Well Well Well, a Brant Russell-penned play about the line between love and enabling, to be directed by Jaki Bradley July 20, will feature Lachlan Watson and more.
Delta Rae's The Ninth Woman, directed by Logan Vaughn, centered on Puritan witch trials, and presented July 20, will feature all six members of the band Delta Rae, including Ian Hölljes, Eric Hölljes, Brittany Hölljes, Elizabeth Hopkins, Mike McKee and Grant Emerson; as well as Tanner Calicutt, Sandra Okuboyejo, and more.
Kate Walbert's Genius, presented July 25, directed by Sheryl Kaller, and set at a dinner party between two artist couples will feature Mark Linn-Baker (The Music Man), Damon Daunno (Oklahoma!), and more.
Ngozi Anyanwu's the monsters, a story of love between siblings and MMA presented July 27, will feature Okieriete Onaodowan (Hamilton) and Aigner Mizzelle (Chicken & Biscuits).
Stacy Osei-Kuffour's Basement, IL, about a Midwestern family's alleged buried secret and presented July 28, will feature Donovan Louis Bazemore (The Lion King), MaYaa Boateng (Exception to the Rule), Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (Clipped), Naomi Lorrain (Behind the Sheet), Roslyn Ruff (The Skin of Our Teeth), Keith Randolph Smith (The Night of the Iguana), and more.
The summer season will also feature new works from individual artists including Zoe Sarnak (The Lonely Few), Brian Feinstein & Eric Garcia, Julian Hornik & Ryan Dobrin, and Jerron Herman & Austin Regan. NYSAF will also stage Thea Hopkins and Daniel Gewertz's An American Ghost Dance, a one act play presented through the company's Indigenous Voices of the Northeast Residency.
For tickets and more information, visit NewYorkStageandFilm.org.
