Arena Stage has announced the cast and creative team for its upcoming production of The Age of Innocence, adapted by Karen Zacarías (Native Gardens, Destiny of Desire) from Edith Wharton's novel of the same name. Performances will run February 28-March 30 at Arena's in-the-round Fichandler Stage, with Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif at the helm.
The cast will feature Shereen Ahmed (My Fair Lady) as Ellen, Tony nominee A.J. Shively (Paradise Square) as Newland Archer, and Delphi Borich (Into the Woods) as May.
Joining them will be Regina Aquino (Holiday), Lise Bruneau (Watch on the Rhine), Felicia Curry (Death on the Nile), Natalya Lynette Rathnam (POTUS), Jacob Yeh (The 51st State), Kim Bey (The Little Foxes), Peter Boyer (Holiday), Lilli Hokama (Death on the Nile), Anna Theoni DiGiovanni (Leopoldstadt), Paolo Montalban (Cinderella), Anthony Newfield (1984), and Noah Mutterperl (Look Both Ways). New York casting is by Stephanie Klapper Casting's Stephanie Klapper, and D.C. casting is by Raiyon Hunter.
Set in 1870s New York, The Age of Innocence follows Newland Archer, who grapples with the rigid constraints of privilege, and Countess Ellen Olenska, who battles the suffocating cage of entitlement, desire, and tradition in pursuit of her own destiny. Zacarías' adaptation premiered in 2024 at San Diego's The Old Globe, with Ahmed and Borich starring.
“I am delighted to bring to life Edith Wharton's bitingly funny and haunting love story to my home theater of Arena Stage,” Zacarías said in a statement. “Now is the perfect time to engage in a tale of romantic ideals overrun by the machinations of society, wealth, and power. Hana Sharif's gorgeously lavish production cuts to the quick of Wharton's wit. The Gilded Age was then...and is now.”
“I am ecstatic to be directing Karen Zacarias’ glittering adaptation of The Age of Innocence as my debut on one of the most iconic in-the-round stages in the American theater,” added Sharif. “Karen has tackled Edith Wharton’s magnus opus with immense grace, poetically capturing the passion and intrigue of relationships simmering under the surface in a time of strict societal rules.”
Joining Sharif on the creative team will be set designer Timothy Mackabee (Frozen), costume designer Fabio Toblini (Romeo and Juliet), lighting designer Xavier Pierce (Clybourne Park), composers and sound designers Charles Coes (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Nathan A. Roberts (Golden Shield), wig, hair, and makeup designer Tommy Kurzman (Uncle Vanya), dialect and vocal coach Lisa Nathans (Death on the Nile), stage manager Christi B. Spann, and assistant stage manager Stefania Giron Zuluaga, with dramaturgy by Otis Ramsey-Zöe.
Visit ArenaStage.org for tickets.
