A slew of casting notices have been released by area theaters in the last 24 hours or so, including everything from this month's IGNITION Festival of New Plays at Victory Gardens to the entire upcoming season at Writers Theatre.
IGNITION, which starts a week from today, features readings of seven new plays. Confessions of a P.I.M.P., written by André de Shields, will feature the author along with Kimberly Lawson, Donica Lynn, Tony Mhoon and Robert Reddrick. The cast of Madhuri Shekar's Queen includes Anjali Bhimani, Amanda Drinkall, Derek Hasenstab and Adam Poss, while A. Zell Williams's Slay & Eat stars Jen Coombs, Tiffany Cox, Shanesia Davis, Eric Lynch, Jacqueline Williams and Alfred Wilson. Jose Rivera's The Last Book of Homer features Ramon Camin, Ricardo Gutierrez, Eddie Martinez and Marvin Quijada; solo show Muthaland is written and performed by Minita Gandhi. Julia Cho's new work Office Hour will star McKenzie Chinn, Shane Kenyon, Sandra Oh and Alec Silver, while Sadie River’s Drag Ball on the Lawn, a two-hander by Basil Kreimendahl, features Stephen Louis Grush and Mary Williamson. RSVP for the free readings at Victory Gardens's website.
Emily Tate, Peter Meadows, Patrese McClain, Shane Kenyon, Christopher Sheard and Robert Spencer
Newcomer Windy City Playhouse revealed casting for its third production, Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight by Peter Ackerman. Directed by William Brown and running August 12–October 4, the relationship comedy will star Emily Tate, Peter Meadows, Patrese McClain, Shane Kenyon, Chris Sheard and Robert Spencer.
Claire Reinhart and Siobhan Reddy-Best in a promotional image for In Love and Warcraft at Halcyon TheatrePhotograph: Tony Adams
Halcyon Theatre also announced casting for its production of In Love and Warcraft, a Chicago premiere by Madhuri Shekar directed by Tlaloc Rivas. The show will feature Siobhan Reddy-Best, Claire Reinhart, Brian Bradford, Kroydell Galima, Allyce Torres and Michael Turrentine; it runs August 13–September 20. Halcyon also said that its subsequent production, Charise Castro Smith's Estrella Cruz (the junkyard queen), will be directed by Joanie Schultz; casting remains to be announced.
Rendering of Writers Theatre's new home
Glencoe's Writers Theatre announced complete casting for all four shows of its 2015–16 season, which marks the opening of the company's new Studio Gang–designed facility. The fall/winter show, Jordan Harrison's 2015 Pulitzer finalist Marjorie Prime, will be performed at Writers's Books on Vernon space October 21–February 21; Kimberly Senior directs a cast that includes Aaron Todd Douglas (Jon), Kate Fry (Tess), Erik Hellman (Walter) and Mary Ann Thebus (Marjorie).
The new building opens with artistic director Michael Halberstam staging Tom Stoppard's Arcadia in the mainstage March 16–April 24, with an all-star cast: Greg Matthew Anderson (Septimus Hodge), Chaon Cross (Lady Croom), Kate Fry (Hannah Jarvis), Torrey Hanson (Jellaby), Nathan Hosner (Captain Brice), Callie Johnson (Chloe Coverly), Scott Parkinson (Bernard Nightingale), Gabriel Ruiz (Richard Noakes), Alistair Sewell (Gus Coverly/Augustus Coverly), Christopher Sheard (Valentine Coverly), Elizabeth Stenholt (Thomasina Coverly) and Rod Thomas (Ezra Chater).
In the theater's new studio space, the Second City collaboration Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf: A Parody (April 27–July 10) will have a cast of Jennifer Engstrom (Blanche DuBois), Sean Fortunato (The Stage Manager), Marc Grapey (Willy Loman), John Hoogenakker (George), Michael Perez (Stanley Kowalski) and Karen Janes Woditsch (Martha).
Back in the mainstage, the Stephen Sondheim musical Company will feature Thom Miller (Bobby), Bernard Balbot (Paul), Jessie Fisher (April), Allison Hendrix (Amy), James Earl Jones II (Harry), Patrick Martin (David), Christine Mild (Marta), Chelsea Morgan (Kathy), Lia Mortensen (Joanne), Blair Robertson (Jenny), Alexis J. Rogers (Sarah), Gabriel Ruiz (Peter), Patrick Sarb (Larry) and Tiffany Scott (Susan). William Brown directs for a June 15–July 24 run.