ADDITIONAL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR ARENA STAGE 2016/17 SEASON
EDWARD GERO & JACK WILLIS SQUARE OFF IN THE LITTLE FOXES,
KATE ROCKWELL & ANN ARVIA JOIN CAROUSEL
AND CHRISTOPHER DONAHUE & JAMIE ABELSON RETURN TO MOBY DICK
SINGLE TICKETS FOR FULL 10-SHOW SEASON ON SALE NOW
(Washington, D.C.) Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces select cast members for upcoming productions of The Little Foxes, Carousel and Moby Dick as single tickets for the company’s full 2016/17 season go on sale.
Powerhouse actors Edward Gero and Jack Willis return to Arena Stage for The Little Foxes. Gero, a four-time Helen Hayes Award winner most recently seen at Arena as Antonin Scalia in The Originalist, and Willis, returning for his seventh production at Arena following last season’s All the Way and Sweat, tackle the roles of Benjamin Hubbard and Horace Giddens, respectively. They star opposite the previously announced Emmy Award winner Marg Helgenberger (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) as Regina Giddens. The Little Foxes runs September 23-October 30, 2016 under the direction of Kyle Donnelly.
The fall also features the return of the previously announced Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Kathleen Turner in The Year of Magical Thinking. Gaye Taylor Upchurch directs this adaption of Joan Didion’s award-winning memoir, which runs October 7-November 20, 2016. The Year of Magical Thinking is generously sponsored by Andrew R. Ammerman.
Broadway veteran Kate Rockwell (Rock of Ages, Bring It On: The Musical, Hair, Legally Blonde) makes her Arena Stage debut as Carrie Pipperidge in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved Carousel. Ann Arvia, who charmed audiences as Golde in Arena’s 2014 production of Fiddler on the Roof, returns to play Nettie Fowler, joining the previously announced Nicholas Rodriguez as Billy Bigelow and E. Faye Butler as Mrs. Mullin. Carousel runs October 28-December 24, 2016 under the direction of Molly Smith and is generously sponsored by GEICO. Anonymous support is also provided for Carousel.
Obie Award winner Christopher Donahue (Broadway’s Metamorphoses) and Jamie Abelson (Lookingglass’ Peter Pan) reprise their roles in Lookingglass Theatre Company’s Moby Dick, as Ahab and Ishmael, respectively. Adapted and directed by David Catlin, Moby Dick is a co-production with the Alliance Theatre and South Coast Repertory and runs November 18-December 24, 2016. Moby Dick is generously sponsored by Joan and David Maxwell.
To purchase tickets, visit arenastage.org or call 202-488-3300.
Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
Biographies
Edward Gero (Benjamin Hubbard)’s Arena Stage credits include Antonin Scalia in The Originalist and Mark Rothko in Red. He is a four-time Helen Hayes winner and 15-time nominee. Regional credits include Red and Gloucester in King Lear (Goodman); Papa/Sims in The Nether (Woolly Mammoth); Tommy in The Night Alive (Round House); the title role of Sweeney Todd (Signature Theatre); Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (Ford’s Theatre); American Buffalo, Shining City and Skylight (Helen Hayes Award, Studio Theatre). In 30 seasons with Shakespeare Theatre Company, his 70 roles include Helen Hayes-winning turns in Henry IV, Richard II and Macbeth. Film/TV credits include House of Cards, TURN: Washington’s Spies, Die Hard 2, Striking Distance and narrations for Discovery Channel and PBS. He is a Ten Chimneys 2015 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow and associate professor of theater, George Mason University.
Jack Willis (Horace Giddens)’s Arena Stage credits include All the Way, Sweat, Mother Courage and Her Children, Book of Days, Of Mice and Men and Agamemnon and His Daughters. Broadway credits include Julius Caesar, The Crucible, Art and The Old Neighborhood. Off-Broadway credits include The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, World of Mirth, The Iphigenia Cycle and Valhalla. He has appeared in more than 200 productions worldwide and been a company member at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theater, Trinity Repertory Company and Dallas Theater Center. Film/TV credits include Toy Story 3, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Cradle Will Rock, The Out-of-Towners, Love Hurts, I Come in Peace, Problem Child, Law & Order, Ed and Dallas. Jack was awarded a Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship through the Ten Chimneys Foundation.
Kate Rockwell (Carrie Pipperidge) makes her Arena Stage debut. Broadway credits include Skylar in Bring It On: The Musical (original broadcast cast), Margot in Legally Blonde, Sherrie in Rock of Ages and Hair. She has travelled the country in three first national tours and performed regionally at The Muny, La Jolla Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre and others. Spot her on camera in Deadbeat and Sex and the City (film). Her solo show, Back To My Roots, debuted in New York in 2015. Represented by KMR and proud AEA member. Follow her on Twitter & Instagram: @KateRockwellNYC.
Ann Arvia (Nettie Fowler) was last seen at Arena Stage as Golde in Fiddler on the Roof. Washington audiences also saw her in Les Misérables (National Theatre). On Broadway, she played the iconic Bird Woman in Mary Poppins, Madame Thenardier in Les Misérables and appeared in Beauty and the Beast. Off-Broadway saw her in the New York premiere of Time and Again (Manhattan Theatre Club). She also toured extensively in both Les Misérables and Ragtime. Regional credits include Meg in Damn Yankees and Marie in The Most Happy Fella (Goodspeed) and Mrs. Paroo in The Music Man (Cape Playhouse). Ann will kick off 2017 with the Off-Broadway premiere of the new Kander/Pierce musical Kid Victory. www.annarvia.net
Christopher Donahue (Ahab)’s New York credits include Metamorphoses (Circle in the Square), Monster (Obie Award, Classic Stage Company), Lincoln Center’s Serious Fun! Festival, Arabian Nights (Manhattan Theatre Club), Measure for Measure (NYSF, Delacorte Theater), Dogeaters (The Public) and The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (Second Stage). He has also performed at Arden Theatre Company, American Repertory, Boston Lyric Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Court Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Lookingglass Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory, Remains Theatre, Seattle Repertory, The Smith Center (Las Vegas), Stories on Stage, Two River Theater, Weston Playhouse and Yale Repertory.
Jamie Abelson (Ishmael) makes his Arena Stage debut. Recent theater credits include Moby Dick and Peter Pan (Lookingglass Theatre), Red Kite Blue Sky (Chicago Children’s Theatre), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Northlight), Eurydice (Victory Gardens), Scenes from the Big Picture (Irish Theatre of Chicago), As Told by the Vivian Girls (dog & pony), columbinus (Raven Theatre) and Hope Springs Infernal and Dorian (House Theatre). Jamie received his B.F.A. in drama from the Tisch School at NYU.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Director Edgar Dobie, is a national center dedicated to American voices and artists. Arena Stage produces plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays through the American Voices New Play Institute. Arena Stage impacts the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement. Now in its seventh decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000. arenastage.org
