Casting Complete for McCarter's ECLIPSED, Run Begins 1/26

McCarter Theatre Center announces the complete cast for Eclipsed, the Spotlight Production of the theater's 3rd Annual In-Festival of new works. Written by Obie Award-winning actress and playwright Danai Gurira and directed by Liesl Tommy, the five-woman play features Pascale Armand, Nikiya Mathis, Keiana Richàrd, Stacey Sargeant, and April Yvette Thompson. Eclipsed runs on Wednesdays through Sundays from January 26 to February 8, 2009 in The Room in the Berlind Theatre (opening night January 31).

Set in war-torn Liberia, Eclipsed offers a chilling, humanizing, and surprisingly funny portrait of transformation and renewal. With wit, compassion, and defiance, this gripping play unearths the wreckage of war and celebrates the women who navigate and survive the most hostile of circumstances. Danai Gurira first introduced excerpts of Eclipsed to McCarter in 2007, followed by a public reading of the work during the 2008 In-Festival. In researching the play, Ms. Gurira traveled to Liberia through a TCG New Generations Grant, which she applied for with McCarter Theatre.

Pascale Armand has been seen in New York at Playwrights Horizons and Manhattan Theatre Club and regionally at numerous theaters including Kansas City Rep, Arena Stage, Yale Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, American Repertory Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville.

A recent graduate of New York University's Graduate Acting program, Nikiya Mathis makes her McCarter debut in Eclipsed. She has appeared in numerous theatrical productions, including The Glass Menagerie, The Continuum Company's Romeo & Juliet, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Sparkle: the Musical, and The Bluest Eye.

Keiana Richàrd was seen on and off-Broadway in Horton Foote's Dividing The Estate, as well as off-Broadway in Ibsen's Ghosts. She has worked with many esteemed directors, including Robert O'Hara (Good Breeding), Darko Tresnjak (La Dispute), and Des McAnuff (La Jolla's The Wiz).

Stacey Sargeant has previously appeared at McCarter in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She performed in the National Tour of Legally Blonde and has been seen in off-Broadway productions including Passing Strange and Two Gentlemen of Verona at The Public Theatre; the City Center Encores! productions of Damn Yankees and Purlie; and George C. Wolfe's Harlem Song.

April Yvette Thompson recently received Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Broadway.com Audience, AUDELCO, and Lucille Lortel Award nominations for the world premiere of her solo play Liberty City (which she performed and co-wrote) at New York Theatre Workshop. She can also be seen in the upcoming feature films Phoebe in Wonderland and The Accidental Husband. Ms. Thompson starred in the world premiere of Seret Scott's Second Line at Passage Theatre in Trenton.

Playwright and actress Danai Gurira emerged explosively on the theatrical scene with In the Continuum, her Obie Award-winning piece on women and AIDS, which she created and performed with Nikkole Salter. The piece premiered off-Broadway in 2006 before subsequently touring and captivating audiences nationally and internationally. For that work, she received an Obie Award, a John Gassner Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Helen Hayes Award for Best Actress in a Play. She also stars alongside Richard Jenkins in the acclaimed 2008 film The Visitor.

A native of Cape Town, South Africa, Liesl Tommy directed Danai Gurira's landmark play In the Continuum at Playmakers Rep. She has also directed productions of Tracey Scott Wilson's The Good Negro (Dallas Theater Center and Sundance) and Lydia R. Diamond's Stick Fly (Contemporary American Theater Festival), as well as The Africa Trilogy project at Volcano Theatre. Ms. Tommy is the recipient of an NEA/TCG Directors Grant and a New York Theatre Workshop Casting/Directing Fellowship and is a member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab and the Lincoln Center Director's Lab.

McCarter's In-Festival, a weeklong play new play series featuring one spotlight production as well as of free readings and special events, allows writers, composers, and theater-makers to take their work to the next level by providing these artists with a crucial component to the development of their works-in-progress: an audience. Other 2009 In-Festival events will include Wild Nights! Two One-Act Plays by Princeton author Joyce Carol Oates on Monday, January 26 at 7:30 pm in the Berlind Theatre and In Their Own Voices, an evening of award-winning writers and composers reading and performing excerpts from their own works-in-progress, in The Room on Monday, February 2 at 7 pm.

Eclipsed runs in The Room in the Berlind Theatre from January 29-February 8 (Wednesdays through Sundays only). Tickets for Eclipsed are $15, with $5 tickets available for students, and are on sale now. Eclipsed contains adult language and mature themes.

Tickets for all other In-Festival events are free (reservation required). Reservations for free events begin January 12 and are limited to 4 tickets per individual. Theatergoers are asked to arrive early; reservations for free events will be released 10 minutes before each performance.

For tickets, reservations, or more information, call 609-258-2787 or visit www.mccarter.org

2009 IN-FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Monday, January 26 - Wild Nights!, 7:30 pm
Thursday, January 29 - Eclipsed, 7 pm - Preview #1
Friday, January 30 - Eclipsed, 7 pm - Preview #2
Saturday, January 31 - Eclipsed, 7 pm - Opening Night
Sunday, February 1 - Eclipsed, 2:30 pm
Monday, February 2 - In Their Own Voices, 7 pm
Wednesday, February 4 - Eclipsed, 7 pm
Thursday, February 5 - Eclipsed, 7 pm
Friday, February 6 - Eclipsed, 7 pm
Saturday, February 7 - Eclipsed, 2 pm & 7 pm
Sunday, February 8 - Eclipsed, 2:30 pm

 

 

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