Photo Coverage: Katori Hall's HURT VILLAGE Opens at Signature; Edward Norton & More!

Signature Theatre opened the world premiere production of Katori Hall's HURT VILLAGE, directed by Patricia McGregor last night, February 27. HURT VILLAGE runs through March 18, 2012 and is the inaugural production in the The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at the Company's new home The Pershing Square Signature Center. Broadwayworld was on hand for the opening and brings you photo coverage below!

HURT VILLAGE features Marsha Stephanie Blake (The Merchant of Venice; Joe Turner's Come and Gone), Nicholas Christopher (Rent, In the Heights), Corey Hawkins (Suicide, Incorporated), Charlie Hudson III (The Piano Lesson), Ron Cephas Jones (Gem of the Ocean, The Bridge Project), Joaquina Kalukango (Godspell), Tonya Pinkins (Caroline, or Change; "All My Children"), Saycon Sengbloh (Fela!, Hair) and Lloyd Watts (Treme).

The design team includes David Gallo (Set and Projection Design), Clint Ramos (Costume Design), Sarah Sidman (Lighting Design), Rob Kaplowitz (Sound Design), Cookie Jordan (Hair and Make-Up Design), Kate Wilson (Dialect Coach), Rick Sordelet (Fight Direction), and Luqman Brown (Additional Music). Casting is by Telsey + Company. The Production Stage Manager is Jane Pole and Assistant Stage Manager is Megan J. Alvord.

It's the end of a long summer in Hurt Village, a housing project in Memphis, Tennessee. A government Hope Grant means relocation for many of the project's residents, including Cookie, a thirteen year-old aspiring rapper, along with her mother Crank and great-grandmother Big Mama. As the family prepares to move, Cookie's father Buggy unexpectedly returns from a tour of duty in Iraq. Ravaged by the war, Buggy struggles to find a position in his disintegrating community, along with a place in his daughter's wounded heart. A bold, gritty and devastating work, HURT VILLAGE earned Katori Hall the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, given annually to an outstanding female playwright. HURT VILLAGE has received a 2011 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award from TCG.

For tickets and more information, visit www.signaturetheatre.org.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski

Colman Domingo

Oskar Eustis

Mekhi Phifer, Dule Hill

Nicole Ari Parker, Blair Underwood

Dana Ivey

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Bill Irwin

Lois Smith, David Margulies

Lloyd Watts, Nicholas Christopher, Charlie Hudson III

Lloyd Watts, Nicholas Christopher, Charlie Hudson III, Ron Cephas Jones, Corey Hawkins

Nicholas Christopher

Lloyd Watts

Charlie Hudson III

Nicole Ari Parker, Ron Cephas Jones

Ron Cephas Jones

Corey Hawkins

Saycon Sengbloh

Marsha Stephanie Blake

Marsha Stephanie Blake, Corey Hawkins

Katori Hall, Patricia McGregor

Charles Mee, Edward Norton, Katori Hall, Patricia McGregor

Edward Norton, Charles Mee

Patricia McGregor

Tonya Pinkins

Marsha Stephanie Blake, Joaquina Kulakango, Tonya Pinkins

Tonya Pinkins, Saycon Sengbloh, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Joaquina Kulakango

Joaquina Kulakango

Roger Robinson, Marsha Stephanie Blake

Katori Hall

Erika Mallin, Katori Hall