Alexandra Silber, Frances Ruffelle & More Set for NELL GWYNN Reading

The Acting Company (Founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley; Ian Belknap, Artistic Director; Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, Executive Director) announced casting today for the next reading in the 23rd John McDonald Salon Reading Series, Jessica Swale's Olivier Award-winning, music-filled comedy Nell Gwynn. The reading will take place on Monday, June 24 at 7 PM at the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 W. 42nd Street, New York, NY). Tickets are available now online at www.theactingcompany.org.

Directed by Alan Paul, Nell Gwynn will star Alexandra Silber (Fiddler on the Roof, Master Class) in the title role, alongside Tony Award winner Frances Ruffelle (Les Misérables) as Queen Catherine/Old Ma Gwynn, Tony and Olivier Award nominee Michael Hayden (All My Sons; Carousel) as King Charles II, Lora Lee Gayer (Holiday Inn) as Lady Castlemaine/Louise De Keroualle, Clifton Duncan (The Play that Goes Wrong) as Charles Hart and Tony nominee Veanne Cox (Company) as Nancy. Acting Company alumni Zachary Fine (China Doll) and Joshua Johnston (The Acting Company's Hamlet) will also join the cast, in the roles of Ned Spigget and John Dryden, respectively. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

In 1660 London, Nell Gwynn rises from the Coal Yard Alley to fame as the first celebrated woman of the English Stage. In an era when women are considered second-class citizens, will Nell prevail against the trappings of her time? The 2016 Olivier Award winner for Best New Comedy, NellGwynn will be seen for the first time in New York City in this Acting Company reading.

The John McDonald Salon Reading Series will continue with Nambi E. Kelley's Jazz, from the novel by Toni Morrison, on August 6, and an original evening of collected letters curated by Dakin Matthews and Devin Brain, Letters from Prison, on August 13, both playing at the Duke on 42nd Street, 229 W. 42nd Street.

Single tickets for the Reading Series are on sale now, priced from $15-$35 for general admission seating, available online atwww.theactingcompany.org, or by phone at 212-258-3111.

The Acting Company's 2019 repertory season will include the New York premiere of NATIVE SON, adapted from Richard Wright's book by Nambi E. Kelley and directed by Seret Scott, and William Shakespeare's MEASURE FOR MEASURE, directed by Janet Zarish, performing in rotating repertory July 14 through August 24 at The Duke on 42nd Street. Subscriptions and single tickets for the 2019 The Acting Company repertory productions are on sale now.

The John McDonald Salon Series presents works that are thematically linked to the repertory season, rarely produced, or offer a first opportunity to see new plays and works being considered for future production. Reading casts feature a range of veteran Acting Company alumni and Broadway luminaries led by some of the theater's most celebrated directors. Recent highlights include Present Laughter, starring Kevin Kline in a precursor to his Tony Award-winning Broadway run, and Marcus Gardley's The House That Will Not Stand, seen subsequently in an Audelco Award-winning run at New York Theater Workshop featuring most of the same cast.

The Acting Company's 2019 season is made possible is part by the National Endowment for the Arts' Art Works Program, the National Endowment for the Arts' Shakespeare in American Communities Program, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Foundation support is provided by the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Shubert Foundation, the Morris & Alma Schapiro Fund, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the Axe-Houghton Foundation, the Howard Bayne Fund, Renascence Fund at Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors, Actor's Equity Foundation, the Susan and Russell Holdstein Foundation, Lucille Lortel Foundation, Dorothy Strelsin Foundation, Dorothea Leonhardt Foundation, and Marquis George MacDonald Foundation.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos