CSC Announces New Lineup of Conversation-and-Performance Events with ASSASSINS Cast

Classic Stage Company today announced a new lineup of participants in the free online version of its signature series Classic Conversations, hosted by John Doyle and focused on Doyle's highly anticipated, postponed production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins.

Upcoming participants in the series, which during the pandemic brings audiences into great actor-singers' homes, include Wesley Taylor (Indoor Boys, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Broadway Musical, The Addams Family), on June 11; Andy Grotelueschen (Tootsie, Twelfth Night at CSC), on June 18; ensemble members Brad Giovanine (The Great Comet, The Awesome 80s Prom), Katrina Yaukey (The Great Comet, Cabaret), Whit K. Lee (Evergreen, "Law & Order: SVU"), and Rob Morrison (Frankenstein, Avenue Q), on June 25; and four-time Tony nominee Judy Kuhn (Fiddler on the Roof, Fun Home, She Loves Me), on July 2.

Classic Conversations, inaugurated in Winter 2018 with an event featuring Raúl Esparza, has quickly become a treasured part of CSC's offerings. Since CSC, in response to the COVID-19 shutdown, reimagined Classic Conversations as a digital series, Doyle has hosted Assassins cast members including three-time Tony nominee Brandon Uranowitz (Burn This, Falsettos), who plays Leon Czolgosz, on April 16; Tony nominee Will Swenson (Hair, Waitress), who portrays Charles Guiteau, on April 23; Adam Chanler-Berat (Peter and the Starcatcher, Next to Normal), who plays John Hinckley, Jr., on April 30; Tavi Gevinson (The Crucible, This Is Our Youth), the production's Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, on Thursday, May 7; Eddie Cooper (The Cradle Will Rock, This Ain't No Disco), The Proprietor, on May 14, Ethan Slater (SpongeBob SquarePants), who plays Lee Harvey Oswald/The Balladeer, on May 21, Steven Pasquale (Bloodline, American Crime Story, American Son), on May 28; and Bianca Horn (The Color Purple, The Play That Goes Wrong), who plays Emma Goldman, on June 4.

CSC plans to present Assassins when it is safe to reconvene at the theater. The production completes the trilogy of Sondheim/Weidman musicals John Doyle has directed. (Doyle has staged their other two collaborations-Pacific Overtures, at CSC in 2017, and Road Show, at The Public Theater in 2008 and London's Menier Chocolate Factory in 2011-to wide acclaim.) Assassins is a journey through the dark side of the American dream that explores the lives of nine men and women who either killed (or tried to kill) one of the Presidents of the United States.