Cast And Creative Team Set for EMPTY RIDE World Premiere at The Old Globe

The Old Globe has revealed the full cast and creative team for the Globe-commissioned world premiere of Empty Ride by San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award-winning playwright Keiko Green (The Old Globe's Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play). Sivan Battat (Playwrights Horizons' In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot) directs this funny and poignant story that explores the uncanny ways that love can transcend loss. Performances begin February 8 and run through March 2, 2025, with the opening on Thursday, Feb. 13 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre.

Empty Ride is a major new American play that first launched in the 2024 Powers New Voices Festival at The Old Globe. Kisa, a painter in Paris, returns to her small Japanese hometown after the 2011 tsunami to help her ailing father by driving his taxi cab. But as she navigates the winding streets and transports her eccentric passengers, she is haunted by the supernatural remnants of what the floodwaters left behind.

"Keiko Green is one of the most exciting playwrights bursting onto the American scene right now, and her newest play Empty Ride is a stunner in all the best ways," said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "From the moment I read it I knew the Globe should produce it. Keiko transports us to a part of Japan that few outside that country know, and there she immerses us in a story that's funny, touching, and immensely powerful. It's an honor to bring it to life, especially under the guidance of Sivan Battat, a brilliant director who, like Keiko, is on a meteoric rise. The cast coming to San Diego to produce this play is top-notch and will bring to the Globe a memorable and special evening."

The cast of Empty Ride includes Michele Selene Ang as Kisa (Netflix's 13 Reasons Why), Major Curda as Toru (Broadway's The Little Mermaid), Jojo Gonzalez as Isamu (Off-Broadway's The Romance of Magno Rubio - Obie Award), Jully Lee as Sachiko (Broadway's KPOP), and David Rosenberg as Alex (Broadway's Death of a Salesman).

Empty Ride understudies include Stephanie Hinck, Justin Lang, Susane Lee, and Akoni Steinmann.

Also joining Green and Battat as part of the creative team are Adam Rigg (Scenic Design); Izumi Inaba (Costume Design); Mextly Couzin (Lighting Design); Avi Amon (Original Music and Sound Design); Caparelliotis Casting (Casting); and Chandra R.M. Anthenill (Production Stage Manager).

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