Photo Coverage: Signature Theatre Celebrates Opening Night of VENUS

Signature Theatre presents Venus, written by Residency One playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and directed by Obie Award-winner Lear deBessonet. BroadwayWorld is taking you inside opening night below!

The cast includes Hannah Cabell (The Father), Tony Award nominee John Ellison Conlee(The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence), Obie Award winner Randy Danson (Love and Information), Adam Green (The Winter's Tale), Birgit Huppuch (The Moors), Obie Award-winner Zainab Jah (Eclipsed), Kevin Mambo (The Color Purple), Patrena Murray(Signature's The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA the Negro Book of the Dead), Reynaldo Piniella (Signature's The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA the Negro Book of the Dead), Julian Rozzell (Signature's The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA the Negro Book of the Dead), and Tony Torn (Latter Days).

Traveling from her home in southern Africa for what she hoped would be a better life, Saartjie Baartman became an unfortunate star on the 19th Century London freak show circuit. This Obie Award-winning play gives vibrant life to the story of Baartman's journey to London, her rise to fame as the "Hottentot Venus," and her eventual relationship with a French scientist. Inspired by the true story of Baartman, Venus is a tragic-carnival, an intense and devastating journey honoring the life of Baartman and examining the way we live and love today.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski

Quiara Alegria Hudes, Alia Jones-Harvey