Raul Esparza, Alice Ripley, and More Announced for Vassar's Powerhouse Season

Vassar & New York Stage and Film have announced the next wave of casting for the highly anticipated 34th Powerhouse Season in Poughkeepsie, NY, which starts this Friday, June 22 and runs through Sunday, July 29. Actors joining the annual summer play development incubator include Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza, Tony Award winner Alice Ripley, Tony Award nominee Deneé Benton, Tony Award nominee Lauren Worsham, Tony Award nominee Alex Brightman, Noah Galvin, Frankie J. Alvarez, Olivier Award Winner Lesli Margherita, Michael Esper, and Carson Elrod. For tickets and more information on the season, visit powerhouse.vassar.edu/season/

The mainstage production of The Waves, the musical adapted from the novel by Virginia Woolf with book by Lisa Peterson, music and lyrics by David Bucknam, additional music by Adam Gwon, and direction by Ms. Peterson will feature Raúl Esparza who also serves as creative consultant for the production, Ken Barnett, Eleasha Gamble,Douglas Lyons, Alice Ripley, and Lauren Worsham. The Waves will play Thursday, July 19 through Sunday, July 29 at the Powerhouse Theater.

Six childhood friends and their shifting relationships come vibrantly to life in this captivating chamber musical inspired by Virginia Woolf's celebrated novel. Over the course of one day - or is it a lifetime? - The Waves illuminates the interior yearnings, ambitions, and defeats of these extraordinary individuals with stirring choral music and Woolf's signature text. Writer and director Lisa Peterson (An Iliad) and composer Adam Gwon (Ordinary Days) revisit and reimagine Bucknam and Peterson's lush and layered musical, which premiered Off-Broadway over thirty years ago.

The workshop presentation of Alice By Heart, the new musical with book by Steven Sater and Jessie Nelson, music by Duncan Sheik, lyrics by Mr. Sater, and directed by Ms. Nelson will star Alex Brightman, Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Megan Masako Haley, Zachary Infante, Gizel Jiménez, J. Quinton Johnson, Lesli Margherita, Heath Saunders, and Don Stephenson. Alice By Heart will play Thursday, July 5 through Saturday, July 7 at the Martel Theater.

When the madness of the world is too much to bear, we take refuge in the stories we love. In the rubble of the London Blitz, Alice Spencer's budding teen life is turned upside down, and she escapes with her childhood friend Alfred into their most cherished book. They journey down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, finding first love, loss, and the courage to move forward, and their imaginations transform even the harshest circumstances. Tony and Grammy® Award-winning creators of Spring Awakening, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, reunite for their new musical inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, directed and co-written by Jessie Nelson (Waitress).

Casting for Readings Festival #1, which runs Friday, June 22 through Sunday, June 24 will feature:

Playwright Halley Feiffer will appear in the reading of her new play The Pain of My Belligerence (June 22 at 8 PM) under the direction of Trip Cullman. The reading will also feature Michael Esper, Vanessa Kai, and Amaya Press.

Casting for Lick O'The Knife (June 23 at 2 PM) by Jackie Roberts, directed by Kent Gash will include McKinley Belcher, Carson Elrod, Walker Jones, Carolyn Michelle Smith, J.D. Mollison, and Christina Pumeriega.

On That Day in Amsterdam (June 23 at 8 PM) by Clarence Coo, directed by Kareem Fahmy will star Frankie J. Alvarez, Julian Cihi, James Cusati-Moyer, Rocky Vega, and Justin Walker White.

The new play Milk and Honey (June 24 at 2 PM) by rupi kaur, based on her best-selling book of poetry, directed by Leah C. Gardiner will include Dahlia Azama, Denée Benton, Mahira Kakkar, Susannah Perkins, and Nadine Malouf.

The Hole (June 24 at 5 PM), by Sarah Gancher, directed by Danya Taymor will feature Betsy Aidem, Brittany Allen, Heidi Armbruster, Marc Bovino, Jacob Faunce,Joel Marsh Garland, and Andy Grotelueschen.

Casting for The Connector, Little Orphan Danny, Cowboy Bob, India Pale Ale, Our Country, Readings Festival #2 and more will be announced shortly. Casting for Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater is by Telsey + Company.

As previously announced, Radio Island, the new play by Liza Birkenmeier, directed by Jaki Bradley, will star Pascale Armand, Adina Verson, Maryann Plunkett,Stephen Tyrone Williams, Kelly AuCoin, and Birgit Huppuch. The production will play Thursday, June 28 through Sunday, July 8 at the Powerhouse Theater. The creative team includes Daniel Zimmerman (set design), Tilly Grimes (costume design), Bradley King (lighting design), and Broken Chord (sound design).

Photo Credit: Raul Esparza by Walter McBride; Alice Ripley by Jennifer Broski