Sandra Oh, Ann Harada & More to Star in THE WELKIN at Atlantic Theater Company

The complete cast has been revealed for the American premiere of The Welkin, written by Lucy Kirkwood (Tony Award nominee, The Children) and directed by Sarah Benson (Obie Award winner, Fairview) at Atlantic Theater Company. 

The cast of The Welkin will feature b (Toros, American (Tele)visions), Tilly Botsford (Off-Broadway debut), Paige Gilbert (A Raisin In The Sun at the Public; Skin of Our Teeth), Ann Harada (Into the Woods, Avenue Q), Jenn Kidwell (Underground Railroad Game), Mary McCann (Harper Regan, “The Chair”), Emily Cass McDonnell (I’m Revolting, The Thin Place), Mackenzie Mercer (Frozen National Tour), Sandra Oh (“The Sympathizer,” “Quiz Lady”), Dale Soules (“Orange Is The New Black,” Hair), Danny Wolohan (Camelot, To Kill a Mockingbird), and Haley Wong (Mary Gets Hers at MCC). Additional casting will be announced soon.

The Welkin begins performances on Thursday, May 16th, and will open Wednesday, June 12th, for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 30th.

Rural England, 1759. As the country awaits the return of Halley’s comet, a young woman is sentenced to death. When she tries to escape the noose by claiming she is pregnant, twelve ordinary women are gathered to decide whether she is telling the truth. A dark, fierce, funny play about democracy and housework.

The Welkin will feature sets by dots, costumes by Kaye Voyce, lights by Stacey Derosier, sound by Palmer Hefferan, special effects by Jeremy Chernick, hair & wigs by Cookie Jordan, makeup by Gabrielle Vincent, movement by David Neumann, intimacy direction by Crista Marie Jackson, casting by The Telsey Office: Karyn Casl, CSA; Destiny Lilly, CSA. Amanda Spooner will serve as the Production Stage Manager. 

b

(Mary Middleton) acts. They starred Off-Broadway in Toros for Second Stage Theater, American (Tele)visions for New York Theatre Workshop, and Bodies They Ritual for Clubbed Thumb, which were all New York Times Critic’s Picks. Additional Off-Broadway appearances include Seven Deadly Sins for Tectonic Theater Project, Addressless at Rattlestick Theater, and Work Hard Have Fun Make History for Clubbed Thumb. b has been seen on television in “WeCrashed” for Apple TV+, “Let the Right One In” for Showtime, and “Station 19” for ABC. They also played the role of Corey in the pilot “Witch Mountain” for Disney+. b can be heard playing Azera in the hit podcast “Birds of Empire” (QCode), Vanessa Garcia in “Zero Tolerance” (Audible Originals), and Janessa in “Love in Gravity” (Harley & Co). b went to Juilliard.

TILLY BOTSFORD

(Kitty Givens) is an actor and musician from London who recently graduated from LAMDA with an MFA in Professional Acting. She’s thrilled to be making her Off-Broadway debut with Atlantic Theater Company.

Paige Gilbert

(Hannah Rusted) has become one of the most sought-after young actresses on the NY Stage. Most recently starring as ‘Beneatha’ in The Public Theater’s production of A Raisin in the Sun, with Robert O’Hara directing. She was previously seen on Broadway in the Lincoln Center Theater production of The Skin of Our Teeth directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz and made her Broadway debut in the Roundabout production of The Rose Tattoo. Prior to that, she starred in the Drama Desk Award winning School Girls; or The African Mean Girls play as well as the critically acclaimed MCC production ofBLKS.  Film credits include: Late Night and Adam, both official selections of the 2019 Sundance Film festival, Choices. On the small screen she recurred on the Netflix series “Russian Doll,” HBO series “The Deuce,” and “High Maintenance.”

Ann Harada

(Judith Brewer) originated the role of Christmas Eve in Avenue Q on Broadway and the West End. Recently completed the smash Broadway run of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods at the St. James Theatre after originating the role of Jack’s Mother at NY City Center’s Encores! production. Other Broadway credits: Cinderella, 9 to 5, M Butterfly, Seussical, Les Misérables. Selected Off-Broadway: Fairycakes, Emojiland, Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson, Pacific Overtures (CSC), Stuffed (WP), Brooklynite (Vineyard), and Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Regionally: Babbitt (LaJolla Playhouse), Holiday Inn (Paper Mill), New World (Bucks County Playhouse), Matilda, 42nd Street, Gypsy, and Mamma Mia (MUNY). Ann appears in Disney’s Enchanted sequel, Disenchanted. Other films include Jerry & Marge Go Large, Youth in Oregon, Sisters, Admission, and Hope Springs. She was seen starring in the original Apple TV+ musical miniseries “Schmigadoon!” and the sequel “Schimagadoon 2.” Other TV​: “Blue Eye Samurai,” “Gossip Girl,” “The Flight Attendant,” “Alma’s Way,” “New Amsterdam,” “Gotham,” “Blue Bloods” (recurring), “Younger,” “Jim Gaffigan Show,” “Search Party,” “The Good Wife,” “Smash,” “30 Rock,” “House of Cards,” and “Master of None.” ​

JENN KIDWELL

(Ann Lavender). Recent original works – we come to collect (Woolly Mammoth Weissberg Commission), Those With 2 Clocks (The Wilma Theater), Underground Railroad Game (2017 Obie for Best New American Theatre Work; 2018 Edinburgh Fringe First Award).

Recent works – Ocean Filibuster (PearlDamour), Eternal Life Part 1, Fat Ham (2021 film), Antigone (The Wilma Theater), Syllabus for Black Love, Black Body Amnesia (jaamil olawole kosoko), Home (Geoff Sobelle; 2018 Bessie Award), Adrienne Truscott’s Still Asking for It (Joe’s Pub), I Understand Everything Better (David Neumann/abg; 2015 Bessie Award), Being/With, The Octopus and the Interview (Nichole Canuso Dance Company), Superterranean, Fire Burns Hot: Little Reno!, I Promised Myself to Live Faster, 99 Break-Ups (PITC). 2020 Visiting Artist Duke University, 2021 Visiting Artist UPenn. 2013 TCG/Fox Resident Actor Fellowship, 2015, 2021 Leeway Foundation Art & Change Grant, 2016 Pew Fellow, 2017 Independence Fellowship, 2020 Ruthie Award & Hodder Fund Grant, 2023 FCA Fellow.

Mary McCann

(Charlotte Cary) is a founding member of Atlantic Theater Company. Atlantic productions include: On the Shore of the Wide World, Harper Regan (title role) and Bluebird (with Simon Russell Beale) by Simon Stephens, Ghost Stories, Our New Girl and Offices and Almost an Evening by Ethan Coen. Irish Reperatory Theatre: A Touch of the Poet and The Weir. Shadowland Stages: Off Peak, God of Carnage. TV: “The Chair” (Netflix), “Dirty John,” “Jessica Jones,” “Madame Secretary,” “Elementary,” “The Blacklist,” “Law and Order,” “Law and Order Special Victims Unit” (recurring), “Boardwalk Empire” (recurring), “Person of Interest,” “A Gifted Man,” “Sex and the City.” Film: Frathaze, Caught (Lifetime), Little Children, Choke, Phil Spector, It Must be Love, and more. Broadway: The Old Neighborhood, Our Town with Spalding Gray, and Search and Destroy. Other Off-Broadway: Oleanna (Orpheum Theater), Uncommon Women and Others (Second Stage), Boys’ Life (Lincoln Center). Mary is the Director of the Atlantic Acting School in NYC.

Emily Cass McDonnell

(Helen Ludlow) is returning to Atlantic after performing in I’m Revolting. Emily has originated roles in works by Annie Baker, Lucas Hnath, Wallace Shaun, Adam Rapp, Richard Maxwell, and the novelist Denis Johnson. Some theater credits include Bodies They Ritual at Clubbed Thumb, The Thin Place at Playwrights Horizons in New York and the Humana Festival, The Antipodes at Signature Theatre, Tin Cat Shoes at Clubbed Thumb, Grasses of a Thousand Colors at The Public Theater and The Royal Court Theatre, Ode to the Man Who Kneels and North Atlantic at The Performing Garage, The Master Builder directed by Andre Gregory. Some film and TV credits recently: Marriage Story, The Man in the Woods, “Mildred Pierce,” Ben is Back, Men Go To Battle, and Johnathan Demme's A Master Builder, Ricki and the Flash. Upcoming: Emily also coaches actors and writers using dreams an the unconscious as creative exploration, influenced by her teacher Kim Gillingham. emilycassmcdonnellcoaching.com

Mackenzie Mercer

(Alice Wax/Katy Luke) is thrilled to join The Welkin and work alongside this fabulous cast and crew. Atlantic Theater Company debut! Select credits: Frozen National Tour (Young Elsa), Les Misérables National Tour (Little Cosette), The Grinch Who Stole Christmas National Tour (Cindy Lou Who), A Christmas Carol, WPPAC (Grace). Web: “Kid Chef Bakes” (Host). VO: “Bea’s Block,” “Karma's World 2D.” @mackenziemercerofficial

Sandra Oh

(Lizzy Luke) hails from Ottawa, Canada and appeared in her first play The Canada Goose at age ten. After three years at The National Theatre School of Canada, she landed the title role in the CBC film The Diary of Evelyn Lau (Gemini nomination/Best Actress and the Cannes FIPA d’Or for Best Actress). On stage, Oh starred in Death and the Maiden (Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater), Satellites (World Premiere at The Public Theater, playwright Diana Son), Dogeaters (La Jolla Playhouse, playwright Jessica Hagedorn), Stop Kiss (The Public Theater, playwright Diana Son), Hansol Jung's Wild Goose Dreams (The Public Theater), and a New York performance of The Vagina Monologues. Currently starring in Hulu’s film Quiz Lady, Oh will be seen this April in HBO/A24’s limited series adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Sympathizer”. Television credits: ten seasons as Dr. Cristina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy” (Golden Globe Award/SAG Award/Emmy nominations), “The Chair” (also Executive Produced), and four seasons of “Killing Eve” (also Executive Produced, Golden Globe Award/SAG Award/Critics Choice Award/Emmy Award nominations), “Arli$$” (HBO), and “Thorne: Scaredy Cat” (UK). Film credits: Sideways, Double Happiness, Under The Tuscan Sun, The Princess Diaries, Dancing at the Blue Iguana, Last Night, Catfight, Defendor, Blindness, The Night Listener, For Your Consideration, Long Life Happiness and Prosperity, Sorry Hater, Ramona and Beezus, The Red Violin, and The Same Storm. Animated film credits Turning Red, Over The Moon, Raya and the Last Dragon, Window Horses, and The Tiger’s Apprentice.

Dale Soules

(Sarah Smith). Broadway: Hair (debut), Dude, The Magic Show (co-starring with Doug Henning and introducing Stephen Schwartz’s songs “Lion Tamer” and “West End Avenue”), The Crucible (Richard Eyre dir.), Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Grey Gardens, Hands on A Hardbody. Her Off-Broadway, Regional, and International credits are extensive. Most recently The Lucky Star (Berta & Arnold, 59E59). Some favorites: Marsha Norman’s Getting Out (Arlene), I Remember Mama (Papa, Arnie, Dr., all women over 60, The Transport Group), Shows For Days (Sid, with Patti LuPone & Michael Urie, LCT), and Doug Wright’s Posterity (Greta, ATC). Film includes: She Came To Me (Aunt Moxie, with Marisa Tomei), Aardvark (Lucille, with Zachary Quinto). TV: Maurice Sendack’s “Really Rosie” (Pierre & Chicken Soup), “Sesame Street,” “American Playhouse,” “Orange is the New Black” (Frieda Berlin, 6 seasons, 3 Ensemble Sag Awards). VO: Pixar’s Lightyear (Darby, with Chris Evans), “Digman!” (Agatha, with Andy Samberg). Dale is currently writing about her rough and tumble life and life-saving career.

Danny Wolohan

(Frederick Poppy/Mr. Willis). Broadway: Camelot, Macbeth, West Side Story, To Kill a Mockingbird. Off-Broadway: The Low Road, Assassins, An Octoroon, The Flick, Pocatello, Patron Saint. Regional: What the Constitution Means to Me, Court Life, Gnit. LCT3: Verité. TV: “When They See Us,” “The Blacklist,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Elementary,” and “Veep.” Film: White Noise.

HALEY WONG

(Sally Poppy) is a New York-based actor from Hong Kong. Recent theater credits include: Mary Gets Hers (The Playwrights Realm/MCC), John Proctor is the Villain (Huntington Theater), Events (The Hearth/The Brick), Button Lake Band Camp (Clubbed Thumb Winterworks). BA: Brown University. For more: haleywong.com

Lucy Kirkwood

(Playwright). Theatre includes: Rapture (Advertised as That Is Not Who I Am), Maryland, The Children, NSFW (Royal Court); Like Rabbits (Brighton Festival); Chimerica (Almeida/Headlong/West End); Hansel & Gretel, Beauty & The Beast (National); Housekeeping (Theatre Uncut/Southwark/Latitude); Small Hours (Hampstead); Bloody Wimmin (Tricycle); It Felt Empty When the Heart Went at First But it is Alright Now (Clean Break/Arcola); Psychogeography, Guns or Butter (Union); Tinderbox (Bush); Hedda (Gate). Awards include: Olivier Award for Best New Play (Chimerica); Evening Standard Award for Best New Play (Chimerica); Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (Chimerica).

Sarah Benson

(Director) is an Obie award-winning theater director based in New York City. Recent credits include: Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview(Soho Rep, TFANA & Berkeley Rep) the play won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Benson was nominated for a Drama Desk for direction; Suzan-Lori Parks’ In The Blood (Signature Theater). At Soho Rep: Richard Maxwell’s Samara with music by Steve Earle; César Alvarez and The Lisps’ Futurity (ART, Walker Arts Center and in New York with Ars Nova) Callaway Award; Lortel Award for Best Musical; Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octoroon (Soho Rep & TFANA); Lucas Hnath’s A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney; Sarah Kane’s Blasted (OBIE award, Drama Desk nomination); David Adjmi’s Elective Affinities featuring Zoe Caldwell (site-specific). Benson also directed the award-winning Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical (Townhall) for the 2019 Super Bowl. Upcoming: César Alvarez’s Noise. Benson is a Vilcek Foundation awardee and moved to New York from London on a Fulbright. Benson served as an Artistic Director of Soho Rep from 2008 to 2023; during her tenure the theater garnered fifteen OBIE Awards and the Drama Desk Award for Sustained Artistic Excellence.

dots 

(Scenic Design) is an award winning design collective creating environments for theater, film, commercials, and immersive experiences. Hailing from Colombia, South Africa, and Japan, we are Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, Andrew Moerdyk, and Kimie Nishikawa. As collaborators, we believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts. Broadway: Appropriate (Second Stage), An Enemy of the People (Circle in the Square), The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Broadway: James Earl Jones Theater, BAM). Other: Infinite Life (Atlantic Theater Company, The National Theatre London), Dark Disabled Stories (The Public Theater), Public Obscenities (Soho Rep, NAATCO, Drama Desk nomination, Henry Hewes Design Award), Kate Berlant is KATE (Connelly Theater), You Will Get Sick (Roundabout Theatre, Lucille Lortel nomination), Oh Mary! (Lucille Lortel Theater). Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in Set Design (2022-2023 Season). Instagram: @designbydots.

Kaye Voyce

(Costume Design). Broadway: Sea Wall/A Life (co-design),True West, The Nap, Significant Other, The Real Thing, The Realistic Joneses, and Shining City. Recent Off-Broadway: Jonah (Roundabout), The Bedwetter, Anatomy of a Suicide and Shhhh (Atlantic), Morning Sun (MTC), Mud/Drowning (Mabou Mines), Marys Seacole, After the Blast (LCT3), Mary Page Marlowe (2ST), The Antipodes, Signature Plays, The Wayside Motor Inn (Signature), Coriolanus, Hamlet, Measure for Measure (Public Theater), Greater Clements (LCT). Upcoming: Uncle Vanya(LCT).

Stacey Derosier

(Lighting Design) is a New York based lighting designer. Upcoming: Teeth (Playwrights Horizons). Recent credits include The Refuge Plays (Roundabout), Animal Kingdom (The Connelly), The Half-God of Rainfall (NYTW), Uncle Vanya (Oliver Roth Productions), Wizard of Oz (A.C.T.), Cornelia Street (Atlantic Theater), How to Defend Yourself (NYTW), Regretfully, So The Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons), Fat Ham (Public Theater & National Black Theater), Wedding Band (Theatre for a New Audience), sandblasted (Vineyard Theatre/WP Theater). 2018 Lilly Award Daryl Roth Prize recipient.

Palmer Hefferan

(Sound Design) is a Tony Award nominated sound designer and composer for theater, opera, and podcasts. She received a 2019 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design from the American Theatre Wing. Highlights from the last decade include, Broadway: Alex Edelman: Just For Us (Hudson Theatre), The Skin of Our Teeth (Tony nom, Lincoln Center); Grand Horizons (Second Stage); The Lifespan of a Fact (Studio 54). Off-Broadway: Teeth (Playwrights Horizons); what the end will be, Something Clean, Bobbie Clearly (Roundabout Theatre); Long Day’s Journey Into Night(Audible Theater); Merry Wives, shadow/land, Shipwreck, Wild Goose Dreams (The Public Theater); Waiting For Godot, Fefu and Her Friends (TFANA); Flex, Becky Nurse Salem, Marys Seacole (Lincoln Center); Nollywood Dreams, BLKS, Collective Rage, Charm, School Girls (MCC Theater); The New Englanders, Sugar in Our Wounds, Important Hats… (Manhattan Theatre Club); The Comeuppance, Fabulation, The Death of the Last Black Man… (Signature Theatre).

Jeremy Chernick 

(Special Effects Design) has worked on over 50 Broadway productions. At Atlantic, Jeremy previously designed Guards at the Taj. Current & recent projects include Teeth: The Musical, The Outsiders (Broadway), Sweeney Todd (Broadway). Jeremy has worked with Disney Theatrical Group creating effects for multiple productions for over a decade. In London’s West End, Jeremy designed Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Jeremy's work has been featured in prominent performing and visual arts institutions across the globe. Since 2018, Jeremy has been the Head Designer for J&M Special Effects in Brooklyn. www.jmfx.net / www.jeremychernickdesigns.com

Cookie Jordan

(Hair & Wig Design). Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along, Camelot, The Piano Lesson, Into the Woods, Trouble In Mind, Clydes, Potus, Slave Play, Choir Boy, The Cher Show, Once On This Island, Sunday in the Park with George, In Transit, Eclipsed, Side Show, After Midnight, Fela, A View From the Bridge, South Pacific. Off-Broadway: Orpheus Descending, White Girl in Danger, Flex, Girls, Fefu and Her Friends, Aint No Mo, Fairview, Toni Stone, If Pretty Hurts, The Secret Life of Bees, Boseman and Lena, Fabulation, Our Lady of 121st Street, In the Blood, Daddy, Hercules. Television: Emmy nominated for make-up design NBC, The Wiz Live. Recipient of 2019, 2020 Obie Award.

GABRIELLE “GABBIE” VINCENT

(Makeup Design) is a New York based Hair & Makeup Artist. Her designs for theater and opera include Philip Glass’ Drowning (Mabou Mines); Song of the Nightingale (WP), Il Tabarro, Gianni Schicci, Turn of the Screw, Murasaki’s Moon (WP), Amahl and the Night Visitors, and The Secret Gardener (On Site Opera); The Sandbox, Drowning, Funnyhouse of a Negro (Associate Design; Signature Theatre). Broadway credits include Disney’s Frozen (Makeup Specialist), The Nap, and What the Constitution Means to Me (Hair & Makeup Supervisor). Additionally, her work can be seen in multiple feature films and television shows. Gabbie holds a BFA from the University of Miami, and a Certificate of Cosmetology from the Aveda Institute, NY.

David Neumann

(Movement). Film: I Am Legend (Will Smith), Marriage Story (Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver). Choreography: An Octoroon and Futurity (Soho Rep), Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova), Hagoromo (Wendy Whelan, Jock Soto) and Home (BAM), The Antipodes (Signature Theatre). Collaborator and performer: Laurie Anderson, Big Dance Theater, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Doug Elkins. Director: The Object Lesson (NYTW, BAM). Artistic director, Advanced Beginner Group (P.S.122, NY Live Arts, The Kitchen, Symphony Space, Abrons Art Center, The Chocolate Factory, The Whitney, Walker Art Center, MASS MoCA, among others). Recipient of three Bessie Awards for dance/performance, nominee for two Lucille Lortel and one Helen Hayes Award for choreography.

Crista Marie Jackson

(Intimacy Direction). Crista’s diverse work experience in theater, opera, television, film, commercials, and circus has given her a unique sensibility and understanding for a variety of creative collaborations. Crista works as an Intimacy Professional, Stunt Performer, Circus Artist, and Actress. As an intimacy professional Crista has worked on Broadway: Between Riverside and Crazy (Helen Hayes). West End: Mad House (The Ambassadors Theatre). Off-Broadway: Teeth (Playwrights Horizons), Gun and Powder (Papermill Playhouse), Dig (Primary Stages), Dodi & Diana (HERE), Little Rock (Loretto Theater), Things of Dry Hours (NYTW). Regional: The Tempest (The Elm Shakespeare Company), Belleville (Asolo Rep). Tour: Alegria: In A New Light (Cirque du Soleil). Film/TV: No Hard Feelings, Dumb Money, “American Horror Story,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “Mayor of Kingstown,” “And Just Like That.” @crista_marie  www.cristamariejackson.com

TICKETS

Regular tickets begin at $85. Order online at atlantictheater.org or by calling 646.452.2220. 

Atlantic members receive exclusive access and up to 40% savings on tickets. Memberships begin at $50 and benefits include a priority booking period, no additional fees, unlimited exchanges, discounted guest tickets, and more! For more information or to purchase an Atlantic membership, visit atlantictheater.org/join/membership or call 646.452.2220.