THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA, Starring James Earl Jones, Opens Tonight at A.R.T.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Director Diane Quinn, presents The Night of the Iguana, written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Michael Wilson.

Performances began on Saturday, February 18, open tonight, February 24, and run through Saturday, March 18 at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge.

On the edge of the Mexican jungle, a group of troubled travelers seek shelter from a storm. Directed by Michael Wilson (Trip to Bountiful, The Best Man) Tennessee Williams' feverishly poetic 1961 drama follows a hotel proprietress and the scandal-soaked Southern preacher who turns up on her veranda. A Nantucket portrait artist traveling with her ancient grandfather, a bus full of fuming Texan college administrators, and a party of vacationers collide in this drama about how far we travel to outrun the demons within.

The cast includes Dana Delany as Maxine Faulk, Bill Heck as Shannon, Amanda Plummer as Hannah Jelkes, Elizabeth Ashley as Judith Fellowes, James Earl Jones as Nonno, Susannah Perkins as Charlotte Goodall, Remo Airaldi as Jake, Matt Morrison as Hank, Stacia Fernandez as Frau, Richmond Hoxie as Herr, Ben Winter as Wolfgang, Hannah Sharafian as Hilde, Kiko Macan as Pancho, and Mike Turner as Pedro. Set design is by Derek McLane, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by David Lander, and sound design by John Gromada.

Performance dates and times: February 18 - 26, 28; March 1 - 4, 7 - 11, 14 - 18 at 7:30PM; February 25 - 26; March 1, 4 - 5, 11 - 12, 17 - 18 at 2PM; March 8 & 15 at 11AM (Student Matinees). Press opening: Friday, February 24 at 7:30PM.

Open Captioned and Audio Described performances: Thursday, March 16 at 7:30PM and Saturday, March 18 at 2PM. ASL Interpreted performances: Sunday, March 12 at 2PM and Wednesday, March 15 at 7:30PM.

Ticket prices from $25. Now on sale by phone at 617.547.8300, in person at the Loeb Drama Center Ticket Services (64 Brattle Street) or online atamericanrepertorytheater.org.

For more about the play, visit americanrepertorytheater.org/Iguana.

ABOUT THE CAST:

Dana Delany (Maxine Faulk) Broadway credits include A Life and Translations. Off-Broadway credits include Blood Moon and Dinner With Friends. Regional credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Old Globe Theatre), Things We Said Today (Ensemble Studio Theatre), and The Parisian Woman (South Coast Repertory). Delany made her mark as Army nurse Colleen McMurphy on ABC-TV's critically acclaimed series "China Beach," for which she received two Emmy Awards and four nominations for Best Dramatic Actress. From 2011 - 2013, Delany starred as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt in the ABC drama "Body of Proof." Delany has appeared in numerous films including Tombstone, Housesitter, Fly Away Home, Light Sleeper and the animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. For three seasons, Delany portrayed Katherine Mayfair on the hit ABC series "Desperate Housewives." Other television credits include Fox's "Pasadena" and NBC's "Kidnapped" (opposite Timothy Hutton). Episodic work includes "Family Law," for which she received an Emmy Award nomination for outstanding guest actress in a drama series. Delany is currently co-starring with Ron Perlman in the Amazon series "Hand of God" which returns for a second season on March 10.

Bill Heck (Shannon) Broadway credits include Cabaret (Roundabout), Brooklyn Boy (MTC). New York credits include the role of Hector in Troilus & Cressida, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing and The Winter's Tale (Public Theater), Water by the Spoonful (Second Stage), Night is a Room, Angels in America (Signature), The Orphans' Home Cycle (Signature; Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle noms, Theatre World Award, Clarence Derwent Award), Pig Farm (Roundabout), Chopin's Preludes (SLANT). Regional credits include Hartford Stage, Kirk Douglas Theatre (CTG), Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, Circle X, CCTC, Vitality Productions. Heck is a board member of The New Harmony Project. Television credits include "Sleepy Hollow," "Feed the Beast," "Mercy Street," "The Americans," "The Leftovers," "Taxi Brooklyn" (regular), "Elementary," "Person of Interest," "Pan Am," "The Big C," "The Unit," "Without a Trace," "Medium," "NCIS," "CSI: NY," "Numb3rs," "The Closer." Film credits include Stephen Elliot's After Adderall (Slamdance 2017), Happy Baby, The Amazing Spiderman 2, Yen Tan's Pit Stop (Sundance 2013, OutFestLA award for Best Actor), Nonames. Training: BFA, University of Evansville; MFA, NYU Grad Acting.

Amanda Plummer (Hannah Jelkes) won a Tony and a Drama Desk award for her work in Agnes of God (opposite Geraldine Page); a Theatre World and Outer Critics Circle Award and was nominated for a Tony and a Drama Desk Award for her performance in A Taste of Honey. Other Broadway credits include Pygmalion (opposite Peter O'Toole) and The Glass Menagerie (with Jessica Tandy). Off-Broadway credits include The Two Character Play, A Lie of the Mind, and Killer JoE. Plummer has received critical acclaim for her work in film, television and stagE. Plummer's impressive film work includes Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King - for which she received a BAFTA nomination and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction for which she received an American Comedy Award nomination for her memorable performance as Honey Bunny. Plummer played Wiress in the widely popular Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Ms. Plummer's work on television has been recognized with three Emmy Awards; one Emmy Nomination and a Golden Globe Nomination. Plummer is also the recipient of the Anti-Defamation League Award. In the summer of 2016 Plummer was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oldenburg Film Festival.

Elizabeth Ashley (Judith Fellowes) most recently appeared on Broadway in the acclaimed You Can't Take It With You in 2015 and Gore Vidal's The Best Man in 2012, both alongside James Earl Jones. Ashley made her Broadway debut in 1959 in Dore Shary's The Highest Tree. Perhaps best known as one of the definitive interpreters of Tennessee Williams' work, Ashley has starred in many of his plays, including Eight by Tenn (with Amanda Plummer; Hartford Stage), the 1973 landmark Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof directed by Michael Kahn (Tony nomination and Tennessee Williams Foundation Award), Out Cry directed by Michael Wilson, among others. She has also appeared in The Glass Menagerie directed by Michael Wilson (Hartford Stage; A.R.T.; Alley Theatre) which won the Boston Globe Critic's Award. Film credits include The Carpetbaggers, Ship of Fools (Golden Globe nomination), Rancho Deluxe (with Jeff Bridges), Coma (with Michael Douglas), Dragnet with Tom Hanks, Vampire Kiss with Nicholas Cage, Stagecoach (with Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash), and more. TV credits include "Treme" (HBO) as Aunt Mimi for three seasons, "Evening Shade" (with Burt Reynolds; Emmy nomination), "Saturday Night Live" (Host - February, 1982), many appearances on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, and many others.

James Earl Jones (Nonno) made his Broadway debut in 1957. Since that time he has performed on stage, television, and in films and continues to receive accolades from every corner of the entertainment industry. In addition to having won two Tony Awards for his work on Broadway in The Great White Hope and Fences, Jones has gathered much praise for more recent stage roles including those he performed in the Broadway productions of On Golden Pond, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Driving Miss Daisy, The Best Man, You Can't Take It With You and The Gin Game. Among his numerous and distinguished awards, Jones has received the National Medal of Arts, The John F. Kennedy Center Honor and most recently in 2011, The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with an honorary Oscar. James Earl Jones' voice is known by people of all ages and walks of life, from Star Wars fans who have long recognized him as the voice of Darth Vader, to children for whom he is Mufasa from Disney's The Lion King.

Susannah Perkins (Charlotte Goodall) theatre credits include The Wolves (Playwrights Realm/New York Stage and Film) and Every Angel Is Brutal (Clubbed Thumb Summerworks). BFA: NYU Tisch School for the Arts.

Remo Airaldi (Jake) has appeared in sixty-three productions at the American Repertory Theater, including The Lily's Revenge (Master Sunflower), Cabaret(Herr Schultz), Paradise Lost (Phil), Endgame (Nagg), The Seagull (Shamrayev), Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for a New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Island of Slaves (IRNE Award - Outstanding Actor), The Onion Cellar (MC), The Communist Dracula Pageant, Cardenio (Rudi), Julius Caeser(Casca), Amerika (Mister Green), The Miser (Master Jacques), Henry IV and V (Mistress Quickly), The Birthday Party (McCann), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Francis Flute), La Dispute (Mesrou), Uncle Vanya (Telegin), Enrico IV (Bertoldo), The Winter's Tale (Clown), The Wild Duck (Molvik), Buried Child(Father Dewis), Taruffle (Monsieur Loyal), Six Characters in Search of an Author (Emilio Paz) and Waiting for Godot (Pozzo). Other credits: Seven productions with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company including Twelfth Night, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Love's Labour's Lost. Sweeney Todd and My Fair Lady (Lyric Stage), Exposed (Boston Playwrights' Theatre), Mistero Buffo (The Poets' Theater), Make My Heart Flutter (Israeli Stage), The Hound of the Baskervilles (Central Square Theater), The King of Second Avenue (New Repertory Theater), Camino Real, Eight by Tenn and No Exit (Hartford Stage), and productions at La Jolla Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, Cirque du Soleil, among others. Airaldi is a Lecturer on Theater, Dance & Media at Harvard University and was the Monan Professor in Theatre Arts at Boston College.

Matt Morrison (Hank) is a second year acting student at the A.R.T. Institute. Morrison has appeared in the Institute's productions of James and the Giant Peach and Middletown. Other credits include A Dream Play (Harvard), Christmas at the Ivanovs (Moscow Art Theater), 15 Reasons not to be in a Play (St. Lawrence University), Iphigenia and Other Daughters (St. Lawrence University), The Bald Soprano (St. Lawrence University), Dead Man's Cell Phone (St. Lawrence University), The Misanthrope (St. Lawrence University).

Stacia Fernandez (Frau) Broadway credits include Mamma Mia, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Swing!, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Touring credits include Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, and The Heartstrings. Regional credits include The Bandstand (Paper Mill Playhouse), Next to Normal (Florida Studio Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Portland Center Stage), A Girl Called Dusty(Provincetown Repertory Theatre), The Prince and the Pauper (5th Avenue Theatre), among others. Fernandez starred in and co-wrote Middle (ST)age for STAGE17.tv. Other co-written plays include A Smalltown Christmas, Sticky Fingers, and The Loop. Fernandez has also worked on television, most recently in "Homeland" (Showtime), and has done voice work on several films including Frozen Short (Disney), Enchanted (Disney), Captain America (Marvel), and others.

Richmond Hoxie (Herr) previous Broadway and national tour credits include I'm Not Rappaport and Butley. Off-Broadway credits include The Film Society(Keen Company), Existence, Lenin's Embalmers, Rain, Landscape With Waitress (EST), The Dining Room, Justice (Playwrights Horizons), To Gillian on her 37th Birthday (Circle in the Square), The Slab Boys (Hudson Guild), Vienna Lusthaus: Re-Visited (New York Theater Workshop), Angel Street (Pearl Theater), Waiting For Godot (St. Clements). Regional credits include Ether Dome (Huntington Theatre Company), All the Way (Arena Stage), The Second Mrs. Wilson, Loot (George St Playhouse), The Crucible (Hartford Stage), 12 Angry Men, Amadeus, Secret Order (Repertory Theater of St. Louis), You Never Can Tell (Yale Rep), The Wilder Plays (Baltimore Center Stage), Travels With My Aunt (Seattle Rep), Light Up The Sky (La Jolla), Inspecting Carol (Bay Street). Film and television credits include Still of the Night, J.F.K., For Love or Money, My Own Love Song, "Boardwalk Empire," "Law and Order C.I., "Law and Order S.V.U.," "China Beach," "L.A. Law," "Hunter," "Cosby."

Ben Winter (Wolfgang) is a native of Olathe, KS and a second year acting student at the A.R.T. Institute. Theater credits include Valere in Moliere (RIC), Misha Pestrov in Christmas at the Ivanov's (Moscow Art Theater), and Robertson Ay in Mary Poppins (New Bedford Festival Theatre).

Hannah Sharafian (Hilde) is a second year acting student at the A.R.T. Institute. Sharafian appeared in the Institute's production of Middletown (dir. Marcus Stern) as well as in their production of Christmas at the Ivanovs in Moscow at the Moscow Art Theatre. Sharafian has also performed at OBERON in Rachel Mars' Our Carnal Hearts and in BardCore, a Shakespeare cabaret created by Institute students. Sharafian graduated from the University of California Davis where she studied Theater and English.

Kiko Macan (Pancho) came to the US, originally from Spain and Croatia, when he was 16 and graduated from Boston University in Business last May. Macan is a student of Scott Fielding at Michael Chekhov Actor's Studio Boston.

Mike Turner (Pedro) is an NYC based actor, writer, and comedian. Theater credits include Orpheus in the Berkshires, Have You Been There? (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Red Light Winter (International ITSelF Festival; recipient of Best Actor in a Lead Role), and Heads (Acorn Theater). An NYU-Tisch graduate and proud member of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's Middle Voice Company as well as Stable Cable Lab Company. Turner is currently finishing post-production on a co-created comedy series Bumbling and writing a trilogy of urban sci-fi novels.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM:

Michael Wilson (Director) directed the 2013 Broadway revival, as well as the 2014 Emmy-nominated Lifetime/Ostar Productions film of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful, for which he received a 2014 Directors Guild of America nomination for Best Director. He is the recipient of Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for his acclaimed staging of the nine-hour epic The Orphans' Home Cycle. Also on Broadway, he has directed Gore Vidal's The Best Man (with James Earl Jones), Enchanted April, and Old Acquaintance. Internationally, Wilson directed Tony Kushner's Angels in America for the 1995 Venice Biennale. Other credits include Grey Gardens (Center Theatre Group), The Carpetbagger's Children (Lincoln Center), and The Glass Menagerie (Hartford Stage; A.R.T.; Alley Theatre), among others. Wilson was the Artistic Director of Hartford Stage from 1998 - 2011 where he commissioned and developed numerous new works, including the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning Water By the Spoonful, Eve Ensler's Necessary Targets, and more.

Derek McLane (Set Design) has designed over a dozen sets for A.R.T. including Waiting for Godot, Hedda Gabler, and more. Select Broadway credits include Beautiful, Gigi, Anything Goes (Tony nomination), Ragtime (Tony Award Nomination), 33 Variations (Tony Award), The Pajama Game (Tony Award Nomination for Best Scenic Design of a Musical). China Doll, The Price, Noises Off, Fully Committed. On television, McLane has designed the 2013 - 2016 Academy Awards (Emmy Award for the 86th Academy Awards and two Art Directors Guild Awards for the 86th and 87th Academy Awards) as well as the NBC LIVE! Musicals The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, The WIZ & Hairspray.

Catherine Zuber (Costume Design) has created the costumes for Richard II, The Doctor's Dilemma and over forty other A.R.T. productions. Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I (Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle Award), The Bridges of Madison County, Macbeth, Outside Mullingar, Golden Boy (Tony nomination), The Big Knife, Enemy of the People, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Tony nomination), Born Yesterday(Tony nomination), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, The Royal Family (Tony Award), South Pacific (Tony Award), The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award), The Light in the Piazza (Tony Award), Seascape (Tony nomination), Awake and Sing! (Tony Award), among others. Television credits include Peter Pan Live and The Sound of Music Live. Zuber is the recipient of the 2012 Olivier Award nomination, 2003 and 2004 Henry Hewes Award for Outstanding Costume Design, 2004 Ovation award, 1997 and 2005 Obie Award for Sustained Achievement. Zuber was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2016.

David Lander (Lighting Design) Broadway credits include The Winslow Boy, The Heiress (with Jessica Chastain), Master Class (with Tyne Daly), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, 33 Variations, I Am My Own Wife, A Man for All Seasons. Off-Broadway credits include The Library with Chlöe Moretz, Too Much Sun (with Linda Lavin), Fran's Bed (with Mia Farrow), King Lear (with Kevin Klein), Macbeth (with Liev Schreiber), Modern Orthodox (with Molly Ringwald and Jason Biggs), among others. Regional credits include Alley Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Old Globe, among others. Lander has worked on international productions in London, Caracas, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney and Mumbai, among others. Lander has earned two Tony Award nominations, six Drama Desk nominations and one Drama Desk Award win, among others.

John Gromada (Sound Design) Broadway credits include more than 35 productions including The Elephant Man, The Trip to Bountiful (Tony nomination), The Best Man (Drama Desk Award), Clybourne Park, Seminar, Man and Boy, Road to Mecca, The Columnist, Next Fall, A Bronx Tale, Prelude to a Kiss, Proof, Sight Unseen, Rabbit Hole, Twelve Angry Men, A Few Good Men. New York credits include Old Hats, Incident at Vichy, Dada Woof Papa Hot, Ripcord, My Name Is Asher Lev, Measure for Measure (Delacorte Theater), The Orphans' Home Cycle (Drama Desk and Henry Hewes Awards); The Screwtape Letters;Shipwrecked!... (Lucille Lortel Award); The Skriker (Drama Desk Award); Machinal (Obie Award). Gromada's regional theater credits include more than 300 productions at major regional theaters including Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women, Tea at Five (A.R.T.) and The Glass Menagerie (Hartford Stage; A.R.T.; Alley Theatre). Television credits include a score for the Emmy Award-nominated film version of The Trip to Bountiful.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University is a leading force in the American theater, producing groundbreaking work in Cambridge and beyond. The A.R.T. was founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein, who served as Artistic Director until 2002, when he was succeeded by RoBert Woodruff. Diane Paulus began her tenure as Artistic Director in 2008. Under the leadership of Paulus and Executive Director Diane Quinn, the A.R.T. seeks to expand the boundaries of theater by programming events that immerse audiences in transformative theatrical experiences.

Throughout its history, the A.R.T. has been honored with many distinguished awards, including the Tony Award for Best New Play for All the Way (2014); consecutive Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical for Pippin (2013) and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (2012), both of which Paulus directed; a Pulitzer Prize; a Jujamcyn Prize for outstanding contribution to the development of creative talent; the Tony Award for Best Regional Theater; and numerous Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards.

The A.R.T. collaborates with artists around the world to develop and create work in new ways. It is currently engaged in a number of multi-year projects, including a new collaboration with Harvard's Center for the Environment that will result in the development of new work over several years. Under Paulus's leadership, the A.R.T.'s club theater, OBERON, has been an incubator for local and emerging artists and has attracted national attention for its innovative programming and business models.

As the professional theater on the campus of Harvard University, the A.R.T. catalyzes discourse, interdisciplinary collaboration, and creative exchange among a wide range of academic departments, institutions, students, and faculty members, acting as a conduit between its community of artists and the university. A.R.T. plays a central role in Harvard's newly launched undergraduate Theater, Dance, and Media concentration, teaching courses in directing, dramatic literature, acting, voice, design, and dramaturgy. The A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training, run in partnership with the Moscow Art Theatre School and the Harvard Extension School, offers graduate training in acting, dramaturgy, and voice.

Dedicated to making great theater accessible, the A.R.T. actively engages more than 5,000 community members and local students annually in project-based partnerships, workshops, conversations with artists, and other enrichment activities both at the theater and across the Greater Boston area.

Through all of these initiatives, the A.R.T. is dedicated to producing world-class performances in which the audience is central to the theatrical experience.