Mark Bedard, Cecil Blutcher & More to Star in BUST World Premiere

Alliance Theatre and Goodman Theatre revealed the cast and creative team of their upcoming world-premiere co-production, BUST. Written by Pulitzer Prize-finalist Zora Howard (STEW), BUST is a riveting and genre-defying exploration of community, conflict, and the far-reaching impacts of historical racism, brought to life under the masterful direction of Tony Award nominee Lileana Blain-Cruz (The Skin of Our Teeth). BUST will have its world premiere on The Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre, February 13 – March 16, 2025, and in the Goodman’s Albert Theatre, April 19 – May 18, 2025. 
 
It’s not only hell that breaks loose in this groundbreaking, laugh-out-loud new drama. Retta and Reggie are enjoying their usual evening on the porch when a longtime neighbor is pulled over by the police just before turning into his driveway. Everything goes as expected — until the unexpected happens. Humor, suspense, and surrealism converge in this gripping interrogation of what it costs to be Black and free.
 
“Growing up, my mother, my aunties, or whomever, would come home with whatever mess they dealt with throughout their day, and they would talk about it. The way they told their stories – sparing no ugly detail and still, somehow, cracking jokes throughout; it was a healing practice I learned early on,” said Playwright Zora Howard. “It takes a lot to be Black and walk this life.  There is some real ugly stuff that we have to navigate. And yet there is an artfulness to how we move through it – with humor, with deftness, with style. BUST is a meditation on and an homage to that movement."
 
The BUST cast will feature Mark Bedard (TV/HBO Max: The Gilded Age) as Tomlin/Jack, Cecil Blutcher (TV/Paramount+: The Game, Signature Theatre Co.: The Hot Wing King) as Trent, Renika Williams Blutcher (Starz: P-Valley) as Krystal, Caroline Stefanie Clay (Broadway:  The Little Foxes and Doubt) as Retta, Bernard Gilbert (TV/Showtime: The Chi, Goodman Theatre: How to Catch Creation) as Zeke, Caitlin Hargraves (Alliance Theatre: A Christmas Carol, TV/HBO Max: Mi Casa) as Ms. Pinto, Jorge Luna (TV/Netflix: Zero Day) as Ramirez, Victoria Omoregie (Alliance Theatre: Fat Ham, The Huntington Theatre: John Proctor is the Villain) as Paige, Keith Randolph Smith (Film: Malcolm X, Alliance Theatre: God of Carnage, National Theatre, London: Jitney) as Mr. Woods, Ray Anthony Thomas (Film: American Fiction, The Harbinger and Pariah) as Reggie, and Ivan Cecil Walks (The Huntington Theatre: K-I-S-S-I-N-G) as Boobie.  Production understudies include Hannah Rose Broom; Robert John Connor; Jacob Alexander Craig; Warren Levi Haney; Anjil Jeter; Braian Rivera Jimémez; Taloria Merricks; Ty Ravenel; and Gabrielle Lott-Rogers (Goodman production only). 
 
The creative team of BUST includes Director Lileana Blain-Cruz, Associate Director Malkia Stampley, Set Designer Matt Saunders, Costume Designer Dominique Fawn Hill, Lighting Designer Yi Zhao, Associate Lighting Designer Jonah Bobilin, Sound Designer Mikaal Sulaiman, Associate Sound Designer Kellen Voss, Special Effects Designer Jeremy Chernick, Dialect Coach Jacqueline Springfield, Sonic Dramaturg DJ Reborn, and Fight Choreographer Rocio Alexis Mendez.
 
Additional production support includes Stage Manager Shiku Thuo, Assistant Stage Manager Xiaonan Chloe Liu, Stage Management Production Assistant Marshall Lee Smith, Jr., and Production Management Lead Lawrence Bennett.
 
“There's a real invitation at the center of the play to experience something new. There's this kind of really amazing, thrilling, complicated emotional journey that happens at the center of this play, and I hope audiences are on the ride to encounter something that they had never considered before,” said Director Lileana Blain-Cruz. “What I love about theater is knowing that there are a million individual stories existing inside the audience. What's beautiful is when those whose lives may be very different understand something more, and the people whose lives may be similar find themselves being seen.”
 

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