Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Announces Final Casting for the 2022 National Playwrights Conference

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center has announced the casts for the final two plays featured in the 2022 National Playwrights Conference: House of India by Deepak Kumar and Nightwatch by Max Yu.

House of India will feature Alec Silver (Candyman) as Jacob, Meera Simhan (Anger Management, The Flash) as Ananya, Sathya Sridharan (Minor Premise, Manhattan Theatre Club's India Pale Ale) as Vikram, and Anula Navlekar (What the Folks, Brahman Naman) as Vaidehi. House of India is directed by Chay Yew and has dramaturgy by Zeina Salame.

House of India features Ananya, who runs "House of India," the last remaining restaurant in a once-flourishing Asian strip mall in Toledo, Ohio. Ananya faces immense pressure to change the restaurant: from her finances, from her environment, and most annoyingly, from Jacob, a Thai-American entrepreneur determined to convert the restaurant into a nationwide fast-casual Indo-fusion franchise. House of India will be performed July 8 and 9 at 7pm.

The cast of Nightwatch includes Alec Silver (Candyman) as Leo/Song, Jeena Yi (Only Murders in the Building, Broadway's Network) as Bonnie/Jia/ Doctor/Reporter, Stephen Park (The French Dispatch, Snowpiercer) as 爸 (Father), Mia Katigbak (Actor-Manager and Co-Founder of The National Asian American Theatre Company in NYC) as 奶奶 (Grandmother), and Francis Jue (Broadway's Pacific Overtures, Thoroughly Modern Millie, M. Butterfly, Obie Awards for Yellow Face and Wild Goose Dreams) as 爷爷 (Grandfather). Nightwatch is also directed by Chay Yew and has dramaturgy by Kristin Leahey.

In Nightwatch, when 20-year-old Leo drops out of college and returns home to San Francisco's Chinatown, he discovers a secret that's been kept from him: his father passed away weeks ago. To cope, Leo throws himself into his family's untold past in the Chinese Communist Cultural Revolution-which redefines everything and everyone he thought was his bloodline. Nightwatch will be performed July 13 and 14 at 8pm.

These performers join a group of talented actors who have previously been announced for the 2022 conference, among them several Tony, Obie, and Gold Globe Award-winners, Broadway and television favorites, and more, for the first fully in-person edition of the conference since 2019.

"It's meaningful to me for our first in-person season to have such remarkable actors joining us to help these playwrights hear and shape their works," said Wendy C. Goldberg, Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference. "My partner In this effort is the hard-working and extraordinary Dave Caparelliotis Casting office."

Most recently on the conference stage was Big Black Sunhats by Mallory Jane Weiss, which featured Lois Smith (East of Eden, Fatal Attraction, Fried Green Tomatoes, Broadway's Buried Child, Tony Award for The Inheritance) as Evelyn, Ching Valdes-Aran (Missing Link, Obie Award for Flipzoids) as Penelope, Alma Cuervo (Broadway's On Your Feet, Cabaret, Titanic, Obie Award for Uncommon Women and Others) as Bobbi, Ricardo Vázquez (Broadway's The Inheritance) as Owen, Daniel Abeles (Women of the Movement, Smash) as Hugo, and Robert Lee Leng (Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens) as Percy. Big Black Sunhats was directed by Jenna Worsham with dramaturgy by Lily Riopelle and was performed July 1 and 2.

Kate Suspended by Neena Beber featured Marin Hinkle (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Two and a Half Men, Broadway's A Thousand Clowns) as Kate, Anthony Bowden (Julia, The Comey Rule) as Buck, Brandon Micheal Hall (God Friended Me, The Mayor, Broadway's Trouble in Mind) as Dr. Keen/K.T., Frank Wood (Broadway's The Great Society, Network, The Iceman Cometh) as Marty/Mr. Karimova, Tedra Millan (Broadway's Present Laughter) as Katie/Katya, Marsha Mason (Golden Globe for Cinderella Liberty and The Goodbye Girl, Outer Critics Circle Award for Little Gem) as Katharine, and Maechi Aharanwa (Molière in the Park's The Misanthrope) as Nurse Gee/Roxy. Kate Suspended was directed by Wendy C. Goldberg with dramaturgy by Kristin Leahey and was performed June 29 and 30.

The cast of 5 by JuCoby Johnson included Julian Robertson (Broadway's Skin of Our Teeth, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pass Over) as Jay, Corey Farrell (Tankhouse) as Evan, Patrese McClain (Jitney National Tour, Chicago Med) as Stacy, Emma Kikue (Love Life) as June, and Forrest McClendon (Broadway's Thoughts of a Colored Man, Scottsboro Boys) as Walter. 5 was directed by H. Adam Harris with dramaturgy by Zeina Salame and was performed June 24 and 25.

Beginning the 2022 conference, The Apiary by Kate Douglas starred Krysta Rodriguez (Halston, Smash, Broadway's Spring Awakening, First Date, The Addams Family) as Pilar, Alana Raquel Bowers (After Class, Broadway's Chicken and Biscuits) as Zora, Kristen Sieh (House of Cards, The Plot Against America, Broadway's The Band's Visit) as Gwen, and Polly Lee (The Americans, Give or Take) as Cece/Kara/Anna/Bryn. The Apiary was directed by Colette Robert with dramaturgy by John Baker and was performed June 22 and 23.

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