James Black to Lead Alley Theatre's Epic LBJ Drama ALL THE WAY; Cast Announced!

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for the Texas-sized, Tony Award-winning new play, ALL THE WAY, a unique co-production with Dallas Theater Center (DTC). Directed by DTC Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty, ALL THE WAY brings company members from two of the largest Texas resident theaters to collaborate and perform on stage, beginning with the Houston premiere in the Alley's newly renovated Hubbard Theatre January 29-February 21, 2016.

ALL THE WAY, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Texas native Robert Schenkkan, features LBJ's presidency and creates a present moment piece of theatre with immediacy and drive. Two dozen actors portray the roles of some of the most dynamic political figures of the century, including the 36th President of the United States himself, Lyndon Baines Johnson. Alley Resident Company Member James Black takes on the role of LBJ with Houston native Shawn Hamilton portraying Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The production begins in 1963. An assassin's bullet catapults LBJ into the presidency. A Shakespearean figure of towering ambition and appetite, the charismatic, conflicted Texan hurls himself into Civil Rights legislation, throwing the country into turmoil.

"This is a unique experience-playing this role of a very iconic Texan in his home state-and a role that dives into themes that are now part of the current conversation in our nation. Most audiences here in Houston and Dallas are familiar with LBJ's historical presidency, as his legacy is ingrained in the state of Texas," said Black.

"Schenkkan's play brings the historical events into a stunningly relevant theatre event - as the history of 1964 is reflected in the equally contentious America of 2016," adds Boyd.

Alley Resident Company Members include Paul Hope as Gov. Carl Sanders and Chris Hutchison as Robert McNamara. David Rainey will take on the role of Rev. Ralph Abernathy and John Tyson will play Sen. Richard Russell.

The cast of artists from Dallas Theater Center's Brierley Resident Acting Company includes Kieran (Michael) Connolly as J. Edgar Hoover, Hassan El-Amin as Roy Wilkins, Chamblee Ferguson as Sen. Hubert Humphrey, Alex Organ as Stanley Levison, Brandon Potter as Gov. George Wallace, and Steven Michael Walters as Walter Jenkins. Additional actors include Adam A. Anderson as Stokely Carmichael and Leah Spillman as Lady Bird Johnson.

Also joining the cast are Houston-based actors Andrew Carson as Bob Moses, Michelle Elaine as Coretta Scott King and Brooke Wilson as Muriel Humphrey.

The ALL THE WAY creative team includes Tony Award-winning Scenic Designer Beowulf Boritt, Costume Designer Jennifer Caprio, Lighting Designer Clifton Taylor with Original Music & Sound Design by Broken Chord.

ALL THE WAY begins performances at the Alley Theatre on January 29, opens officially February 3, and continues through February 21, 2016. After its run in Houston, ALL THE WAY moves to the Dallas Theater Center where it will begin performances March 3, and opens officially March 5, through March 27, 2016.

TICKETS: Tickets to ALL THE WAY are now on sale and start at $27. Discounted tickets are available for any student, regardless of age, with a valid student ID for $16 for designated performances in designated sections. Tickets can be ordered online (alleytheatre.org) or by phone (713.220.5700). Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.

POST SHOW SPECIAL EVENTS:

Following the February 6 (2:30pm) and February 9 (7:30pm) performances of ALL THE WAY, the Alley will offer a special Artist Talk-Back post-show event. The talk-back will feature actors from the production talking about their experience and process.

The Alley Theatre will also present Alley In Context following the February 13 (2:30pm) and February 21(2:30pm) performances of ALL THE WAY.These discussions will feature civic leaders, local academics, and community members discussing the themes of the play and how they are reflected in our lives today. Artist Talk-Backs and Alley In Context are free and open to the public.

The Alley Theatre, one of America's leading not-for-profit theatres, is a nationally recognized performing arts company lead by Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Managing Director Dean R. Gladden. Home to a Resident Company of actors, the Alley creates a wide-ranging repertoire and innovative productions of classics, neglected modern plays, and premieres. Alley All New, the initiative to commission and develop new work year round, features the Alley All New Festival each season presenting workshops and readings of new plays and musicals in process. Additionally the Alley serves 65,000 students annually with award-winning education and community programs including in-school arts integration residencies, school tours and student matinees. A recipient of the Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, the Alley has brought productions to Broadway, 40 American cities including New York's Lincoln Center and internationally to London, Berlin, Paris, and St. Petersburg throughout its 69 year history.

The Alley Theatre began a $46.5 million building renovation in 2014-2015 season, the first major improvements since the building opened in 1968. With more than 500 performances in 2015-2016, the Alley will produce more shows than all other performing arts organizations in the Houston Theater District combined.

One of the leading regional theaters in the country, Dallas Theater Center (DTC) performs to an audience of more than 120,000 North Texas residents annually. Founded in 1959, DTC is now a resident company of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and presents its Mainstage season at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, designed by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus and Rem Koolhaas and at its original home, the Kalita Humphreys Theater, the only freestanding theater designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty and Managing Director Jeffrey Woodward, DTC produces a seven-play subscription series of classics, musicals and new plays and an annual production of A Christmas Carol; extensive education programs, including the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award-winning Project Discovery, SummerStage and partnerships with Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; and community outreach efforts including leading the DFW Foote Festival and recent collaborations with the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Public Library, Dallas Holocaust Museum, North Texas Food Bank, Dallas Opera, and Dallas Black Dance Theater. Throughout its history, DTC has produced many new works, including The Texas Trilogy by Preston Jones in 1978, Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, adapted by Adrian Hall, in 1986, and recent premieres of FLY by Rajiv Joseph, Bill Sherman and Kirstin Childs; Fly by Night by Kim Rosenstock, Michael Mitnick and Will Connolly; Giant by Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson; The Trinity River Plays by Regina Taylor; the revised It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams; Give It Up! (now titled Lysistrata Jones and recently on Broadway) by Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn; Sarah, Plain and Tall by Julia Jordan, Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin; and The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson.

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