Claybourne Elder, Jessiee Datino & More to Star in KC Rep's ANGELS IN AMERICA; David Cromer Directs

Kansas City Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Eric Rosen today announced casting for the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play by Tony Kushner, Angels in America, to be directed by MacArthur 'Genius' Fellow David Cromer. Angels in America , which transformed the landscape of American theatre when it premiered in 1991, is a riveting, thought-provoking masterpiece about sexuality, identity, religion, and American's history and future, set in the AIDS crisis of the late 1980s. Then, as now, Angels in America explores the social, political and moral issues confronting us as individuals and as a nation, and Kushner's play rightfully claims its place as an masterpiece of 20th century theater. Cromer also directed KC Rep's recent 2014 production of his celebrated interpretation of Wilder's Our Town and the 2009 production of The Glass Menagerie, both of which received national and local critical acclaim. In 1998, Cromer directed Angels in America for Chicago's The Journeymen, which reaped accolades including the coveted Joseph Jefferson Award for best production, best director, best ensemble and more.

"It is the Rep's 50th anniversary season, and we are celebrating with a year-long examination of how theater changes the world. In my lifetime, no play has changed how we live more significantly than Kushner's masterpiece," said Eric Rosen. "My colleague David Cromer directed this highly acclaimed production in Chicago in 1998 shortly after its New York premiere. Now 17 years later, one of the most celebrated directors in America returns to KC Rep and to bring Angels his intelligent, insightful, and unique directorial perspective. David and I couldn't be more excited about the extraordinary cast of actors from NY, Chicago and KC who have agreed to take this journey."

The ensemble cast, drawn from New York, Chicago and Kansas City, features Jessiee Datino as Harper Pitt, Claybourne Elder as Joe Pitt, Jennifer Engstrom as The Angel, Peggy Friesen as Hannah Pitt, Nik Kourtis as Louis Ironson, Seamus Mulcahy as Prior Walter, Mark Robbins as Roy M. Cohn, and Paul Oakley Stovall as Belize.

Performances begin Friday, February 20 and run through Sunday, March 29. Press night is scheduled for Opening Night Saturday, February 28.