The Geffen Playhouse presents the West Coast premiere of Choir Boy. This new production -- featuring gospel music -- will highlight several performers from the Manhattan Theatre Club run. Nicholas L. Ashe and Grantham Coleman will join the previously announced Jeremy Pope.
Caleb Eberhardt will reprise his role from the Alliance Theatre run. Leonard Kelly-Young, Donovan Mitchell and Michael A. Shepperd will debut as their respective characters and complete the cast for the Geffen Playhouse production in the Gil Cates Theater.
Trip Cullman will again direct the play written by MacArthur Fellow Tarell Alvin McCraney. Previews begin tonight, September 16 with an opening night on September 26 and closing on October 26. At the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys, a young black man knows what is expected of him. Work hard, fall in line and if you've got the voice for it, use it to praise God in the school choir. Within these walls, Pharus Young, with the voice of an angel and a keen mind, should be a star. But in the face of Drew's time-honored traditions, can music overcome silence? Award-winning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney navigates expectation, alienation and the overwhelming desire to be heard.The design team features: Scenic Design: David Zinn; Costume Design: EB Brooks; Lighting Design: Peter Kaczorowski; Sound Design: Fitz Patton; and Musical Director & Vocal Arranger: Jason Michael Webb.
Ticket prices are currently $39-$79 and are available in-person at the Geffen Playhouse box office, via phone at 310.208.5454 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.com. Fees may apply. Performances will play The Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif.Talk Back Tuesdays give theater lovers a chance for a deeper conversation to discuss plot, character, themes or any other questions directly with the artists. Talk Back Tuesdays include pre-show coffee and tea tastings courtesy of Keurig and a post-show Q+A.
For Signature Series dates associated with the run of Choir Boy, visit www.geffenplayhouse.com/choirboyevents.
ABOUT THE CASTNicholas L. Ashe is reprising the role of Junior as well as making his Geffen Playhouse debut. Nicholas originated the role in the critically acclaimed production at the Manhattan Theatre Club and joined the cast for a production at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. His professional credits include the national tour of The Lion King (Young Simba). Television: Songbyrd (E! Pilot), The Divide (AMC Pilot), Are We There Yet (TBS).Grantham Coleman Theater: Off-Broadway: Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's One Night (Dir: Clinton Turner Davis); Manhattan Theatre Club's Choir Boy (Dir: Trip Cullman); SoHo Rep Theatre's We Are Proud to Present... (Dir: Eric Ting); New York Shakespeare Festival's As You Like It (Dir: Daniel Sullivan). Regional: Actors Theatre of Louisville's Romeo and Juliet (Dir: Tony Speciale). Television: The Americans (FX). Training: Juilliard School of Drama. Caleb Eberhardt is making his Geffen Playhouse debut. A graduate of the SUNY Purchase B.F.A. Acting Conservatory, Caleb was last seen onstage in the Alliance Theatre's production of Choir Boy. He has since made his television debut on CBS's Unforgettable, and released a third album with his band Quincy Vidal. Previous credits: Guy in Blues for an Alabama Sky, Chaplain in Mother Courage and Her Children (adapted by Ntozake Shange) (Purchase Rep.); Laertes in Hamlet (Theatre of War). Leonard Kelly-Young last appeared at the Geffen Playhouse in Alan Alda's Radiance. Theater credits: New York Off-Broadway at ELT, New York Theater Co., Riverwest, Soho Repertory, Titus in Darko Tresjnak's Titus Andronicus at the Old Globe, The Mark Taper Forum, Laguna Playhouse, La Mirada Theater, Ensemble Theater, Rubicon, Missouri Repertory, Goodman Theatre (Jefferson Nomination), Cincinnati Playhouse, Studio Arena Buffalo, Geva Theatre, Huntington Theater, Worcester Company and many Shakespeare festivals across the country. Leonard twice received the Santa Barbara Independent Theatre Award for Performance as Dodge in Buried Child and as Doc Lyman in Bus Stop. In Los Angeles: Detective Story (Ovation Nomination) at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre. Film credits include David Fincher's Gone Girl premiering this fall, and many award winning indie film releases, including an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Kaleidoscope featured at Comic-Con Independent Film Festival in July. Television: CSI, The Shield, Scandal, Justified, Boston Legal, The Defenders, Carnival, House of Lies, Ellen, Married with Children, Star Trek Enterprise and many others. Donovan Mitchell is making his Geffen Playhouse debut with this production of Choir Boy. As a graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, his recent theater credits include: Duke of Burgundy in King Lear, Arviragus in Cymbeline (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) and Cobb in A Soldier's Story (Ebony Repertory Theatre).Jeremy Pope is a 2014 Drama League Award nominee for his New York debut as Pharus in Choir Boy where The New York Times heralded his work as "moving and magnetic." He is the founder of Pope Collection Photography. Pope is a graduate of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy.Michael A. Shepperd is currently the Co-Artistic Director of LA's multiple award winning Celebration Theatre. CT producing, directing, and acting credits include The Color Purple, The Women of Brewster Place, Take Me Out, Coffee Will Make You Black, [title of show], and numerous others in his eight years with CT. Broadway/Off-Broadway/National Tour credits include Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan (Starkey), Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey Two), Caroline, or Change (Bus/Dryer), 5 Guys named Moe (Big Moe). TV: Wizards of Waverly Place, Hot In Cleveland, Up All Night, Monk, Criminal Minds, Arrested Development, etc. ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAMTarell Alvin McCraney (Playwright)Videos