Cast Announced for Premiere Stages' MUD ROW, Running July 14-31

Premiere Stages at Kean University will present the New Jersey Premiere of Dominique Morisseau's Mud Row July 14-31 in Kean University's Bauer Boucher Theatre Center (Vaughn Eames Hall, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.). Directed by Marshall Jones III, Mud Row will feature actors Ashley Nicole Baptiste, Lekethia Dalcoe, Alinca Hamilton, Malik Reed, Stacey Sherrell, and Landon Woodson.

Two generations of sisters navigate class, race, love and family on "Mud Row," an area in the East End of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Elsie hopes to move up in the world by marrying into "the talented tenth," while her sister Frances joins the fight for Civil Rights. Decades later, estranged sisters Regine and Toshi are forced to reckon with their shared heritage and each other, when Regine inherits granny Elsie's house.

The play was first produced by People's Light (Abigail Adams, Executive Artistic Director; Zak Berkman, Producing Director) in Malvern, Pennsylvania on June 26, 2019. Mud Row is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. concordtheatricals.com.

A 2022 Tony Award nominee, Dominique Morisseau is the author of The Detroit Project (A 3-Play Cycle): Skeleton Crew (Atlantic Theater Company), Paradise Blue (Signature Theatre), and Detroit '67 (Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem and NBT). Additional plays include: Confederates (Signature Theatre), Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theatre), Sunset Baby (LAByrinth Theatre), Blood at the Root (National Black Theatre), and Follow Me To Nellie's (Premiere Stages). Her Broadway production of Skeleton Crew (Manhattan Theatre Club) was TONY nominated for best play and she is also the TONY nominated book writer on the Broadway musical Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations (Imperial Theatre). TV/Film projects: She has served as Co-Producer on the Showtime series Shameless. She's currently developing projects with Netflix and HBO, and wrote the film adaptation of the documentary STEP for Fox Searchlight. Awards include: Spirit of Detroit Award, PoNY Fellowship, Sky-Cooper Prize, TEER Trailblazer Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, Audelco Awards, NBFT August Wilson Playwriting Award, Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, OBIE Award (2), and the Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, named one of Variety's Women of Impact for 2017-18 and a recipient of the 2018 MacArthur Genius Grant.

"After producing the first Premiere of Dominique Morisseau's first play, Follow Me to Nellies in 2011 and the NJ Premiere of her play Skeleton Crew in 2016, we could not be more pleased to be launching our first full season in three years with such an important and powerful story," stated John J. Wooten, Premiere Stages Producing Artistic Director.

Director Marshall Jones last worked with Premiere Stages in October 2020 with a live, in-person critically acclaimed show about civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer starring veteran Broadway actress Rema Webb. For 13 years (2007-2019), he was the Producing Artistic Director for the Tony Award-winning Crossroads Theatre Company where he directed several shows including the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center's inaugural production - Paul Robeson. Selected other directing credits include the world premiere of Walter Mosley's Lift, which later played Off Broadway; and Nikkole Salter's Repairing a Nation, which was recorded for TV broadcast on WNET's Theater Close-Up Series.

The accomplished cast includes Ashley Nicole Baptiste, whose theatre credits include When Day Comes (Crossroads Theatre Company) and Seven Guitars (Artists Repertory Theater), Lekethia Dalcoe, whose acting credits include Autumn (Billie Holiday Theatre) and Zoohouse (National Black Theatre); Alinca Hamilton, whose theatre credits include Gong Lum's Legacy (New Federal Theater) and Julius Cesar (Classic Stage Company); Malik Reed, whose television credits include Law & Order:Organized Crime (NBC) and season 2 of Random Acts of Flyness (HBO), Stacey Sherrell, whose television credits include Billions (Showtime) and The Equalizer (CBS), and Landon Woodson whose theatre credits include Black History Museum (HERE Arts Center) and Too Heavy for Your Pocket (George Street Playhouse).

Understudies for the production are Destiny Davis, Tisa Harriott and Nate Lyles. All three actors are graduates of Kean University's Theatre Conservatory.

Mud Row runs July 14-July 31 in the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center on the Kean University main campus in Union, N.J. Performances take place Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 pm, Saturdays at 3:00 pm and 8:00 pm, and Sundays at 3:00 pm.

Tickets are $35 standard, $25 for senior citizens and Kean alumni and staff, $20 for patrons with disabilities and $15 for students. Significant discounts for groups of ten or more apply. To make reservations or to order a season brochure, please call the box office at 908-737-7469 or visit Premiere Stages online at premierestagesatkean.com.

Assistive listening devices and sign-interpretation are available upon request; please call 908-737-4077 at least two weeks prior to your desired performance. For more information, please visit Premiere Stages online at premierestagesatkean.com.

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