The Cast of MCC's CHARM Hope to Educate and Charm Audiences with New Transgender-Themed Show

MCC Theater will launch its 2017-18 season with the NYC premiere of the acclaimed transgender-themed play Charm- inspired by the real-life story of Miss Gloria Allen.

Leading the cast of Charm in the role of Mama - a 67-year-old, black, transgender woman - will be actress Sandra Caldwell, in her first major NYC role. Caldwell will be joined by Michael David Baldwin, Jojo Brown, Marky Irene Diven, Michael Lorz, Hailie Sahar, Emmy nominee Kelli Simpkins, Marquise Vilson, and Lauren F. Walker.

BroadwayWorld got to stop by rehearsals for CHARM and speak with the cast and crew, and asked them what they hope the audience will take away from this show experience.

Sandra Caldwell said, "No one can pull you down because of who you are, what you are, or where you are. You have the power and strength in yourself to just lift yourself right back up."

Michael David Baldwin hopes that audiences will, "leave here more educated, more understanding, and less afraid to love people who are different than you. "

Jojo Brown explains, "Every time that we include those people that we don't see very often in these spaces, it does everybody a great service. I think all our lives would be richer if we see this other side of life that we don't often get a taste of."

Director Will Davis hope for, "An appreciation, a curiosity, and an empathy for what it means to make a life in the margins, and how much abundance and beauty one can make there. But to think about what it means to have a limited set of choices and how your create an infinite experience inside that limitation."

Check out the rest of the interview here.

Charm is a play by Chicago-based, Jefferson Award-winning playwright Philip Dawkins and will be directed by Helen Hayes Award winner Will Davis. Charm begins previews at the Lucille Lortel Theater (121 Christopher Street) on Thursday, August 31, 2017, with an official opening night set for Monday, September 18, 2017.

When Mama Darleena Andrews-a 67-year-old, black, transgender woman-takes it upon herself to teach an etiquette class at Chicago's LGBTQ community center, the idealistic teachings of Emily Post clash with the very real life challenges of identity, poverty and prejudice faced by her students. Inspired by the true story of Miss Gloria Allen and her work at Chicago's Center on Halsted, Philip Dawkins' Charm asks: How do we lift each other up when the world wants to tear us down?