Play On Shakespeare & The Acting Company Announce Casting for 2025 Repertory Tour

The Acting Company, in partnership with Play On Shakespeare, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to exploring the world of Shakespeare through modern verse translation, has announced casting and dates for the 2025 repertory tour.

The repertory will tour across the US this winter and spring. The Comedy of Errors, in a modern verse translation by Christina Anderson, is directed by The Acting Company's Producing Director Devin Brain, and produced in partnership with Play On Shakespeare. August Wilson's Two Trains Running is directed by Lili-Anne Brown.

The cast for the 2025 repertory tour features J'Laney Allen as Wolf and Dromio (Twelfth Night (Classical Theatre of Harlem, Audelco Nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Play)), Chuckie Benson as Hambone and Dromio (Forbidden Broadway's Spamilton (First National Tour), DreamGirls (McCarter, Goodspeed) RENT, Once on This Island, The Three Musketeers (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Wiz (Kokandy Productions, Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Actor in a Supporting Role)), Diana Coates as Luciana (The Nacirema Society (Goodman Theatre), Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing (Great River Shakespeare Festival), Henry V and The Winter's Tale (First Folio), Our Town, Into the Breeches (Asolo Repertory Theatre). TV: “Chicago Med,” “Chicago Fire,” “Emperor of Ocean Park”), Brian D. Coats as Holloway and others (August Wilson's Jitney (Broadway National Tour with Manhattan Theatre Club) and King Hedley II, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Seven Guitars (Two River Theater), the best we could (A Family Tragedy) (Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3), The Bacchae, The First Noel, (The Public Theater). TV: “Luke Cage”, “Boardwalk Empire”, “Law & Order”), Robert Cornelius as West and others (August Wilson's Jitney (Arkansas Rep) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Signature Theatre), Dreamgirls (Goodspeed and McCarter), Her Honor, Jane Byrne (Lookingglass Theatre Company), Lottery Day (Goodman Theatre), Total Bent (About Face and Haven Theatre, Joseph Jefferson Award nomination). TV: “The Chi,” all three seasons of “South Side,” “Chicago PD,” “Shameless,” and “Turks”), James Milord as Sterling and Antipholus (August Wilson's King Hedley II (Actors Shakespeare Project, New England Theatre Critics Award) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington, Norton Nomination), K-I-S-S-I-N-G., and Common Ground Revisited (also Huntington Theatre). Film: Salem's Lot, Honest Thief, Proud Mary, The Brotherhood), Jeffrey Rashad as Antipholus. (A Christmas Carol in Harlem (Classical Theatre of Harlem), The Comedy of Errors, Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew (The Old Globe), Michael A. Shepperd as Memphis and Dr. Pinch (Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors. Regional: Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan; Caroline, or Change; The Whipping Man, TV: “NCIS: Origins,” “Bosch,” “Why Women Kill,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Hot In Cleveland,” “Wizards of Waverly Place,” “Monk,” “Criminal Minds.” Also an award-winning director theatrical director), and DeAnna Supplee as Risa and Adriana (American Rot (La Mama), The Trojan Women (The Flea), Look/Alive (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). TV: “Elsbeth,” “Law and Order: SVU”).

The Comedy of Errors will be directed by Devin Brain (Othello, Julius Caesar, My Antonia (an adaptation of the Willa Cather novel), Macbeth, You / Emma (an adaptation of Madame Bovary), Exposure (an exploration of the life and work of Francesca Woodman), Bones in the Basket (an original adaptation of Russian Fairy Tales). August Wilson's Two Trains Running will be directed by Lili-Anne Brown (The Nacirema Society…, School Girls, or The African Mean Girls Play and the world premieres of Ike Holter's I Hate It Here and Lottery Day (Goodman Theatre); Dreamgirls (McCarter Theater and Goodspeed Musicals), FELA! (Olney Theater).

Shakespeare's quintessential comedy, this farcical tale of separated families and mistaken identities delights audiences young and old. Antipholus and his servant, Dromio, travel in search of a long-lost family member, only to get mixed up in a madcap race against the clock, love-at-first-double-take, run-ins with local law enforcement, and double trouble – times two. Christina Anderson's translation maintains all we love about Shakespeare's language even as it updates the jokes and wordplay, breathing new life into the double (and triple) entendres. This madcap whirl through bawdy adventures, mad scientists, romance, heartfelt reunions, and even a few happy endings will excite and titillate any audience. Additional support for The Comedy of Errors is provided by the Hitz Foundation and Play On Shakespeare.

The Comedy of Errors will tour alongside August Wilson's Two Trains Running. From the author of “The Piano Lesson” and “Fences” comes the story of Memphis Lee, a diner owner in a historically black neighborhood in Pittsburgh at the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, who must decide if he should allow the government to take over his building or sell the property to a ruthless businessman. Full of vivid characters, joy, hope, love, and perseverance, this Tony-nominated play celebrates the spirit, laughter, heart, and resilience of the people who make our country great even when faced with overwhelming odds.

All dates are listed below. The national tour will feature a repertory celebrating the irrepressible human spirit in the face of challenges both serious and ridiculous in a pair of plays by two of the most passionate iconoclasts of the Western Canon. The Acting Company's productions will explore the stresses of economic and social turmoil, revealing how family and community can rise above the struggles to survive to find joy in the middle of the storm. These contrasting productions are hilarious and moving, filled with both social commentary and light-hearted laughter.

Kent Gash, Artistic Director at The Acting Company: “Our directors Lili-Anne Brown and Devin Brain have assembled extraordinary actors for our national tour, and I'm thrilled! Both of these plays continue the rich heritage of repertory touring that The Acting Company has brought to our country for over fifty years. Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, translated by Christina Anderson and August Wilson's Two Trains Running are accessible plays full of soaring language, terrific and surprising characters seeking places where they can belong, and people that they can belong to. I am especially pleased to pair August Wilson with William Shakespeare (and Christina Anderson), all iconoclastic poets of the theatre. Thanks to the commission by Play On Shakespeare, Christina Anderson's vibrant translation of The Comedy of Errors highlights her contemporary syntax while being faithful to the classic original. All the comedy, clowning, hijinks, hilarity, and poetry are delightfully intact. In Wilson, Anderson and Shakespeare, language is the deepest expression of the soul and language soars, sings, and joyously moves us in live theater as it does in no other medium.”

Sally Cade Holmes, Director of Partnerships at Play On Shakespeare: “The Acting Company's long history of touring productions full of artistry and craft makes them a perfect partner for Play On Shakespeare's mission to expand access to these timeless stories. Christina Anderson's translation of The Comedy of Errors is sure to delight and inspire audiences across the country.”

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