Cast Of WHAT YOU ARE Announced At The Old Globe

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere of What You Are, a Globe-commissioned new play by JC Lee and the second show in the 2018-2019 Season developed in the Powers New Voices Festival. Directed by Patricia McGregor, What You Are will run May 30 - June 30, 2019 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

Preview performances run May 30 - June 5. Opening night is Thursday, June 6 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

What You Are is a riveting, of-the-moment exploration of the personal struggles that accompany sweeping social change. Feeling adrift in a changing America he no longer recognizes, Don scrapes together a living and struggles to support his family through hard work and good intentions. But everything around him, from his younger co-workers, to the technology in his office job, to even his own opinionated daughter, seems alien to the certainties and stabilities he once knew. When a simple misunderstanding at work escalates into an all-out confrontation, Don hatches a plan to set right all the things he feels have gone wrong. Can the people who love him manage to hold him together? Contains strong language.

The cast includes Adrian Anchondo (After the Revolution, The First Grade, A Midsummer Night's Dream, "How to Get Away with Murder," "NCIS: Los Angeles") as Hector, Jasmin Savoy Brown (Shonda Rhimes's "For the People," HBO's "The Leftovers," Netflix's "Love," TNT's "Will") as Katie, Omozé Idehenre (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Good Grief, The Comedy of Errors, Richard III at Oregon Shakespeare Festival) as Sigourney, Mike Sears (Off Broadway's When Words Fail, Globe for All Tour of Twelfth Night, Kiss Me, Kate at The Old Globe) as Randy, and Jonathan Walker (Broadway's Rocky, Twentieth Century, Off Broadway's The Divine Sister, Fran's Bed, Dinner with Friends, The Old Globe's Hamlet, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing) as Don.

The creative team includes Rachel Myers (Scenic Design; 2019 Ovation Award for Best Scenic Design for Skeleton Crew at Geffen Playhouse, Disney's Kim Possible, the award-winning Short Term 12), Elisa Benzoni (Costume Design; Constellations at The Old Globe as well as five shows with The Old Globe/USD Shiley M.F.A. Program including Romeo and Juliet, also Sex with Strangers, The Who & The What), Sherrice Mojgani (Lighting Design; Skeleton Crew at The Old Globe, The Heiress, Two Trains Running, Ain't Misbehavin'), Luqman Brown (Sound Design; The Corpse Washer, How to Defend Yourself, We've Come to Believe, original music for Everybody Black), Henry Russell Bergstein, CSA/Joseph Gery (Casting; Broadway's The Lyons, Off Broadway's Good Grief, Harry Clarke, television's "Black Mirror," Amazon's "Mozart in the Jungle"), and Chandra R.M. Anthenill (Production Stage Manager; Tiny Beautiful Things, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Twelfth Night (Globe for All), Dr. Seuss's The Lorax at The Old Globe).

"What You Are is not only a powerful and insightful new play, but it's also an exemplar of the Globe's expanding commitment to the development of new work for the American stage," said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "An Old Globe commission, the play was developed in our Powers New Voices Festival, where it proved so compelling that it practically demanded to be programmed in our season. JC Lee is a writer of uncommon gifts, a questing intellect, and a passion for theatre as a vehicle for deeper understanding of our world, but he is also a maker of great stories and compelling characters. What You Are asks trenchant questions about the political upheavals that are roiling American life, but it asks them through the personal experiences of individuals we really come to care about. The play generates huge empathy and understanding, and in Patricia McGregor's energetic production, it makes for an edge-of-your-seat night in the theatre. The play is an important one, destined for a rich life in our national repertoire, and I'm proud to have it here."

JC Lee (Playwright) writes for theatre, film, and television. His play Luce received its world premiere at Lincoln Center Theater (with development supported by The Old Globe), and he co-wrote the film adaptation, starring Octavia Spencer and Naomi Watts, that premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. His other plays include Relevance (MCC Theater), warplay (New Conservatory Theatre Center), and Pookie Goes Grenading (Azuka Theatre). He has received commissions from The Old Globe, South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage Theater, The Playwrights Realm, and New Conservatory Theatre Center. His television credits include Apple's new "The Morning Show" starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, "How to Get Away with Murder," "Looking," and "Girls." He is currently adapting Stephen King's "Bad Little Kid" into a feature film for Chernin Entertainment. Mr. Lee is a graduate of Bloomsburg University and The Juilliard School. @jclee1230.

Patricia McGregor (Director) is an acclaimed director and writer from St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Her directing credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream and Measure for Measure (The Old Globe's Globe for All Tour), Lights Out: Nat "King" Cole (also book) and Skeleton Crew (Geffen Playhouse), Place (Brooklyn Academy Of Music), Good Grief (Center Theatre Group), The Parchman Hour (Guthrie Theater), Hamlet (The Public Theater), Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout Theatre Company), A Raisin in the Sun, The Winter's Tale, and Spunk (California Shakespeare Theater), and Hurt Village (Signature Theatre Company). For several years Ms. McGregor directed The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway. Additionally she was consultant for J. Cole's 4 Your Eyez Only tour. She is a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow and a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. She is also the co-founder of Angela's Purse and with her artist/activist sister Paloma McGregor, and she was Artistic Director of Yale Cabaret. What You Are at The Old Globe is supported in part through gifts from Production Sponsors Paula and Brian Powers. Financial support is provided by The City of San Diego.

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