Diversionary Theatre Announces Cast and Creative Team For THE HIGH TABLE

Diversionary Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for its production of The High Table, by Temi Wilkey, directed by Niyi Coker Jr. The High Table will run February 9 - March 5 (press opening on February 18) at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights. For tickets and information, please visit diversionary.org.

The cast features Andrea Agosto returning to the Diversionary stage as "Tara," Monique Gaffney as "Mosun/Yetunde," Grandison Phelps as "Segun/Babatunde," Taylor Henderson as "Leah/Adebisi" and Durwood Murray as "Teju."

The creative team includes: Kian Kline-Chilton, Associate Director; Dr. Paul Whitaker, Counselor; Yi-Chien Lee, Set Design; Annelise Salazar, Lighting Designer; Eliza Vedar, Sound Designer; Kathie Taylor, Costume Designer; Alyssa Kane, Props Designer; Bibi Mama, Dialect Coach.

The debut play from British playwright Temi Wilkey, The High Table is a hilarious and heartfelt story of lineage and love played out between the heavens and earth. Tara and Leah are planning their perfect wedding; the dresses are chosen, the venue is booked, and the invitations are mailed. But when Tara's Nigerian parents refuse to attend, it's not just the RSVP list that is thrown into question. Meanwhile, suspended in the stars, three of Tara's ancestors are jolted from their rest to decide whether or not to bless her wedding.

"The High Table has it all: It's a hilarious, eloquent, deeply romantic, and courageous new work about love, grief, and the power of connecting with one's ancestors. Temi is an extraordinary new voice in queer theatre, and we are grateful to bring her gorgeous new play to the United States for the first time," says Matt Morrow, Diversionary Theatre's Executive Artistic Director.

Director Niyi Coker, Jr. says, "The High Table breaks artificial boundaries, tackles imposed human taboos, wrestles with religious dogma, and above all else it is written from a witty perspective that straddles the gulf between spheres and cosmologies of our existence that underscores the basic essence of our humanity!"

Director 'Niyi Coker, Jr. is a Professor & Director of the School of Theatre, Television, and Film at San Diego State University. He is a recipient of the prestigious Washington, D.C. Kennedy Centre Award in Directing. His documentary, "Black Studies USA," was Finalist for Best documentary at the Hollywood Black Film Festival. His narrative, "Pennies for the Boatman," won Best Film script at the 2012 Madrid International. His latest documentary film, "Ota Benga - Human at the Zoo," received its premiere at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. in 2015. The film won 2016 Best documentary at the London International Film Festival and 2017 Best Foreign documentary at the Nice International in France. He received a Carnegie Fellowship in 2016 and 2017, to write and direct Miriam Makeba - Mama Africa the Musical in Cape Town, South Africa, which was produced by the United States Consulate in Cape Town. It opened at ArtsCape in Cape Town in February 2017 and toured the USA in 2018 and 2019, courtesy of the U.S. State Department and the Carnegie Foundation. Before he joined San Diego State University in 2018, he served for 14 years as the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Chair & Distinguished Professor for Theatre, Film and International Studies at the University of Missouri. Niyi has served as Visiting Artistic Director at several international theatres including: Bermuda National Gallery & Theatre; K3 Theatre, Malmo Hogskola in Sweden; National Theatre of Nigeria; ArtsCape in Cape Town, South Africa.

Playwright Temi Wilkey is an actor and writer from North London. She studied English at Cambridge before training with the National Youth Theatre REP company in 2014. Temi was a member of the Royal Court's Young Writers Group in 2017 and wrote her debut play, The High Table, at the course's culmination. It was produced at the Bush Theatre in Lynette Linton's debut season, and won Temi the Stage Debut Award for Best Writer in 2020. She also co-founded and co-directed the Drag King company, Pecs, performing in the sell-out runs of their shows at venues including Soho Theatre and The Yard & Tate Britain before leaving the company in 2019. Temi wrote an episode of Netflix's "Sex Education S3" for which she was nominated for the NAACP award for Outstanding writing in a Comedy Series. She has written two episodes for Disney Plus's forthcoming show "Wedding Season." Temi is working on the adaptation of the Booker-prize winning book "Girl, Woman, Other" for the BBC and her own original projects in the UK and the US. She is currently on the BFI Flare x BAFTA Crew programme mentored by Russell T Davies, and is one of the Forbes 30 under 30 for 2021.

Andrea Agosto plays Tara. An award-winning filmmaker (Kansas City Film Fest) and actor (International Model & Talent Association), their credits include: Mud Row (Cygnet), A Kind of Weather, Significant Other, Bull in a China Shop, Cardboard Piano, Homos, or Everyone in America (Diversionary), Pleasure Trials, Dance Nation (MOXIE), The Magic in This Soul (Blindspot Collective), Avenue Q (Ocean Beach Playhouse), You Can't Take it With You (Lamb's Players), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (FUSION), and Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (The Coterie).

Grandison Phelps plays Segun and Babatunde. An award-winning actor, making his Diversionary Theatre debut. His credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (CCAE Theatrical), The Ballad of Emmitt Till (ION Theatre), To Kill a Mockingbird, and a recurring role in An American Christmas (Lamb's Players), Fences, Piano Lesson, Gem of the Ocean, 7 Guitars/King Hedley II (Cygnet Theatre), Bulrusher, As You Like It (New Village Arts), "Carousel in Concert," "Camelot in Concert" (The Barn Stage Company), Sweet Bird of Youth (La Jolla Playhouse), I'm Not Rappaport (Patio Playhouse), The Gospel at Colonus, God's Trombones (Ira Aldridge Players), Joe Turner's Come and Gone and the title role in Othello (Octad Productions).

Taylor Henderson plays Leah and Adebisi. Taylor has been performing and working professionally both on and offstage for over 10 years in various capacities as an actor, teaching artist, producer, director, and casting coordinator, as well as recently taking a new venture into immersive entertainment. In the downtime she does have, Taylor enjoys singing karaoke and playing Dungeons & Dragons. "Inspire, Aspire!" Selected credits: A Civil War Christmas (Diversionary), Into the Breeches!, All In The Timing, Twelfth Night and An Ideal Husband (NCRT), As You Like It, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (New Fortune), Home Of The Brave, Under Construction (La Jolla Playhouse), Hairspray (SDMT), The Three-Penny Opera (UCSD), A Little Night Music, Avenue Q (Coronado Playhouse), RENT (Southwestern), "The Acey Deucey Club" (Fever US/Cinereal Productions), "Carnival Row" (Amazon Prime), "Fresh, Fried and Crispy" (Netflix), "Finding Magic Mike" (HBO Max).

Durwood Murray plays Teju. He previously appeared at Diversionary in One in Two, Well, and A Civil War Christmas. He has also been seen in 1222 Oceanfront: A Black Family Christmas and To Kill a Mockingbird with New Village Arts Theatre; Handbagged at Moxie Theater, and As You Like It with New Fortune Theatre Co.

The cast also includes Monique Gaffney who plays Mosun and Yetunde.

Diversionary Theatre is the nation's third-oldest LGTBQ+ theatre dedicated to amplifying queer voices through the performing arts in a dynamic, inclusive, and provocative environment that celebrates and preserves their unique culture, while contributing to an environment of diversity and inclusion throughout the broader community. Since Diversionary's founding in 1986, it has continually provided an inspiring and thought-provoking theatrical platform to explore complex and diverse stories of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning communities in the form of live entertainment that can be enjoyed by all.

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