Margaret Colin, Johanna Day & More Board Arena Stage's 2015-16 Season

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces select cast members for the upcoming 2016 productions of Sweat, The City of Conversation and All the Way.

Tony Award nominee and Helen Hayes Award winner Johanna Day, recently seen on Broadway in You Can't Take It With You and currently appearing on CBS' Madam Secretary, joins the cast of Lynn Nottage's Sweat as Tracey following the show's critically-acclaimed debut at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, hailed by The New York Times as an "extraordinarily moving drama." Tony Award nominee Kimberly Scott, seen at Arena Stage and on Broadway in Joe Turner's Come and Gone, reprises her role of Cynthia and joins the previously announced Jack Willis, also reprising his role as Stan from the Oregon world premiere. Sweat runs January 15-February 21, 2016 under the direction of Kate Whoriskey.

Stage and screen actress Margaret Colin, known for her role as Eleanor Waldorf on CW's Gossip Girl and seen on Broadway in numerous productions including The Columnist and Arcadia, will star as political hostess and social lioness Hester Ferris in the Washington, D.C. premiere of Anthony Giardina's The City of Conversation. Michael Simpson, who originated the roles of Colin and Ethan Ferris in the 2014 world premiere at New York's Lincoln Center Theater, reprises his roles in the Arena Stage production and reunites with director Doug Hughes, who also directed the New York production. The City of Conversation runs January 29-March 6, 2016.

Bowman Wright tackles the role of Martin Luther King, Jr. in a new in-the-round staging of Robert Schenkkan's Tony Award-winning drama All the Way, following his roles as King in King Hedley II and Martin Luther King, Jr. in The Mountaintop at Arena Stage. Wright plays opposite the previously announced Jack Willis, who moves from his role in Sweat to All the Way as President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Directed by Kyle Donnelly, All the Way runs April 1-May 8, 2016.

For information on all upcoming Arena Stage productions, visit arenastage.org/shows-tickets/the-season. Additional casting and creative team updates will be announced at a later date.

Johanna Day (Tracey) won a Helen Hayes Award for her starring role in Arena Stage's The Rainmaker. Additional Arena credits include Quality of Life and Good People. She was a Drama Desk Award nominee for Second Stage Theatre's Peter and Jerry, Tony Award nominee for Proof at the Walter Kerr Theatre and won an Obie Award for Appropriate at Signature Theatre. On Broadway, Johanna played Mrs. Kirby in the 2014 revival of You Can't Take It With You, opposite James Earl Jones and Elizabeth Ashley, and Barbara Fordham in August: Osage County. She appeared in the world premieres of Westport Country Playhouse's Oblivion and Yale Repertory Theatre's The Realistic Joneses. Prior to joining Sweat, she created the role of Zippy in Choice. Johanna currently has recurring roles on CBS' Madam Secretary and Showtime's The Knick.

Kimberly Scott (Cynthia) last appeared at Arena Stage as Molly in Joe Turner's Come and Gone. In the role on Broadway, she was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards. Her most recent theater credits include Head of Passes (Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and Familiar (Yale Repertory Theatre). She spent six seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) playing roles in Henry IV Part 2, Ruined, As You Like It, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler and The Pirates of Penzance. As part of OSF's American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle, she created the roles of Dembi in The Liquid Plain, Amira in Party People, Viola Pettus in American Night and Cynthia in Sweat. Kimberly's film credits include Love and Other Drugs, World Trade Center, The Abyss and many TV credits. Twitter: @kimaileen.

Margaret Colin (Hester Ferris) lives in NYC, where she first began acting at age 19 on the TV series The Edge of Night. This marks her first time at Arena Stage and working in D.C. Broadway has welcomed her in The Columnist, Arcadia, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Old Acquaintance and Jackie: An American Life (which was her Broadway debut). She toured China in The Pentagon Papers playing Katharine Graham. She has had series leads on several TV shows, including Gossip Girl, Leg Work, Now and Again, Chicago Hope, Foley Square and others. She saved the world in Independence Day and rocked it in Something Wild in addition to appearing in many other feature, Indie and cable films. Very grateful.

Michael Simpson (Colin/Ethan Ferris) is happy and humbled to be making his Arena Stage debut. He most recently performed as Colin/Ethan in The City of Conversation at Lincoln Center Theater. He last performed in D.C. as an understudy in The Guardsman at the Kennedy Center. Additional credits include The Glass Menagerie at The Old Globe in San Diego, Electra at Pittsburgh Public Theater, Tennis in Nablus at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and The Whipping Man at Dorset Theatre Festival. Film credits include the upcoming Liv and TV credits include The O.C., House and The Cleaner.

Bowman Wright (Martin Luther King, Jr.) was last seen at Arena Stage as King in King Hedley II and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in The Mountaintop. Theater credits include Our Lady of Kibeho at Signature Theatre Company; TogDog/UnderDog at Marin Theatre Company; A Raisin in the Sun at Geva Theatre Center; A Midsummer Night's Dream at La Jolla Playhouse; The Dreamer Examines His Pillow at Shakespeare & Company; The Piano Lesson at Virginia Stage; Since Africa and A House with No Walls at Interact Theatre; Fences at Actors Theatre of Louisville; and Death and the King's Horsemen at Lantern Theatre. Films credits include Sight (Lionsgate Productions) and Vinson (Sainvil Productions). TV credits include Person of Interest, Blue Bloods and Elementary. Bowman is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego.

Photo by Walter McBride

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