Theatre for a New Audience has announced the repertory cast for its upcoming run of Experimental Workshops/Exploring the Histories at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center. Five script-in-hand performances will be presented each of Richard II and Dakin Matthews' adapatation of Henry IV January 26-February 5.
The repertory cast will star Christian Camargo (Romeo and Juliet) as King Richard II, Tom Pecinka (Richard II) as Henry Percy, Susannah Perkins (Network) as Prince Hal, Cara Ricketts (Time and the Conways) as Lady Percy, Thomas Jay Ryan (West Side Story) as Henry Bolingbroke and King Henry IV, and Jay O. Sanders (Girl From The North Country) as Sir John Falstaff. Also featured will be Heidi Armbruster (Time Stands Still), Jordan Bellow (Gnit), Byron Jennings (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Brenda Meaney (Indian Ink), Ajay Naidu (Indian Ink), Julia Randall (Mr. Toole), Michael Rogers (Robert Mugabe), Jamie Sanders (The Belle's Stratagem), and Krystal Sobaskie (Liar).
TFANA Founder Jeffrey Horowitz said in a statement, “The audience will be limited to 150 per performance, seated in-the-round with direct connection to an ensemble of actors working script-in-hand with minimal scenery, costumes, and lighting. These are workshops with an eye to possible full future productions. It will be like attending an open rehearsal with an ensemble of actors who are exploring and experimenting rather than giving finished performances. The audience will be part of the process. The intimacy of the setting will enable actors and audience to discover together through Shakespeare’s words some of his greatest characters and the worlds of the plays: families, parents and children, the journey from absolute monarchy to flawed kingship and civil war."
The creative team will include scenic designer Jimmy Stubbs (Des Moines), lighting designer Nicole E. Lang (Hanging with Clarence), voice director Andrew Wade (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two), dramaturg Jonathan Kalb, and stage manager Diane Healy (A Doll's House).
Matthews’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 merges the plays into a single work and was last mounted in New York in 2003 at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre. It won Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Play and Best Direction of a Play, with four additional Tony nominations.
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