John Gallagher, Jr., Stark Sands, Adrian Blake Enscoe & Wayne Duvall to Star in SWEPT AWAY at Arena Stage

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has revealed the principal cast for its fall/winter 2023 production of Swept Away. Reuniting from the 2022 Berkeley Repertory Theatre world premiere and making their Arena Stage debuts, Swept Away will star Tony Award® winner John Gallagher, Jr. (Spring Awakening), Tony Award® nominee Stark Sands (Kinky Boots), Adrian Blake Enscoe (Dickinson), and Wayne Duvall (O Brother, Where Art Thou?).

 

“One of our favorite things at Arena Stage is finding new artists and audiences for the stories we are blessed to help tell,” said Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage Executive Producer and President of the Corporation. “Swept Away allows us to offer a welcoming embrace to The Avett Brothers and a whole new group of friends to share what we all know to be true: musical storytelling at its best.”

 

Written by Tony Award® winner John Logan (Red, Moulin Rouge! The Musical), directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, American Idiot), with music and lyrics by "America's Biggest Roots Band" (Rolling Stone) The Avett Brothers, Swept Away will run November 25 – December 30, 2023, in the Kreeger Theater. 

 

“I am beyond thrilled that Johnny, Stark, Adrian, and Wayne are returning to Swept Away for our East Coast premiere at Arena Stage,” said Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers. “Washington, D.C., audiences will have the opportunity to experience their profound performances in this very special event.”

 

Set in 1888, Swept Away follows four survivors—a young man in search of adventure, his big brother who has sworn to protect him, a captain at the end of a long career at sea, and a worldly first mate who has fallen from grace—after a violent storm sinks their whaling ship off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts. How far will they go to stay alive? And can they live with the consequences? With music and lyrics from The Avett Brothers, whose 2004 “Mignonette” was inspired by an 1884 shipwreck and the struggle of four men to survive, Swept Away is an electrifying, soul-stirring new musical exploring how facing tragedy can open the door to forgiveness… if only we’ll let it.

 

The complete cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.

 

Tickets to Swept Away are currently available through an Arena Stage 2023/24 Season subscription at arenastage.org/subscribe. Packages start at only three shows and include subscriber benefits such as priority access to the best seats, fee-free exchanges, and discounts on parking and drink coupons.

 

Tickets are also now available for groups of 10+. Contact Arena Stage Group Sales at groups@arenastage.org or 202-488-4380 to book your group visit today.

 

Single tickets go on sale for Swept Away, as well as Arena Stage’s entire 2023/24 Season, beginning Tuesday, June 27, at 2 p.m. ET, at arenastage.org/season. They may also be purchased by phone at 202-488-3300, or in person at the Sales Office at 1101 Sixth Street, SW, D.C., Tuesday–Sunday, 12–8 p.m.

 

BIOGRAPHIES

 

Wayne Duvall

(Captain) is excited to be coming back to the city of his birth, making his Arena Stage debut reprising his role in Swept Away. On Broadway, Wayne was seen in 1984. Off-Broadway credits include the critically acclaimed The Legend of Georgia McBride and the Encores! productions of Big River and Of Thee I Sing. Regionally, Wayne originated roles in the musicals Bonnie & Clyde and Bright Star. He also starred in The Cake w/ Faith Prince at La Jolla Playhouse and Signature’s production of Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill w/ Christine Lahti. Some of Wayne’s notable film and television appearances are O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Lincoln, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Hunt, Billions, The Blacklist, and The Righteous Gemstones.

 

Adrian Blake Enscoe

(Little Brother) starred opposite Hailee Steinfeld and Jane Krakowski in David Gordon Green’s Peabody Award-winning Dickinson for Apple TV+. He recently shot the lead in the independent film Breed of Greed, directed by Ralph Hemecker. Adrian recently performed on stage in the world premiere of the musical Swept Away at Berkeley Rep. Since graduating from Carnegie Mellon's undergraduate acting program, Adrian has landed roles in Carter Smith’s independent film Jamie Marks Is Dead opposite Cameron Monaghan and MORGAN SAYLOR and on Jenji Kohan's Netflix show Orange Is the New Black. He has been seen in supporting roles in independent films The Greens Are Gone and Seeds, among others. On the theater side, Adrian recently played the lead in musical Billy and the Killers at HERE Arts Center in New York City. He was also the lead in the Pipeline Theatre Company’s musical Folk Wandering also in New York City. 

 

John Gallagher, Jr.

(Mate) won a 2007 Tony Award® for his role in the groundbreaking rock musical Spring Awakening. Other Broadway credits include Long Day’s Journey into Night, Jerusalem, Green Day’s American Idiot, and Rabbit Hole. Off-Broadway credits include Farragut North, Port Authority, and Kimberly Akimbo. He starred in Aaron Sorkin’s HBO drama series The Newsroom, as well as the acclaimed miniseries Olive Kitteridge. He has appeared in such films as Underwater, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Hush, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Short Term 12, Margaret, and Pieces of April. John’s two albums of original music, Six Day Hurricane and 8th and Jane are both available to stream online.

 

Stark Sands

(Big Brother)’s Broadway credits include & Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird, Kinky Boots (Tony Award® nomination, Grammy Award winner), American Idiot, Journey’s End (Tony Award® nomination, Theatre World Award winner). Off-Broadway: Twelfth Night (Public Theater), The Tempest (Classic Stage Company, AEA Bayfield Award). Film: The Post; Inside Llewyn Davis; Flags of Our Fathers; Die, Mommie, Die!; Shall We Dance; 11:14. Television: Minority Report, Generation Kill, Nip/Tuck, Six Feet Under. 

 

PERFORMANCE DETAILS: 

 

SWEPT AWAY

Book by John Logan
Music and Lyrics by The Avett Brothers
Directed by Michael Mayer
By Special Arrangement with Matthew Masten, Sean Hudock, and Madison Wells Live

In the Kreeger Theater | November 25 – December 30, 2023

 

ABOUT: When a violent storm sinks their whaling ship off the coast of New Bedford, Mass., the four survivors face a reckoning: how far will they go to stay alive? And can they live with the consequences? With music and lyrics from The Avett Brothers (“America’s Biggest Roots Band,” Rolling Stone), whose 2004 “Mignonette” was inspired by an 1884 shipwreck and the struggle of four men to survive, Swept Away is an electrifying, soul-stirring new musical exploring how facing tragedy can open the door to forgiveness… if only we’ll let it.

 

CAST:

Captain: Wayne Duvall*

Little Brother: Adrian Blake Enscoe*

Mate: John Gallagher, Jr.*

Big Brother: Stark Sands*

 

*Members of Actors’ Equity Association 

 

 

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, is a national center dedicated to American voices and artists. Arena Stage produces plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays and impacting the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement. Now in its eighth decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000. arenastage.org

 

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