Meet the Cast of PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, Beginning Previews on Broadway Tonight!

The Broadway premiere of Prayer for the French Republic, written by Drama Desk Award winner Joshua Harmon and directed by Tony Award winner David Cromer, begins performances at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre tonight, Tuesday, December 19, 2023, with opening night set for Tuesday, January 9, 2024.

Winner of the 2022 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic bursts onto Broadway after MTC’s highly acclaimed extended, sold-out Off-Broadway run. In 1944, a Jewish couple in Paris desperately awaits news of their missing family. More than 70 years later, the couple’s great-grandchildren find themselves facing the same question as their ancestors: "Are we safe?" This celebrated work by the author of Bad Jews and Significant Other is about history, home and the effects of an ancient hatred. The New York Times calls it "thought-provoking, heart-wrenching and wickedly funny." Directing is David Cromer, a Tony Award® winner for The Band's Visit.

Meet the cast below! 

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Betsy Aidem (Marcelle)

Prayer for the French Republic at MTC. Broadway: Leopoldstadt (Tony, Best Play), All The Way and Beautiful. Nikolai And The Others and Road at Lincoln Center Theater, The Metal Children and Mary Rose at Vineyard, Celebration at Atlantic, Crooked at WP, Final Follies at Primary Stages. Stone Cold Dead Serious at Edge, Doubt and Appropriate at Westport, Romeo and Juliet at Chicago Shakes, Circle Mirror Transformation at Huntington, All The Way at ART, Mama’s Boy at George Street. TV: “Inside Amy Schumer,” “SVU” (recurring), “Bull,” “Madame Secretary,” “The Americans,” “Orange Is The New Black,” etc. Film: Margaret, Irrational Man, A Vigilante, The Greatest Showman. Awards: Richard Seff 2022, Lucille Lortel nom., Outer Critics Circle nom., Irne nom., BWW Award, Drama Desk Ensemble, Obie Sustained Excellence of Performance. Directing: A Doll’s House Part 2 at George Street.

Francis Benhamou (Elodie) 

is thrilled to be making her Broadway debut after originating the role Off-Broadway. She won the Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Awards for Best Featured Actress and was also nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. Her Off-Broadway credits include: Selling Kabul (Pulitzer Prize Finalist); The Profane (Playwrights Horizons); the Obie award winning Invasion!; I Call My Brothers (The Play Co.); Motel Cherry (Clubbed Thumb/New Georges). Film/TV credits include Arranged, Neal Cassady, Breaking Upwards, Listen up Phillip, “Inside Amy Schumer,” “Daredevil,” “Life & Beth” and “Dear Edward." Francis is a graduate of the Maggie Flanigan Studio. @francisbenhamou

Ari Brand (Lucien)

NYC theater credits include: Prayer For the French Republic (MTC); My Name is Asher Lev (Off-Broadway); The Neil Simon Plays (Broadway); The Lucky One (Mint); Black Tie (Primary Stages); Romeo and Juliet (NYSF); Much Ado About Nothing (NYCT); Scenes From Childhood (written by Ari Brand, 14th St Y). Other theater: Bad Jews (Geffen Playhouse); Arabian Nights (Berkeley, KC Reps); Last Night of Ballyhoo (Bay Street); Diary of Anne Frank (Westport); Diner (DTC); My Name Is Asher Lev (Long Wharf). Upcoming TV/Film: Beautiful and Neat Room (feature). Past TV/Film: “Blue Bloods,” “FBI: International,” “Fosse/Verdon,” “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Other Two,” “FBI; White Collar,” To The Flame, Listen. B.A. Wesleyan University; BADA; LABA Fellow. For Savta.

Anthony Edwards (Patrick)

 is probably best known as Dr. Mark Greene on the series “ER.” Edwards has received four Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Edwards has won three Screen Actors Guild Awards (Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series in 1996 and Best Ensemble Cast in 1998 and 1999). He won the Golden Globe Award in 1998. In the theater, Edwards was seen on Broadway in Children of a Lesser God, Month in the Country (Classic Stage Company), Shem Bitterman’s Frozen (WPA), Harvey (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and Joyce Carol Oates’s Black. Edwards has starred in more than twenty features, including his memorable turn as "Goose" in the blockbuster feature Top Gun. Other feature film credits include: Consumed, Experimenter, Big Sur, Motherhood with Uma Thurman, Flipped directed by Rob Reiner, and Zodiac directed by David Fincher. Thunderbirds, Forgotten, Playing by Heart, The Client, Miracle Mile, Mr. North, Hawks, Pet Semetary II, Delta Heat, Landslide, The Sure Thing, Gotcha, Revenge of the Nerds, Heart Like a Wheel, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Edwards recently starred in both the Apple series We Crashed and the Netflix mini-series Inventing Anna, created by Shonda Rhimes. Other television credits include “Law and Order True Crimes: the Menendez Murders,” “Zero Hour,” “Girls,” “Blue Bloods,” “Billions,” “Northern Exposure” and “It Takes Two” as well as the telefilms In Cold Blood, El Diablo, Hometown Boy Makes Good, Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story, High School USA and The Killing of Randy Webster. Edwards made his feature directing debut with My Dead Boyfriend in 2016. He also directed several episodes of “ER.” Edwards was an Executive Producer of the HBO biopic Temple Grandin, which won multiple Emmys and Golden Globes.

Ethan Haberfield (Young Pierre)

Ethan is excited to return to Broadway after making his debut at the age of 10 in Mary Poppins. Regional Theatre: Oliver (PapermMill Playhouse), Wrinkle in Time (Playmakers Repertory Company), To Kill a Mockingbird (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ) Film/TV: Saturday Night Live (NBC), We Have A Ghost (Netflix), The Other Two (HBO), Sinister (Blumhouse). Ethan grew up in NYC and attended High School at Professional Children’s School, then went on to get his BFA in Acting from The University of Michigan. Thank you, MTC, Kelly Gillespie and David Caparelliotis Casting, Stewart Talent & Bohemia Group. For my family, with love. @ethan.haberfield

Richard Masur (Pierre)

A sampling of his 51 year career: Over 60 feature films, including The Thing, Heartburn, Risky Business, Heaven’s Gate, My Girl, License to Drive, Another Year Together, Before, During and After and Hudson.  TV series (partial) – Kaleidoscope, Bull, The Equalizer, Transparent, Girls, Younger, The Good Wife, Orange Is the New Black, Red Oaks, One Day at a Time and Rhoda. Over 40 TV movies including Fallen Angel, Adam, The Burning Bed (Emmy Nomination), Stephen King’s It, Hiroshima, 61*, And The Band Played On.  Broadway: Lucky Guy, Democracy, and The Changing Room; Off-Broadway (partial):  Two Jews, Talking; Relevance; The Net Will Appear; Fetch Clay, Make Man; Sarah, Sarah; The Ruby Sunrise.  His directorial debut, Love Struck, was nominated for a live-action short subject Academy Award. He is a former National President, VP and Board Member of Screen Actors Guild & National Board Member of SAG-AFTRA.

Nael Nacer (Charles)

is thrilled to be making his Broadway and MTC debut. NYC credits: The Orchard (Baryshnikov Arts Center/Arlekin Players). Regional credits: Prayer for the French Republic; A Doll’s House; Bedroom Farce; Come Back, Little Sheba; Awake and Sing!; The Seagull; Our Town (The Huntington); Angels in America (Bedlam/CST); Macbeth, The Tempest (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); The Merchant of Venice (Actors' Shakespeare Project); People, Places & Things, Small Mouth Sounds (SpeakEasy Stage); The Ding Dongs, Tiny Beautiful Things, True West, The Flick (Gloucester Stage); The Return (Israeli Stage); Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, Intimate Apparel (Lyric Stage); The Kite Runner, A Number, Lungs, Pattern of Life (New Repertory Theatre); Rhinoceros, Windowmen (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre). Awards: Elliot Norton, IRNE. Nael is a resident acting company member of Actors’ Shakespeare Project, as well as a monologue coach with My College Audition. @naelnacer

Daniel Oreskes (Adolphe)

Broadway credits include the Tony-winning Oslo at Lincoln Center as well as West Side Story, Billy Elliot, The Miracle Worker, Aida, Cymbeline, Electra, and The Song of Jacob Zulu. Off-Broadway: Seagull/Woodstock; Russian Transport (New Group); Taylor Mac’s HIR (Playwrights Horizons); Jesse Eisenberg’s The Revisionist (Rattlestick); Twenty-Seventh Man (Public); Doug Wright’s Quills (NYTW); and John Patrick Shanley’s Cellini (Second Stage) as well as his Missing Marisa (Primary Stages). Film and television: The Thomas Crown Affair, Devils Advocate, Abe, and the upcoming A Real Pain (written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg). For two seasons, he played the role of Superfan Marv on the hit show “Only Murders in the Building” and has had recurring roles on “Law And Order: Organized Crime,” “The Sopranos,” “Ray Donovan,” “Show Me A Hero” as well as guest starring appearances on “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “And Just Like That,” “The Deuce,” “Blue Bloods,” and others.

MOLLY RANSON (Molly)

most recently starred in the Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite, opposite Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker. Prior to, she starred in Manhattan Theatre Club’s Prayer for the French Republic, written by Joshua Harmon and directed by David Cromer. She was also featured in the MTC’s production of Linda, Larry David’s Broadway comedy Fish in the Dark, and was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for her critically acclaimed performance in Roundabout Theater Company’s Bad Jews. Scott Brown of New York Magazine called her “pitch-perfect and marvelously restrained.” Charles Isherwood of The New York Times also praised her performance: “Melody [is] played with terrific delicacy and good humor by Ms. Ranson.” Molly starred in the title role in MCC’s musical adaptation of the cult film, Carrie, and can also be heard on the production’s cast album. Molly has also appeared on Broadway in Jerusalem, opposite Mark Rylance, and in Tracy Letts’ Tony-winning play August: Osage County, which she also performed on the West End and in Australia. Her on-screen credits include: “New Amsterdam,” “Horace & Pete,” and the feature film Love on the Run. Molly is a graduate of LaGuardia Arts High School, where she was the recipient of a Drama Desk Scholarship Award.

Nancy Robinette (Irma)

has worked in the DC area most of her career, as an early company member of Woolly Mammoth, and as an Associate Artist at Arena Stage and at Shakespeare Theatre, where she also teaches. Recent performances include Carrie in Ford’s Theatre’s The Trip to Bountiful, and Nan in Jennifer Who Is Leaving at Round House. She has worked regionally at the Papermill Playhouse, The Everyman Theatre, the McCarter Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, the Old Globe, Gulfshore Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and in New York at Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, the Roundabout, and in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime on Broadway. Film and TV credits include Serial Mom, The Three Christs, Soldier Jack, Homicide, “Louie,” and “Up Here!” She received the Helen Hayes lifetime tribute in 2019.

Aria Shahghasemi (Daniel)

 is best known as “Landon Kirby” in four seasons of the CW series “Legacies.” He made his debut as the character recurring on “The Originals.” Most recently, he joined the cast of the limited series “Penguin” on HBO Max. The oldest of two children born to Iranian immigrants in suburban Minneapolis, Aria Shahghasemi studied at the BFA theater program at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Aria then transferred to the celebrated Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Shortly after graduating, Aria booked episodes of “Unforgettable,” “Law and Order SVU,” and “Instinct,” and an Off-Broadway play called Connected at 59E59. He has also appeared as “Laertes” in Hamlet and the independent feature No Alternative, before beginning as a CW series regular later that year.

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