THE MONSTERS Cast & Creative Team Unveiled at La Jolla Playhouse
Ngozi Anyanwu and Sullivan Jones star in the Mandell Weiss Forum co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
La Jolla Playhouse has announced the cast and creative team for its production of The Monsters, by UC San Diego MFA graduate Ngozi Anyanwu, choreographed by Adesola Osakalumi, and directed by Tamilla Woodard. A co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Monsters will run in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Forum June 2 – 28. For tickets and information, please visit lajollaplayhouse.org.
The cast features Ngozi Anyanwu as LIL and Sullivan Jones as BIG, along with understudies Jamal James and Carol J. McKenith.
The creative team includes Nina Ball, Scenic Design; Celeste Jennings, Costume Design; Reza Behjat, Lighting Design; UptownWorks – Daniela Hart, Noel Nichols, Bailey Trierweiler, Sound Design; Sijara Eubanks, MMA Consultant; Chelsea Pace, Fight Consultant; Karina Fox, Casting; Kristy Bodall, Stage Manager; and Lucas Bryce Dixon, Assistant Stage Manager.
For years, LIL has observed her estranged brother from the shadows, studying every punch he throws. BIG, an aging but respected force in the local mixed martial arts circuit, remains unaware his little sister has been tracking his career from afar…until she appears unexpectedly on his doorstep. Award-winning playwright Ngozi Anyanwu writes and stars alongside Sullivan Jones (HBO's The Gilded Age) in this warm-hearted and action-charged story that grapples with the fight to build a life you can be proud of. Don't miss The Monsters, an acclaimed new piece that "hits hard and hugs harder" (San Francisco Chronicle). A love letter to sibling relationships that delivers an emotional knockout.
“Ngozi Anyanwu's The Monsters is a physically thrilling piece about siblings, ambition and ultimately, recovery. It is at once funny, painful, and beautiful,” said La Jolla Playhouse Artistic Director Jessica Stone. “What excites me about this play is the examination of hard and soft, big and small – and all the ways in which we need to be both. The extra icing on this particular cake is that Anyanwu herself is performing in this play that she has written, which gives us all an extra layer of artistry to enjoy.”
Ngozi Anyanwu is a multihyphenate storyteller coming fresh from her professional directing debut with The Monsters' world premiere at Two River Theater in conjunction with Manhattan Theatre Club in 2025. Her previous plays include Leroy and Lucy (Steppenwolf; Jeff Award nomination), The Last of the Love Letters (Atlantic Theater), Good Grief (Vineyard Theatre, Center Theatre Group; NYT Critic's Pick) and The Homecoming Queen (Atlantic Theater; sold-out world-premiere run and a NYT Critic's Pick). Good Grief was on the Kilroys List 2016, a semifinalist for the Princess Grace Award, and a Humanitas Award winner. Her play Nike… (Kilroys List 2017) was workshopped at The New Black Fest with The Lark, The Strand Festival with ACT, SPACE on Ryder Farm and New York Stage and Film. She has been commissioned by NYU, The Old Globe, Two River Theater, Atlantic Theater and Steppenwolf, and has received residencies from LCT3, National Black Theatre, SPACE on Ryder Farm, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, The New Harmony Project, New York Stage and Film, and Page 73. She earned her B.A. at Point Park University and her M.F.A. in acting from UC San Diego.
Sullivan Jones is an actor known for his work across television, film and theatre. In television, Sullivan has appeared in award-winning series such as The Gilded Age (HBO), Atlanta (FX), Interior Chinatown (Hulu), Harlem (Amazon), Elsbeth (CBS), and the Netflix series Halston, among others. On stage, Sullivan made his Broadway debut in the 13-time Tony-nominated Slave Play and has appeared in regional stage productions at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Denver Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Berkeley Rep, Long Wharf Theatre, TheatreWorks, and the African-American Shakespeare Company, among others. In film, Sullivan recently starred as Muhammad Ali in the feature film Big George Foreman for Sony. In addition to his on-camera work, Sullivan has narrated award-winning audiobooks and voiced characters for major videogames.
Tamilla Woodard is a resident director at Yale Repertory Theatre, Chair of the Acting Program at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, and co-founder of the site-specific international partnership, PopUP Theatrics. Recent credits include Zora Neale Hurston's world-premiere musical SPUNK at Yale Rep. Tamilla has directed at theatres nationally and internationally, including at WP Theater, Alliance Theatre, Guthrie, Baltimore Center Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Folger Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem, and Clubbed Thumb, among others. Represented in film and other media by the concert film Weightless by Bay Area's own The Kilbanes. Tamilla is a proud board member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, previously named one of 50 Women to Watch on Broadway, and is a recipient of the Josephine Abady Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women.
Adesola Osakalumi's choreography credits include Skeleton Crew (Broadway, Manhattan Theatre Club); Akinola (Guggenheim); Sweetwater (National Black Theatre); The Wash (New Federal Theatre); Cullud Wattah, Coal Country, Othello (Public Theater); Leroy and Lucy (Steppenwolf); The Grove (Huntington); Syncing Ink (Victoria Theater); runboyrun, Eyewitness Blues (NYTW); Good Grief (Vineyard); Jam on the Groove (City Center & Minetta Lane); School of Rock (2003 film). He is the recipient of a Bessie Award and a Drama Desk nominee.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to an international leader in innovative theatre and has provided a welcoming home for emerging and established artists since 1968. Over six million people have enjoyed more than 500 shows at Berkeley Rep, including 88 world premieres. Berkeley Rep's shows have gone on to win eight Tony Awards, nine Obie Awards, 11 Drama Desk Awards, one Grammy Award, one Pulitzer Prize, and many other honors. Berkeley Rep received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work was launched in 2012. Berkeley Rep's School of Theatre ensures broad access to dynamic arts educational activities, especially for Bay Area youth, and provides immersive training for current and future theatre makers. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org.
La Jolla Playhouse is a place where artists and audiences come together to create what's new and next in the American theatre, from Tony Award-winning productions to imaginative programs for young audiences, to interactive experiences outside our theatre walls. Founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, the Playhouse is currently led by Artistic Director Jessica Stone and Managing Director Debby Buchholz. La Jolla Playhouse is internationally renowned for the development of new plays and musicals, including mounting 130 world premieres, commissioning 70 new works, and sending 37 productions to Broadway, garnering a total of 42 Tony Awards, as well as the 1993 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Learn more at lajollaplayhouse.org.
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