Uzo Aduba to Return to the New York Stage in the World Premiere of TONI STONE at Roundabout Theatre Company

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the world - premiere production of TONI STONE, by Lydia R. Diamond, starring Emmy Award winner Uzo Aduba ("Orange Is the New Black," Godspell, The Wiz) as Toni Stone, directed by Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon.

As part of Roundabout's commitment to foster talent through the New Play Initiative, Toni Stone is a Roundabout commission. Toni Stone will begin preview performances Off-Broadway in May 2019 at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street). This will be a limited engagement.

Toni Stone is an encyclopedia of baseball stats. She's got a great arm. And she doesn't understand why she can't play with the boys. Uzo Aduba knocks it out of the park as the first woman to go pro in the Negro Leagues. Featuring a bullpen of players crossing age, race and gender to portray all supporting roles, Toni Stone is a vibrant new play about staying in the game, playing hard, playing smart, and playing your own way.

Emmy Award winner Uzo Aduba returns to the New York Theater stage following performances on Broadway in Godspell and Venice at The Public Theater. Her performance as "Crazy Eyes" on the hit Netflix series "Orange is the New Black" has garnered her two Emmy awards, five SAG awards and the Critic's Choice award.

Tickets for Toni Stone are first made available to subscribers and donors. Whether you are interested in the best value or VIP experiences, Roundabout has a package option for you. Visit roundabouttheatre.org or call 212-719-1300 for more info. Sign up for Roundabout's email club at roundabouttheatre.org to be notified when tickets go on sale to the public.

Through the New Play Initiative, Roundabout proves its devotion to the development and production of new works by significant writers and artists. The Roundabout Underground program in particular, provides substantial artistic and financial resources to emerging playwrights to stage their debut productions in New York and on Roundabout's stages. In addition to producing their first play, writers receive a commission for a future play, showing a level of commitment to writers' careers and the future of theatre in New York that is unparalleled.

The New Play Initiative has discovered and brought audiences some of the most important new voices in theatre and is dedicated to creating a diverse canon for the future of theatre. To learn more about Roundabout's commitment to the development of new work, visit New Play Initiative. Support for this commission is provided by The Educational Foundation of America. Roundabout's work with new and emerging playwrights and directors, as well as development of new work, is made possible by Katheryn Patterson and Tom Kempner. We gratefully acknowledge the Roundabout Leaders for New Works: Alec Baldwin, James Costa and John Archibald, Linda L. D'Onofrio, Peggy and Mark Ellis, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jodi Glucksman, Sylvia Golden, Judith and Douglas Krupp, K. Myers, Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, Ira Pittelman, Laura S. Rodgers, Seedlings Foundation, Mary Solomon, Lauren and Danny Stein, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, and Dr. Leonard Tow.

A formidable talent to be reckoned with, Uzo Aduba is an award - winning actress whose work spans television, film and theatre. Aduba currently stars as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren in the critically acclaimed Netflix Original Series "Orange is the New Black." Her performance has garnered a sweep of awards including the 2016 and 2015 SAG Award for "Best Actress in Comedy," the 2017 SAG Award nomination for "Best Actress in a Comedy," the 2015 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" and the 2014 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy."

In addition, Aduba was honored as part of the show's win in the category of "Best Ensemble in a Comedy" at the 2017, 2016 and 2015 SAG Awards. For her Emmy wins, Aduba joined Ed Asner to become only the second actor ever to win Emmys for the same role in the comedy and drama categories. Furthermore, with her SAG and Emmy honors, she became the first African American actress to win the award in each category. She was also nominated for the 2015 and 2016 Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini - Series, or TV Movie. The show will return for a sixth season in 2018. In film, Aduba will next be seen in the Netflix original film Candy Jar opposite Christina Hendricks. The film will be available to stream worldwide on April 27th.

She was most recently seen in Lionsgate and Hasbro's My Little Pony alongside Emily Blunt, Zoe Saldana, Liev Schreiber, Kristin Chenoweth, Taye Diggs and Sia. She was also seen in Ewan McGregor's American Pastoral alongside McGregor, Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning. The drama is based on the Pulitzer Prize - winning novel written by Philip Roth. Additionally, she appeared alongside Ellen Page and Allison Janey in Sian Heder's Tallulah, which was released on Netflix in July 2016 after premiering at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Also on television, Aduba appeared in NBC's 2015 musical production of "The Wiz Live !" as Glinda the Good Witch. Directed by Kenny Leon and produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, the production also starred Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Ne - Yo, Amber Riley, and David Alan Grier. Aduba made her television debut in 2012 on the hit CBS show "Blue Bloods."

Before starring on television, Aduba made her Broadway debut in Coram Boy in 2007 followed by the hit musical revival of Godspell in 2011. She discovered her talent for singing at a very early age and became a classical music major at the Boston University School of Fine Arts. Work in theatre quickly followed with critically acclaimed performances at both The Huntington Theatre in Boston and A.R.T. where, under the direction of Dianne Paulus, she won the prestigious Elliot Norton Award for Best Actress in a Play. She recently made her West End Theatre debut in The Jamie Lloyd Company's contemporary adaptation of Jean Genet's The Maids. Directed by Lloyd, the play also starred Laura Carmichael and Zawe Ashton. Aduba was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play for her work in the Kennedy Center / Olney Theater production of Translations of Xhosa. Other theater credits include Dessa Rose at the New Repertory Theatre, Turnado: Rumble for the Ring at the Bay Street Theater and Abyssinia at the Goodspeed Theatre. Past films include the independent shorts Over There and Notes. Aduba currently resides in New York City.

Lydia R. Diamond ( Playwright ). Award - winning plays include : Smart People, Stick Fly ( Broadway run at Cort Theatre ), Voyeurs de Venus, The Bluest Eye, The Gift Horse, Harriet Jacobs, The Inside, and Stage Black. Theatres include : Arena Stage, Arden Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Company One, Congo Square, Goodman, Hartford Stage, Huntington, Jubilee, Kansas City Rep, Long Wharf, Writer's Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry, McCarter, Mo'Olelo, MPAACT, New Vic, Playmakers Rep, Plowshares, Second Stage, Steppenwolf and TrueColors. Commissions include : Arena Stage, Second Stage, Steppenwolf ( four ), McCarter, Huntington, Center Stage, Victory Gardens and The Roundabout. A recipient of many playwriting awards, Lydia was also an ' 05 / ' 06 W.E.B. Du Bois Institute non - resident Fellow, a 2007 TCG / NEA Playwright in Residence at Steppenwolf, an 06 / 07 Huntington Playwright Fellow, a 2012 Sundance Institute Playwright Lab Creative Advisor, is a Board Member at Chicago Dramatists, and a 2012 / 2013 Radcliffe Institute Fellow. Lydia is an NU graduate ( ' 91 ), has an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Pine Manor College and is 2013 - 14 Playwright in Residence at Arena Stage. Lydia was a Consulting Producer for Showtime's season four of " The Affair " and co - wrote episodes 406 and 407. Lydia is on faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she teaches playwriting.

Pam MacKinnon ( Director ) won Tony and Drama Desk Awards and received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for her direction of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? Other Broadway credits include Bruce Norris ' Clybourne Park, for which she won an Obie Award and garnered Tony and Lucille Lortel Award nominations, The Parisian Woman by Beau Willimon, Amelie, A New Musical, David Mamet's China Doll, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance and Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles. Her many off - Broadway and regional credits include Bruce Norris ' The Qualms ( Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Playwrights Horizons ), Donald Margolies ' Dinner with Friends ( Roundabout ) ; Sarah Treem's When We Were Young and Unafraid ( Manhattan Theatre Club ), Craig Lucas ' The Lying Lesson ( Atlantic Theater Company ), Horton Foote's Harrison, TX ( Primary Stages ) and Itamar Moses ' Completeness ( South Coast Repertory and Playwrights Horizons ). Pam is an alumna of the Drama League, and the Women's Project and Lincoln Center Theater Directors Labs, and is an associate artist at Roundabout Theatre Company, as well as President of the executive board of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society ( SDC ), and Board Chair of the NYC downtown company Clubbed Thumb. Starting July 1, she will be artistic director for the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre opened in March 2004 with an acclaimed premiere of Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel starring Viola Davis, directed by Dan Sullivan. In the ten years since that landmark production, the center has expanded beyond the Laura Pels Theatre to include the Black Box Theatre and now a new education center. The Steinberg Center continues to reflect Roundabout's commitment to produce new works by established and emerging writers as well as revivals of classic plays. This state - of - the - art off - Broadway theatre and education complex is made possible by a major gift from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

The Trust was created in 1986 by Harold Steinberg to promote and advance American Theatre as a vital part of our culture by supporting playwrights, encouraging the development and production of new work, and providing financial assistance to not - for - profit theatre companies across the country. Since its inception, the Trust has awarded over $ 70 million to more than 125 theatre organizations. Roundabout Theatre Company celebrates the power of theatre by spotlighting classics from the past, cultivating new works of the present, and educating minds for the future.

A not - for - profit company, Roundabout fulfills that mission by producing familiar and lesser - known plays and musicals ; discovering and supporting talented playwrights ; reducing the barriers that can inhibit theatergoing ; collaborating with a diverse team of artists ; building educational experiences ; and archiving over five decades of production history. Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals and new works on its five stages : Broadway's American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54 and Stephen Sondheim Theatre, and Off - Broadway's Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre. American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Roundabout's 2017 - 2018 Broadway season concludes with Tom Stoppard's Travesties, directed by Patrick Marber, starring Tom Hollander. Roundabout's Off - Broadway season dedicated to new work at the Harold & Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre in 2017 - 2018 includes Amy and the Orphans by Lindsey Ferrentino, directed by Scott Ellis ; Skintight by Joshua Harmon, directed by Daniel Aukin ; and Bobbie Clearly by Alex Lubischer, directed by Will Davis at the Roundabout Underground. In 2018 - 2019, Roundabout's Broadway season will present Bernhardt / Hamlet, a new play by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, starring Janet McTeer ; True West by Sam Shepard, directed by James Macdonald, starring Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano ; and Kiss Me, Kate, directed by Scott Ellis, starring Kelli O'Hara. Off - Broadway in 2018 - 2019, Roundabout will produce Apologia by Alexi Kaye Campbell, directed by Daniel Aukin, with Stockard Channing ; Toni Stone by Lydia R. Diamond, directed by Pam MacKinnon, with Uzo Aduba ; and Usual Girls by Ming Peiffer, directed by Tyne Rafaeli at Roundabout Underground. www.roundabouttheatre.org

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