Williamstown Theatre Festival and Audible Announce Complete Casting for Three Productions

Today, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Audible announced casting for three productions: Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler, directed by Susan Stroman; Animals by Stacy Osei-Kuffour, directed by Whitney White; and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, directed by Robert O'Hara. These three plays will all rehearse and have remote recording sessions this month as part of the upcoming Williamstown Theatre Festival season produced by Audible, the world's largest producer and provider of original spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks.

In the critically acclaimed new play Photograph 51, previously announced Emmy Award® nominee Anna Chlumsky is joined by David Corenswet, Tony Award® nominee Stephen Kunken, Aasif Mandvi, Tony Award nominee Omar Metwally, and Ben Rosenfield.

The world premiere comedy Animals will feature SAG Award® nominee Madeline Brewer, Jason Butler Harner, 2020 Emmy Award nominee William Jackson Harper, and Aja Naomi King.

A Streetcar Named Desire with previously announced cast members Emmy, Grammy®, and six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and Carla Gugino, will also feature Joel Reuben Ganz, Joe Goldammer, Carmen M. Herlihy, Sullivan Jones, Brian Lucas, Stacey Raymond, and Cesar J. Rosado.

For the Audible recording, the role of Stanley will be played by Ariel Shafir. Shafir replaces the previously announced Bobby Cannavale who is unable to participate due to a scheduling conflict.

These three productions join the previously announced world premiere of Shakina Nayfack's new play Chonburi International Hotel & Butterfly Club directed by Laura Savia which recently completed its remote recording sessions. The complete cast features the playwright alongside Ivory Aquino, Kate Bornstein, Liz Lark Brown, SAG Award winner Annie Golden, Bianca Leigh, Telly Leung, Dana Levinson, Pooya Mohseni, Angelica Ross, Ita Segev, Grammy Award nominee Jason Tam, and Samy Nour Younes.

Exact release dates on Audible and additional information about the complete season of seven shows will be announced shortly.

As previously announced, this unprecedented collaboration between two industry leaders, forged during and in response to a fraught moment in history, preserves the Festival season in a different format, provides continued work for the artists involved in the Festival season, and produces a body of work that will be made available for global Audible listeners to enjoy and experience. It also marks the first time that an external theatrical season of work will be produced on Audible. In addition to being available for Audible listeners, the Williamstown Theatre Festival season on Audible will be made available to Williamstown Theatre Festival subscribers and donors. For more information, please visit www.wtfestival.org. For more information about Audible Theater, which makes outstanding performances and powerful storytelling available to millions of people all over the world, please visit www.audible.com/theater.

ABOUT THESE WTF PRODUCTIONS ON AUDIBLE

WORLD PREMIERE:

Chonburi International Hotel & Butterfly Club

By Shakina Nayfack

Directed by Laura Savia

With Ivory Aquino, Kate Bornstein, Liz Lark Brown, Annie Golden, Bianca Leigh, Telly Leung, Dana Levinson, Pooya Mohseni, Shakina Nayfack, Angelica Ross, Ita Segev, Jason Tam, and Samy Nour Younes.

In Shakina Nayfack's world premiere play, a vibrant, international group of transgender women band together at a hotel in Thailand to confront the challenges and joys of gender confirmation surgery. Despite the group's warm welcome, Kina (Nayfack) prepares for her life-altering operation all alone. But a caring nurse (Ivory Aquino), a wise couple (Kate Bornstein and Annie Golden), and a karaoke-loving bellhop (Telly Leung) may be exactly who she needs to ignite her truest sense of self. WTF Associate Artistic Director Laura Savia directs this spirited comedy about one woman who tests the bonds of an unlikely sisterhood.

Photograph 51

By Anna Ziegler

Directed by Susan Stroman

With Anna Chlumsky, David Corenswet, Stephen Kunken, Aasif Mandvi, Omar Metwally, and Ben Rosenfield.

In 1951, chemist Rosalind Franklin (Anna Chlumsky) works relentlessly in her King's College London lab, closing in on a major discovery that could unlock the mysteries of the DNA molecule. Undermined by her colleague Maurice Wilkins (Omar Metwally), she struggles to compete with rival team Watson and Crick (David Corenswet and Aasif Mandvi) as pressure intensifies to produce results. Following a critically acclaimed run in London, Anna Ziegler's play is brought to life in a new production directed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman, honoring the monumental contribution of one scientist with two X chromosomes whom history nearly left behind.

WORLD PREMIERE:

Animals

By Stacy Osei-Kuffour

Directed by Whitney White

With Madeline Brewer, Jason Butler Harner, William Jackson Harper, and Aja Naomi King.

Lydia (Aja Naomi King) and Henry (Jason Butler Harner)'s dinner guests (Madeline Brewer and William Jackson Harper) are about to arrive when Henry's spontaneous marriage proposal threatens to burn the evening to a crisp. Wine bottles and years of unspoken tensions are uncorked, and, before the evening is through, Lydia must confront her long-held fears and feelings if she's going to commit to a future with Henry. Directed by Whitney White, Stacy Osei-Kuffour's world premiere comedy marches into the muddy intersection of romantic entanglement, identity, pride, and survival.

A Streetcar Named Desire

By Tennessee Williams

Directed by Robert O'Hara

With Joel Reuben Ganz, Joe Goldammer, Carla Gugino, Carmen M. Herlihy, Sullivan Jones, Brian Lucas, Audra McDonald, Stacey Raymond, Cesar J. Rosado, and Ariel Shafir.

Following his 2019 production of A Raisin in the Sun, celebrated as "an absorbing, watershed revival," by The New York Times, Robert O'Hara returns to Williamstown Theatre Festival to direct this Tennessee Williams masterpiece. With Emmy, Grammy, and six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald as Blanche DuBois alongside Carla Gugino as Stella, O'Hara takes a fresh and visceral look at the emotionally charged relationship between these two iconic sisters. Haunted by her past, Blanche seeks refuge with Stella and Stanley (Ariel Shafir) in New Orleans, where she wrestles with the nature of her sister's husband, her sister's denial, and her own unraveling mind.

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