Photo Flash: First Look at Huntington's SMART PEOPLE, Now Playing Through 6/29

Huntington Theatre Company concludes its 2013-2014 Season with Smart People, a sharp and provocative new comedy by Huntington Playwriting Fellow Lydia R. Diamond. Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois (The Power of Duff) helms the newest play from the author of the Huntington's 2010 hit production of Stick Fly. Performances of Smart People began at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA on May 23. Due to popular demand, the run has been extended to Sunday, June 29, 2014.

Smart People examines the big question of whether our beliefs and prejudices are hard-wired into us by exploring the intersecting lives of four Harvard intellectuals - Brian, a white neuro-psychiatrist studying the brain's response to race; his Chinese-Japanese American lover Ginny, a tenured Harvard professor of psychology who studies race and identity among Asian-American women; Brian's friend Jackson, an outspoken African-American surgical intern on rotation in one of Harvard's teaching hospitals; and Valerie, an African-American graduate of ART's acting program. With barbed wit, Diamond explores the inescapable nature of racism and depicts the four's search for love, success, and identify in a complex world in this controversial and fiercely funny new play.

The ensemble cast features McKinley Belcher III (Invisible Man at the Huntington and Romeo and Juliet at Classic Stage Company) as Jackson; Miranda Craigwell (Romeo and Juliet at Actor's Shakespeare Project and How We Got On at Company One Theatre) as Valerie; Roderick Hill (What the Butler Saw at the Huntington and Butley on Broadway) as Brian; and Eunice Wong (Faust at Classic Stage Company and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at Atlantic Theater Company) as Ginny.

Photos by T. Charles Erickson

Eunice Wong

McKinley Belcher III and Miranda Craigwell

Cast

Eunice Wong and Roderick Hill

Roderick Hill, Miranda Craigwell, and McKinley Belcher III