Hartford Stage Announces Cast and Creative Team For Caryl Churchill's CLOUD 9

Hartford Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak and Managing Director Michael Stotts announced today the creative team and cast for Caryl Churchill's provocative comedy Cloud 9, directed by ElizaBeth Williamson. The show plays February 23 to March 19.

The world of Cloud 9 contains unexpected trysts, gender swaps, role reversals and power plays. Victorian repression clashes with liberal expression as the play follows a British family from colonial Africa to London in the 1970s. The tantalizing comedy explores the ever-changing world of sexual politics as it asks what it takes for each of us to reach our own Cloud 9.

Cloud 9 was Caryl Churchill's first international hit. The playwright's other works include Top Girls, Mad Forest, Love and Information, A Number and Serious Money. The Guardian recently wrote that Churchill "now shares with Tom Stoppard the title of Britain's most significant living dramatist."

Before her appointment as Associate Artistic Director in 2015, ElizaBeth Williamson was Hartford Stage's Senior Dramaturg & Director of New Play Development for three years. She helped launch the Hartford Stage world premieres of the Tony Award-winning musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder; Big Dance Theatre's Man in a Case; Daniel Beaty's Breath & Imagination; Matthew Lopez's Reverberation; Christopher Shinn's An Opening in Time; and the new musical Anastasia, which begins previews on Broadway on March 23.

A dramaturg, director, producer, and translator, she has also worked with the American Conservatory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Lorin Maazel's Castleton Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Before joining Hartford Stage, Williamson served as Associate Artistic Director and Literary Manager for Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City.

The Cloud 9 cast includes William John Austin (The Merchant of Venice at Trinity Rep) as Joshua and Gerry; Mark H. Dold (King Lear at Theatre for a New Audience) as Clive and Cathy; Kate Forbes (Macbeth on Broadway and at Hartford Stage) as Edward and Betty; Emily Gunyou Halaas (Uncle Vanya at the Guthrie Theatre) as Maud and Victoria; Sarah Lemp (New Country Off-Broadway) as Ellen, Mrs. Saunders, Lin; Tom Pecinka (Troilus and Cressida at NY Shakespeare in the Park) as Betty and Edward; and Chandler Williams (Mary Stuart on Broadway) as Harry and Martin.

In addition to Williamson, the creative team consists of Set Designer Nick Vaughn (The Royale at Lincoln Center); Costume Designer Ilona Somogyi (Romeo & Juliet at Hartford Stage); Lighting Designer York Kennedy (Rear Window at Hartford Stage); and Composer/Sound Designer Andre Pluess (I Am My Own Wife on Broadway). Fiona Kyle (The Comedy of Errors at Hartford Stage) will serve as Dramaturg.

Denise Cardarelli (Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters' First 100 Years at Hartford Stage) will serve as Production Stage Manager with Ellen Goldberg as Assistant Stage Manager (She Loves Me on Broadway).

Special Dates

Previews begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 23
Opening Night: 8 p.m. Friday, March 3
Closes: 2 p.m. Sunday, March 19

Tickets & Performances

Tue, Wed, Thu, Sun at 7:30 p.m.-Fri, Sat at 8 p.m.-Sat, Sun at 2 p.m.
Wed matinee at 2 p.m. on March 8 only
Weekly schedules vary. For details, visit www.hartfordstage.org.
Tickets for all shows start at $25. Student tickets: $20. For group discounts (10 or more), contact Theresa MacNaughton at 860-520-7114.

For all other tickets, please call the Hartford Stage box office at 860-527-5151 or visit www.hartfordstage.org.

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Special Events

LGBT Night Out, March 1, 6:00 p.m.
Pre-show nosh and complimentary wine (plus drink specials at cash bar) for our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patrons.

Sunday Afternoon Discussion, March 5
Enjoy a lecture from artists and scholars connected with the production immediately following the 2 p.m. matinee. Free

AfterWords Discussion
Tuesday, March 7; Wednesday, March 8; and Tuesday, March 14
Join members of the cast and our Artistic staff for a free discussion, immediately following select 7:30 p.m. performances on Tuesday or the 2 p.m. Wednesday matinee.

Open Captioned Performances
Sunday, March 12, 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
For patrons who are deaf or have hearing loss - free service with admission

Audio Described Performance
Saturday, March 18, 2 p.m.
For patrons who are blind or have low vision - free service with admission

HARTFORD STAGE

Now in our 53rd year, Hartford Stage is under the leadership of Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak and Managing Director Michael Stotts. One of the nation's leading resident theatres, Hartford Stage is known for producing innovative revivals of classics and provocative new plays and musicals, including 73 world and American premieres, as well as offering a distinguished education program, which reaches close to 20,000 students annually.

Since Tresnjak's appointment in 2011 the theatre has presented the world premieres of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway, winner of four 2014 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical by Tresnjak; Rear Window with Kevin Bacon; the new musical Anastasia by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens; Quiara Alegría Hudes' Water by the Spoonful, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Breath & Imagination by Daniel Beaty; Big Dance Theatre's Man in a Case with Mikhail Baryshnikov; and Reverberation by Matthew Lopez.

Hartford Stage has earned many of the nation's most prestigious awards, including the 1989 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Other national honors include Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, OBIE, and New York Critics Circle awards. Hartford Stage has produced nationally renowned titles, including the New York transfers of Enchanted April; The Orphans' Home Cycle; Resurrection (later retitled Through the Night); The Carpetbagger's Children; and Tea at Five.

The leading provider of theatre education programs in Connecticut, Hartford Stage's offerings include student matinees, in-school theatre residencies, teen performance opportunities, theatre classes for students (ages 3-18) and adults, afterschool programs and professional development courses.