Westport Country Playhouse Announces Cast For SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING

Westport Country Playhouse has announced the cast for a Script in Hand playreading of “Satchel Paige and The Kansas City Swing,” a jazz-infused drama about the famous pitcher during the last days of baseball's Negro Leagues in the late 1940s, written by Trey Ellis of Westport, CT, and Ricardo Khan, and directed by Ellis, on Monday, September 9, at 7 p.m.

The cast includes Brian D. Coats as Satchel Paige (Broadway: August Wilson's “Jitney” at Manhattan Theatre Club/Tour; “The Best We Could” at Manhattan Theatre Club; “On the Levee” at Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3); Derrick Cobey as Jazzman/Buck O'Neil (Westport Country Playhouse: “Ripcord”; Broadway: “Kiss Me Kate” second revival; Kander and Ebb's “The Scottsboro Boys”); Stanley Andrew Jackson as Art Young (Internationally: “Romeo and Juliet,” “Twelfth Night,” “Henry V,” “As You Like It”); Ashley LaLonde as Moira Hopkins (Broadway National Tour: “Hamilton,” covering all three Schuyler Sisters - Eliza, Angelica, and Peggy/Maria); Kohler McKenzie as Bob Feller (Lincoln Center, Off-Broadway, regional theatre; FX's “Damages”; CBS's “Person of Interest”; Amazon movie “Year by the Sea”); N'Kenge as Mrs. Hopkins (Westport Country Playhouse: “Being Alive,” directed by Billy Porter; Broadway: “Sondheim on Sondheim,”); Mick Rafalski as Franky Palmieri (National Tour: “Peter and the Starcatcher”; “Hairspray: In Concert with John Waters”; vocalist with Disney); Dereje Tarrant as Young Satchel (CBS's “Bull”; numerous commercials; senior at Westport's Pierrepont School); and Rodolfo Soto reading Stage Directions (Westport Country Playhouse and Broadway: “In the Heights”; TWUSA's tour of “The Lightning Thief”).

“Satchel Paige and The Kansas City Swing,” is about the title character who, in 1947, is the king of baseball: a charismatic, superstar pitcher and a legend in the Negro Leagues. But as Jackie Robinson embarks upon his historic first season in the majors, Paige finds his own fame eclipsed and his desire for greater respect increasingly frustrated by the barriers he faces all around him. Set in Kansas City during a barnstorming tour, this jazz-infused tale of one of the greatest baseball players of all time paints a vivid picture of America on the brink of change, capturing the struggle for equality on and off the field. “Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing” tells a powerful story of resilience and transformation, highlighting a defining moment in the nation's history.

Playwright and director Trey Ellis is a two-time Emmy and Peabody-winning filmmaker, American Book Award-winning novelist, NAACP Image Award-winning playwright, essayist, and Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University's School of the Arts. Playwright Ricardo Khan is a director, writer, educator, and Tony Award-winning artistic director.

Tickets are $30. The play is appropriate for ages 13 and up. For full details on the Script in Hand playreading of “Satchel Paige and The Kansas City Swing,” visit:
https://www.westportplayhouse.org/show/script-in-hand-september-2/.

The Script in Hand Playreading Series is supported by Joyce Hergenhan and the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation. 2024 Programming and Season Sponsor is Barbara Streicker. Media sponsors are Moffly Media and WSHU Public Radio. Westport Country Playhouse is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

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