Cast Set For World Premiere of SOFT TARGET By Emily Kaczmarek

Detroit Public Theatre has announced the cast for SOFT TARGET, a world premiere play written by Emily Kaczmarek, and directed by Jaki Bradley, who comes to DPT fresh from directing the Off Broadway hit All Nighter. Soft Target is a new work about childhood, guns, and all the wounds we cannot see. Told from the perspective of a young girl and the toys that love her, this story is deeply imaginative and brimming with humanity, humor and hope while delving into one of the most urgent issues of our time.

Performances begin with two Pick Your Price Previews on Wednesday, April 30 and Thursday, May 1 and run through Sunday, June 8. The production officially opens on Sunday, May 4 at 6pm. Facilitated post-show dialogues follow every performance.

“When the script of SOFT TARGET came to us at Detroit Public Theatre, we were floored, says Sarah Clare Corporandy, one of the founding Producing Artistic Directors of DPT. Sarah is also cast in the production. “The piece is challenging, healing, moving, and invites us into the belly of a tough and terrifying issue through a profoundly human and non-polarizing lens. It asks us to look directly at the impacts of gun violence on individuals, families and communities and it asks us to seek a path forward as a society - a path that always keeps those impacts at the forefront.” 

“We are inviting our community to come see Soft Target at Detroit Public Theatre and to have brave and exciting conversations, to come together, and to sit with this beautiful play and what it tells us about our current reality”, she continues. “Soft Target asks us to find ways to care for one another, so we can find a way to move forward and stop this, for all of us.” 

The cast of SOFT TARGET includes Sarah Clare Corporandy, David Johnson III, Emma Kikue, Nya Mackenzie, Alexander Pobutsky, Cora Steiger, and Ashley Wickett.

The production will include scenic design by Frank Oliva, props design by Pegi Marshall, lighting design by Mextly Couzins, audio design by Kate Hopgood, costume design by Phuong Nguyen, Make-up and wig design by Cornell Jermaine, and Joe Wright as the Intimacy, Movement and Fight Director. Nancy Uffner is the production stage manager. Ryanne Tracey and Badriyyah Wazeerud-Din are the Assistant Stage Managers. 

The production is being presented in association with Soto Productions.

DPT’s 10th Season began with James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize winning, FAT HAM, followed by the joyful, surprising, irreverent, and moving DPT Holiday Cabaret for the 2nd year in a row. CONFEDERATES kicked off the second half of the season before community performances of Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit ‘67 toured the area in March. SOFT TARGET by Emily Kaczmarek, marks the 2nd world premiere in DPT history.