Shirine Babb Will Lead MY LORD, WHAT A NIGHT at Penguin Rep Theatre
My Lord, What a Night runs May 15 through June 7.
Penguin Rep Theatre, under the leadership of Joe Brancato, founding Artistic Director, and Andrew M. Horn, Executive Director, announced that casting is complete for the New York premiere of Deborah Brevoort’s My Lord, What a Night, which officially kicks off the company’s 49th season in Stony Point, New York on Friday, May 15 and runs through Sunday, June 7.
My Lord, What a Night is set in Princeton in 1937 when world-famous singer Marian Anderson is turned away from a hotel because of her race. But Anderson finds an unexpected host in Albert Einstein and what begins as a simple act of hospitality grows into a friendship based on their mutual love of music and commitment to human rights. Featuring a cast of four playing real-life historical figures -- each with a unique perspective on how to effect change -- this moving play is about courage, justice and our shared humanity.
Heading the cast under Brancato’s direction is Shirine Babb (as Anderson) whose Broadway credits include The Piano Lesson, A Beautiful Noise, Harry Potter: The Cursed Child and Lincoln Center's production of Macbeth with Ethan Hawke. A winner of the Helen Hayes Award, she has worked opposite such revered classical actors as Sir Derek Jacobi, Patrick Page, and John Douglas Thompson.
Nora Cole (starring as Mary Church Terrell) has appeared on Broadway in On the Town and Jelly’s Last Jam (opposite Gregory Hines), in George C. Wolfe’s Caroline or Change at London’s Royal National Theatre, and regionally in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Fences, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Doubt. She was nominated for an Audelco Award for her performance in Rinde Eckert’s chamber opera, And God Created Great Whales.
Sam Guncler (starring as Abraham Flexner) performed on Broadway with Hal Linden in The Gathering and Off-Broadway in My Name is Asher Lev, Bug, and The Goldman Project. He returns to the Penguin stage where he starred in The Steel Man, Talley’s Folly, The Goldman Project, A Strange and Separate People, Half and Half, and Around the World in 80 Days.
Portraying Albert Einstein, John Leonard Pielmeier has worked at such theatres as Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, The Guthrie Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, and the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference. He is also an award-winning writer whose work includes four plays on Broadway, including Agnes of God, over 25 movies and miniseries, and most recently a stage adaptation of The Exorcist and a novel, Hook’s Tale.
Director Brancato’s credits include Cary Gitter’s Gene & Gilda and the Neil Berg- Gitter musical The Sabbath Girl (Penguin/59E59); Michael McKeever’s Daniel’s Husband, which transferred from Penguin to Primary Stages at the Cherry Lane Theatre and then onto its commercial production at The Westside Theatre/Upstairs; Erasmus Fenn’s Drop Dead Perfect at Theatre at St. Clements (NY Times Critic’s Pick); Angelo Parra’s The Devil’s Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Off B’way Alliance, and Audelco Award nominee); Charles Smith’s Freed (Audelco Award nominee); Karoline Leach’s Tryst (Outer Critics nomination for Best Play) at the Promenade and at Irish Rep; and Lee Blessing’s Cobb (Drama Desk winner).
Deborah Brevoort (Playwright) is best known for The Women of Lockerbie, produced internationally, and Blue Moon Over Memphis, her Noh Drama about Elvis Presley, which toured Japan in 2024 and 2025 and will open the Tokyo Autumn Arts Festival in the fall. She has written numerous dramas and comedies produced at leading theatres in the U.S. as well as twelve operas commissioned and produced at Glimmerglass, Cincinnati Opera and Chicago Opera Theatre.
The production is designed by Christian Fleming (set), Jason A. Goodwin (costumes), Cameron Filepas (lighting), Max Silverman (original music and sound), and Dana R. Weintraub (props). Alexandrea Hess is the production stage manager.
Performances of My Lord, What a Night are scheduled at Penguin Rep Theatre, a repurposed hay barn, located at 7 Crickettown Road. “The converted barn, circa 1880, has never been more inviting” (The New York Times). Says Mr. Horn, “It’s theatre so close you can feel it, with comfortable upholstered seats and no seat more than 30 feet from the stage.” The theatre is air conditioned, handicapped accessible, and has plenty of free parking.
Shows will take place: Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Friday matinees at 2:00 p.m. (May 15 only), Friday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets are priced at $56 ($49 if ordered by May 8). Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more and young people (30 and under).
There will be cake and coffee with the cast following the official opening on Sunday, May 17. Following the show on Friday, May 29 will be a discussion among the artists and audience.
Cheap Thrills Night is Saturday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m. when tickets are $28, half the regular price.
New this season is the introduction of Sweet Treats Friday – May 22 – when audience members are invited to arrive early and enjoy desserts before the show.
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