San Francisco Playhouse Announces Casting For TWELFTH NIGHT

San Francisco Playhouse (Artistic Director Bill English; Producing Director Susi Damilano) announced casting for Twelfth Night, Shaina Taub and Kwame Kwei-Armah's musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic comedy. The musical will run on the San Francisco Playhouse Mainstage from November 24, 2021 through January 15, 2022. Susi Damilano will direct, with music direction by Dave Dobrusky and choreography by Nicole Helfer.

The cast features Tasi Alabastro, Caleb Haven Draper, Amanda Farbstein*, Sean Fenton*, Sophia Introna*, Bear Manescalchi, Amanda Le Nguyen, Sam Paley, Tiana Paulding, Jon-David Randle*, Cathleen Riddley*, Atticus Shaindlin*, Loreigna Sinclair*, Michael Gene Sullivan*, and Jamie Zee.

"In the nineteen seasons since we started San Francisco Playhouse, this will be our first Shakespeare play," said Bill English, Artistic Director. "Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub have taken the bard's romantic comedy, transformed it into an exhilarating musical, and catapulted it into a moment that is both contemporary and timeless, making it a perfect workout for our Empathy Gym. As the Illyrians so resoundingly sing: 'If we open our hearts to each other's beat, what a better world it could be.'"

Twelfth Night is a rousing contemporary musical adaptation of Shakespeare's classic romantic comedy about mistaken identity and self-discovery. On the twelfth day of Christmas, shipwrecked Viola washes up on the shores of Illyria, disguises herself as a man, is sent to court a countess and falls hard for a Duke. As she navigates the gender confusion in all her roles, she finds her true self and true love in the process. Featuring an original jazz-funk score by Shaina Taub, Twelfth Night is a soulful shake-up of a Shakespearean classic.

Twelfth Night was originally commissioned and produced by The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director). The musical debuted as part of the company's Public Works program in 2016 and was presented as part of the free Shakespeare in the Park program in 2018, where it was met with universal critical acclaim, with Time, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Washington Post naming it one of the best theatrical productions of the year. The San Francisco Playhouse production marks the musical's Bay Area premiere.

In-person tickets ($30-$100) and video tickets ($15-$100) are now available at https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/.