Cast Set for THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG at The Kennedy Center

The cast has been revealed for the The Play That Goes Wrong Washington, D.C. production coming to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for a limited three-and-a-half week engagement. The Tony Award®-winning play returns to D.C. following its sold-out engagement in December 2018. Tickets are on sale now at Kennedy-Center.org for performances running July 20–August 13 at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. 

The D.C. engagement will include cast members from previous productions of The Play That Goes Wrong including Broadway, the National Tour, and the recent Chicago production, as well as alumni from the current Off-Broadway production.

The cast features Bartley Booz as Dennis, Joseph Anthony Byrd as Jonathan, Peyton Crim as Robert, Mara Davi as Sandra, Matt Harrington as Chris, Kai Almeda Heath as Annie, Alex Mandell as Max, and Akron Watson as Trevor. Standbys include Brett Cassidy, Kullan S. Edberg, and Brandon Haagenson. 

Producer Kevin McCollum said, “We could not have dreamed of a more enthusiastic response from D.C. audiences during the sold out run of The Play That Goes Wrong in 2018. We are thrilled to return to The Kennedy Center and share the laughter, joy and Mischief (Theatre) once again.”

Co-written by Mischief company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, The Play That Goes Wrong is a riotous comedy about the theatre. The play introduces “The Cornley University Drama Society,” which is attempting to put on a 1920s murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong…does, as the accident-prone thespians battle on against all odds to get to their final curtain call.

The Broadway production of The Play That Goes Wrong opened at the Lyceum Theatre on April 2, 2017 and by its closing on January 6, 2019 played 27 previews and 745 performances, making it the second longest running show in the history of the Lyceum Theatre. Not yet done with New York, The Play That Goes Wrong officially opened Off-Broadway on February 20, 2019 at New World Stages – Stage 4, where it resumed performances in October 2021 after being suspended due to the pandemic. The Play That Goes Wrong received a Tony Award® for Best Set Design, Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Best Play, and the Theater Fans Choice Award for Best Play. 

Winning the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and the 2014 WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Comedy, The Play That Goes Wrong is now in its eighth year in the West End, having played to over three million people in more than 30 countries on six continents. It is a remarkable rags-to-riches story for a play that started its life at a London fringe venue with only four paying members of the public at the first performance and has gone on to play to an audience of over two million people around the world.

Mischief Theatre Ltd. was founded in 2008 by graduates of LAMDA. Starting as an improvised theatre group on the U.K. fringes, they have grown into one of the U.K.’s leading theatre and comedy companies. Their award-winning production The Play That Goes Wrong (Olivier Award, Best New Comedy) is currently on stage in London and New York and regularly tours in both the U.K. and the U.S. and has been licensed around the world. Peter Pan Goes Wrong is playing on Broadway, and soon to tour the UK with a limited West End season. Previous West End and UK Touring productions include The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, Groan Ups and Magic Goes Wrong. In December 2016, Mischief made their TV debut on the BBC with an hour-long special of Peter Pan Goes Wrong. followed by the holiday special A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. Their BBC comedy series The Goes Wrong Show is currently available to watch on some streaming platforms and on DVD. Mischief develops new work for theatre, TV, film and beyond. Visit MischiefComedy.com

The Play That Goes Wrong is directed in D.C. by Matt DiCarlo with original Broadway direction by Mark Bell, featuring set design by Tony Award® winner Nigel Hook, lighting design in D.C. by Jeremy Cunningham based on the original Broadway design by Ric Mountjoy, sound design in D.C. by Beth Lake based on the original Broadway design by Andrew Johnson, and costume design by Roberto Surace.

The Play That Goes Wrong is produced in D.C. by Kevin McCollum, J.J. Abrams, Kenny Wax, Stage Presence Ltd., Catherine Schreiber, Ken Davenport, Double Gemini Productions / deRoy- Brunish, Damian Arnold / TC Beech, Greenleaf Productions / Bard-Roth, Martian Entertainment / Jack Lane / John Yonover, and Lucas McMahon.

For more information, visit www.BroadwayGoesWrong.com.

Bartley Booz

(Dennis). Broadway: Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Off-Broadway: I’m Revolting (Atlantic Theater Company), Hamlet, Oresteia (Park Avenue Armory), The Play That Goes Wrong (New World Stages). Film and Television: The Good Fight (CBS), Bull (CBS), Happy (SyFy), TURN: Washington’s Spies (AMC), and Here and Now (Tribeca Film Festival). 

Joseph Anthony Byrd 

(Jonathan) is excited to be returning to D.C. where he was recently seen as Cab Calloway in SHOUT SISTER SHOUT at Ford’s. Broadway/touring: Kinky Boots, The Lion King, The Play That Goes Wrong (Chicago). T.V: 4400, Proven Innocent, Boardwalk Empire. BFA: CMU. Catch him in Justified: City Primeval on FX. IG: @josephanthonybyrd 

Peyton Crim 

(Robert) was most recently featured in Warren Carlyle’s remounting of The Secret Garden (Center Theatre Group). Selected Theater: A Little Night Music, Brigadoon (City Center Encores!), Finian’s Rainbow (Irish Rep), Beauty and The Beast, Sweeney Todd. He has done extensive work in commercial, animation, and video game voiceover. 

Mara Davi 

(Sandra). Broadway: The Play that Goes Wrong, Dames at Sea, White Christmas, Drowsy Chaperone, Chorus Line.  NY/Regional: Death Takes A Holiday, Into the Woods, My Paris, Ever After; Beaches, Kiss Me Kate, Animal Crackers, Toxic Avenger, Millie, 42nd Street. TV: FBI, Smash, Blue Bloods. Broadway Green Alliance steering committee member. 

Matt Harrington 

(Chris Bean). Broadway: Leopoldstadt, Mr. Wormwood in Matilda the Musical, Twelfth Night and Richard III (Shakespeare's Globe), Harvey. Off-Broadway: The Play That Goes Wrong, Happy Birthday, Wanda June. TV: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Path, Instinct, Boardwalk Empire, Bored to Death, The Good Wife, Gravity. Training: MFA, NYU's Graduate Acting Program. @mattoverthere

Kai Heath 

(Annie) (she/her) hails from Harlem NYC. This is her Kennedy Center debut. Off Broadway:  Kofa in Amani (National Black Theater), Leticia in Blooms (Ensemble Studio Theater), Dawn in Bodies They Ritual (Clubbed Thumb), The Rowdy in On Sugarland (New York Theater Workshop), Messenger in The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. @harlemkai

Alex Mandell 

(Max). Broadway: The Play That Goes Wrong, Hand to God, A Christmas Carol. Off-Broadway: Hand to God (MCC), Sleep No More. Regional: Clue (Paper Mill Playhouse), Bad Jews (Studio Theatre—Helen Hayes nomination), Awake and Sing (Olney Theatre Center), Never the Sinner (1st Stage). Training: Boston University, LAMDA. Instagram: @Mandellovich. For Mr. Krikstan.

Akron Watson 

(Trevor) returning from the Kennedy Center’s Helen Hayes winning Guys & Dolls. Broadway: The Color Purple Revival, The Play That Goes Wrong, Hamilton. Off-Broadway: Fortress of Solitude, Black No More. Regional: Mr. Holland’s Opus the musical, Hang Time. Film: Miss Juneteenth. TV: Empire, Chicago Med. Voice-over: One Piece, Borderlands, The Walking Dead.

BRETT CASSIDY

(u/s Robert, Trevor, Jonathan) is thrilled to be making his Kennedy Center dayboo! Regional: 1st Stage: Columbinus—Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor; The Old Globe: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Taming of the Shrew, Henry V, Trouble in Mind, Scrooge; NextStop: Matilda. MFA: The Old Globe/USD. All my love to my family, Corrieanne, Doc, Mabel, & Lady.

KULLAN S. EDBERG 

(u/s Sandra, Annie) is thrilled to be making her Kennedy Center debut. A D.C.-based actor, teacher, and amateur baker, she is a proud graduate of Stella Adler Studios through NYU Tisch. Favorite credits include Puffs (New World Stages), Clybourne Park (Hangar Theater), and William Wallace in an all-female Braveheart(Broadway Theater Project).

Brandon Haagenson 

(u/s Chris, Max, Dennis). Honored to be going wrong. DC: Angels in America (Arena); Merchant of Venice, Our Town (STC). NY: Afterglow, My Big Gay Italian Wedding. Tours: Beauty & the Beast, A Christmas Carol. TV: The Other Two, Food That Built America. MFA: STC’s Academy, BFA: Millikin. All my love to my family. 

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