NextStop Theatre to Continue Season with MIDDLETOWN; Cast Set

NextStop Theatre Company's 3rd professional season continues in January 2016 with the suburban dramatic comedy, Middletown. Will Eno's play echoes the beloved classic, Our Town. NextStop's production, directed by Michael Chamberlin, will open January 14 and run through February 7, 2016.

"To me, Herndon is Middletown; not the city or the country, but what's in the middle," said NextStop Theatre's Producing Artistic Director Evan Hoffmann. "The play is about the suburbs: community, values, and the way we interact with one another. It will hold up a mirror to our audiences and ask them to consider who they are and who and what is important to them."

The cast will be led by Tamieka Chavis as Mary Swanson and John Stange as John Dodge. Chavis last appeared on NextStop's stage in last year's regional premiere of Nora and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Chavis and Stange will be joined by William Aitken, Tom Kearney, Lily Kerrigan, Allen McRae, Rosemary Regan, Laura Russell, Chris Stinson, and Stephanie Tomiko.

Middletown is a deeply moving and funny new play exploring the universe of a small American town. As a friendship develops between longtime resident John Dodge and new arrival Mary Swanson, the lives of the inhabitants of Middletown intersect in strange and poignant ways in a journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and points between. Will Eno won the Horton Foote Prize for Promising New American Play for Middletown in 2010, the same year the play premiered Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre.

The creative team behind the production includes Michael Chamberlin (director), JD Madsen (scenic design), Brittany Shemuga (lighting design), Kristina Martin (costume design), Kenny Neal (sound design), and Deb Crerie (properties design). Natalie Nichols serves as the Production Stage Manager.