SPUNK Comes to Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for Spunk, based on three short stories by Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God) and adapted by acclaimed writer and director George C. Wolfe (Jelly's Last Jam, Shuffle Along). The production will be directed by Timothy Douglas (Arena's Nina Simone: Four Women, Disgraced). Spunk will run from April 30 through June 23 in Signature's ARK Theatre.

"We're excited to welcome Timothy Douglas to Signature with a brand new production of Spunk," said Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer. "We have assembled a terrific cast and design team to bring the tales of Zora Neale Hurston to life in our intimate ARK Theatre."

An unearthly Guitar Man and Blues Speak Woman tantalizingly interweave three tales of the early 20th century African American experience, from the fierce determination of a resilient washerwoman, to the zoot suit struts of 1940s Harlem, to the bittersweet innocence of young married love.

"Our ever-shifting world seems to confront us daily with yet another angle of the human prism through which to view the holistic wonder and complexity of what it is to be a woman in what chronically has been 'a man's world'," said director Timothy Douglas. "With this Signature Theater production of Spunk, I - along with this luminous ensemble - have been charged to honor, embrace, and bring authentically to life the smart and lyrical sass of this writer's Harlem Renaissance heyday - - yet in doing so, it is with an informed theatrical abandon that we surrender to Zora Neale Hurston's soulful language, thus allowing her to level up to a 21st Century sensibility, whereby her clear eyed and sober heroines may proclaim through open throats ... 'Me Too'!"

The production will feature Iyona Blake (Signature's Ain't Misbehavin', Jelly's Last Jam) as Blues Speak Woman, Drew Drake (Folger's The Winter's Tale) as Folk Man 3, Marty Lamar (Studio Theatre's Choir Boy, Portland Center Stage's Ragtime) as Folk Man 2, Ines Nassara (Ford's The Wiz, Signature's Crossing) as Folk Woman/Delia/Missie, Jonathan Mosley-Perry as Guitar Man, and KenYatta Rogers (Ford's Death of a Salesman, Arena's King Hedley II) as Folk Man 1.

The creative team includes Musical Direction by Mark G. Meadows (Signature's Ain't Misbehavin'), Choreography by Dane Figueroa Edidi (Arena's Nina Simone: Four Women), Scenic Design by Luciana Stecconi (Signature's Jesus Christ Superstar); Lighting Design by Sherrice Mojgani (Signature's Ain't Misbehavin'); Costume Design by Kendra Rai (New Victory Theater's Three Little Birds); Sound Design by Ryan Hickey (Signature's Grand Hotel); Fight Choreography by Cliff Williams III (Arena's Disgraced); Casting by Kelly Crandall d'Amboise; Production Assistant Sophia Lewin Adams and Production Stage Manager Brandon Prendergast.