Tonye Patano, Afi Bijou & More to Star in Katori Hall's THE BLOOD QUILT at Arena Stage; All-Female Cast Set

Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall returns to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater with the world premiere of her most personal project to date-the fierce comedy-drama The Blood Quilt. Hall is an inaugural resident playwright of Arena Stage's American Voices New Play Institute, and The Blood Quilt is one of three plays from Hall receiving world premieres around the country this season. Hall reunites with director and Howard University alumna Kamilah Forbes (artistic director of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival) following their Broadway collaboration on The Mountaintop. The Blood Quilt runs April 24-June 7, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater.

Gathering at their childhood island home off the coast of Georgia, four disconnected sisters meet to create a family quilt to honor their recently deceased mother. When their reunion turns into a reading of their mother's will, everyone must grapple with a troubling inheritance. Stitched with history and ritual, laughter and tears, will their "blood quilt" bind the family together or tear them apart forever?

The Jernigan sisters will be played by Tonye Patano (Heylia James on Showtime's Weeds, recently The Public Theater/American Repertory Theater's Father Comes Home From The Wars) as Clementine, the eldest sister; Caroline Clay (Broadway's The Royal Family) as Gio, the second sister; Nikiya Mathis (Alliance Theatre's By The Way, Meet Vera Stark) as Cassan, the third sister and Meeya Davis (a recent graduate of Rutgers University) as Amber, the youngest sister. Afi Bijou (Broadway's Holler If Ya Hear Me and Fela!) will play Cassan's teenage daughter Zambia.

"In this moment in time, baby boomers are experiencing the slow dance of death in the older generation as well as the shock of the unexpected death of a parent," reflects Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith. "Katori's story of four complex sisters delves into this issue and all its implications fearlessly and beautifully. This is a very personal play-personal for Arena as well, as the very first reading was held here and now we have the distinct pleasure to produce its world premiere."

"I am so thrilled to be working with such an amazing ensemble of women. This is an invaluable opportunity to illuminate the voices, stories and folklore of such a rich and lush culture," shares Forbes. "I am also thrilled to be collaborating with blues/folk/rock musician Toshi Reagon (daughter of Sweet Honey in the Rock Founder Bernice Johnson Reagon), as her knowledge of Geechee/Gullah history is only going to elevate the authenticity of the world that we will weave at Arena."

"I'm honored that The Blood Quilt is premiering at Arena Stage as part of the 65th anniversary season," says Hall. "Writing the play was a transformative experience for me, driving me to learn about the rich, cultural heritage of African-American quilters that extends even throughout my own family. I love each and every one of the Jernigan sisters as if they were my own, and I'm excited to share this new piece with D.C.-area audiences."

Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad will serve as Honorary Chair for The Blood Quilt World Premiere Celebration on May 7, 2015, joining Event Chair and Arena Stage Board member Shawna Watley (Senior Policy Advisor with Holland & Knight). For additional details, please see the Special Events section below.

Katori Hall (Playwright) is a writer-performer hailing from Memphis, Tennessee. Hall's plays include The Mountaintop (2010 Olivier Award for Best New Play), which ran on Broadway in 2011 starring Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson, Hurt Village (2011 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Children of Killers, Hoodoo Love, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, WHADDABLOODCLOT!!!, Our Lady of Kibeho, Pussy Valley and The Blood Quilt. She is an inaugural resident playwright through Arena Stage's American Voices New Play Institute. Her additional awards include the Lark Play Development Center Playwrights of New York (PoNY) Fellowship, Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama, Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award and Columbia University John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement. She was a participant of the Sundance Screenwriters' Lab, where her play Hurt Village was developed into a film, and also Sundance's inaugural Episodic Story Lab, where she developed her television show The Dial. Katori is currently developing Stephen L. Carter's number one national best-seller The Emperor of Ocean Park into a television series for John Wells Productions. The Mountaintop and Katori Hall: Plays One are published by Methuen Drama. Katori is an alumna of the Lark Playwrights' Workshop, where she developed The Mountaintop and Our Lady of Kibeho, and a graduate of Columbia University, the American Repertory Theater Institute at Harvard University and the Juilliard School. She is a proud member of the Ron Brown Scholar Program, the Coca-Cola Scholar Program, the Dramatists Guild and the Fellowship of Southern Writers. She is currently a member of the Residency Five at Signature Theatre in New York City. Katori will make her directing debut this fall with a film adaptation of Hurt Village, which received its world premiere at Signature in 2012.

Kamilah Forbes (Director)'s Broadway credits as associate director include Holler if Ya Hear Me, A Raisin in the Sun, Lucky Guy, Stick Fly, The Mountaintop and Def Poetry Jam (tour). Recent directing credits include Sunset Baby (Labyrinth), Circle Unbroken (651 Arts), Sweet Billy and the Zooloos (Summer Stage) and Tribute to Marvin Gaye (Kennedy Center). Other credits include Lincoln Center Theater, Public Theater, Lark Play Development Center, Arena Stage and Artistic Director of Hip-Hop Theater Festival. TV credits include producer for HBO's Def Poetry Jam and executive producer of HBO's Brave New Voices. Kamilah is a graduate of Howard University.

Cast Biographies (in alphabetical order)
Afi Bijou (Zambia) was last seen at Arena Stage in Gilbert McCauley's version of Holiday Heart, where she received a Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. Since then she has performed regionally at Yale Rep (Good Goods, Crumbs from the Table of Joy), MTC (Breath Boom) and the Ahmanson Theatre (Fela! tour). Other Off-Broadway appearances include New World Stages (Bullet for Adolf) and Playwrights Horizons (Taking Control). In the spring of 2014 she was blessed to return to Broadway at the Palace Theatre in Holler If Ya Hear Me. Her Broadway credits also include the Tony Award-winning Fela! and Once on This Island (original cast member). This fall she will appear on the new HBO miniseries Crime starring John Turturro and Michael K. Williams.

Caroline Clay (Gio)'s D.C. appearances include Clementine in the Lower Nine and Gidion's Knot (2015 Helen Hayes Nominee for Best Actress in a Play) with Forum/Next Stop Theatre, the national tour of Doubt (Helen Hayes Award for Best Featured Actress) and productions at Woolly Mammoth and Shakespeare Theatre. Her Broadway credits include Doubt and The Royal Family. She has been seen Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, Signature and Playwrights Horizons. Regionally she has performed with Yale Rep, McCarter, Long Wharf and Goodman. Her TV credits include Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, House of Cards (seasons 2 & 3) and The Knick. Her film credits include Everybody's Fine, Sherrybaby and Morning Glory. Caroline is a native Washingtonian and a graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and UMD (MFA, Specialization in Voice & Dialect '13). She is proudly on faculty at both.

Meeya Davis (Amber) is from Detroit, MI and makes her Arena Stage debut. Her credits include Twelfth Night (Shakespeare's Globe Theater), House for Sale (Rutgers Theater Company) and Cyrano (Mile Square Theater). Ms. Davis holds a BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Nikiya Mathis (Cassan)'s makes her Arena Stage debut. Her Off-Broadway credits include In the Red and Brown Water, Marcus or the Secret of Sweet and Fidelis (The Public Theater); Milk Like Sugar (Playwright's Horizons) and Seed (Classical Theater of Harlem). Her regional credits include By the Way Meet Vera Stark (Alliance Theater); The Mountaintop (Milwaukee Repertory Theater); Intimate Apparel (Two Rivers Theater); Eclipsed, The Brother Sister Plays and A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre); Milk Like Sugar (La Jolla Playhouse) and Romeo and Juliet (Villa La Pietra, Florence Italy). Her television credits include Elementary (CBS), Person of Interest (CBS), Madam Secretary (CBS), and Crime (HBO). Her film credits include Compliance (dir. Craig Zobel) and Knucklehead (dir. Ben Bowman). Her commercial credits include Diet Coke "Capture the Flag" (national) and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese "Pregnant" (national). Nikiya is a proud graduate of Temple University and NYU's Graduate Acting Program.

Tonye Patano (Clementine) makes her Arena Stage debut. Tonye appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's 45 Seconds from Broadway. Recent Off-Broadway and regional credits include Father Comes Home from the Wars (The Public & ART) and The Last Goodbye (Old Globe). Tonye starred in the national tour of Legends (The National Theatre) and the award-winning play Ruined as Mama Nadi (recognized by multiple critics Associations for Best Lead Actress). Her film work includes roles in Diving Normal, Ponies, The Hurricane, The Savages, Little Manhattan, The Taking of Pelham 123, Company Men, Every Secret Thing, Time Out of Mind and the upcoming Jack of the Red Hearts. Her TV credits include recurring and guest star roles on One Life to Live, Sex and the City, Eli Stone, Monk, Law & Order: SVU, The Americans and most notably as series regular Heylia James on Showtime's critically acclaimed Weeds.

The creative team for The Blood Quilt includes set designer Michael Carnahan, costume designer Dede Ayite, lighting designer Michael Gilliam, sound designer Timothy M. Thompson, composer and vocal consultant Toshi Reagon, New York casting director Geoff Josselson, stage manager Kurt Hall and assistant stage manager Kristen Mary Harris.

For full company biographies and additional production information visit arenastage.org/shows-tickets/the-season/productions/the-blood-quilt/.

Photo by Jennifer Broski