Book of Mormon Tony Winner Nikki M. James Plays Title Role in Dec. 17 Reading of Saint Joan

By Andrew Gans
17 Dec 2012

Nikki M. James
Nikki M. James
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

The Project Shaw series continues Dec. 17 with a reading of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan.

The reading at The Players Club in Manhattan features Tony winner Nikki M. James as Joan with Fritz Weaver as Cauchon, Tony Sheldon as The Inquisitor, Richard Easton as Warwick, Josh Grisetti as The Dauphin Jim Brochu as La Tremoille, Matthew Saldivar as Dunois, Robert Stanton as the Archbishop, James Beaman as Ladvenu, Rory Duffy as the Steward, Daniel Marconi as The Page, Conan McCarty as Coucelles, Ron McClary as The Executioner, Roberto Cambeiro as Stogumber, Bruch Reed as Bluebeard, Jeff Ronan as Poulengey and The Soldier, Michael McCorry Rose as D'Estivet, Michael Selkirk as Baudricourt and Brian Sgambati as La Hire.

Roberta Maxwell narrates; Roma Torre of NY1 introduces the evening. Show time is 7 PM.

David Staller, the acclaimed singer-actor who has produced and directed all of the Project Shaw offerings, handles those same duties for this reading.

Written in 1923, three years after Joan was canonized, this is the play that won Shaw the Pulitzer Prize. The play, according to press notes, "employs Shaw's more witty uses of irony in his storytelling. He takes us on a breathtaking ride from Joan's first battle to rid France of the English, to her infamous trial. In Shaw's hands, Joan becomes a fully human young woman determined to live life battling not only the English, but also the constraints men have placed upon women in society."

Past participants include Blair Brown, Mark Kudisch, Kerry Butler, Tyne Daly, Jonathan Hadary, Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Luker, Michael Cerveris, Karen Ziemba, Michele Pawk, Bruce Vilanch, Jack Gilpin and George S. Irving.

The Players Club is located in Manhattan at 16 Gramercy Park South. Tickets, priced $30, are available by calling (212) 352-3101. For more information visit projectshaw.com.