The cast also includes Matthew Rauch (Prelude to a Kiss, Edward the Second) and Darcie Siciliano (Don't Hug Me, First in Flight). Red Dog Howls begins performances May 14 and will continue through June 13. Opening is May 19. Penned by Drama Desk nominee Alexander Dinelaris (Zanna Don't!), Red Dog Howls "deals frankly with the terrible legacy of the Armenian genocide, and brings to light the human toll of one of the darkest chapters of world history… It tells the story of Michael Kiriakos, a young man who is forced to confront his family's most terrible secret, in order for him to move forward with his own life."

Rauch will play Kiriakos, with Siciliano as his wife, and Chalfant as his secret-revealing grandmother, Rose.

Michael Peretzian directs the drama with a design team including Tom Buderwitz (set design), Bobby Pearce (costume design), Michael Gilliam (lighting design) and original music composed and performed by Ara Dabandjian.

Kathleen Chalfant – who currently stars in New York City productions of Dead Man's Cell Phone and Vita & Virginia – earned a Tony nomination for her work in Tony Kushner's Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. Chalfant's credits include her Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Obie, Drama League, Lucille Lortel and Los Angeles Ovation Award-winning performance in Wit. Her additional credits include I>Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, M. Butterfly, Racing Demon, The Vagina Monologues, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, Henry V, and Nine Armenians.

Tickets, priced $42-$65, are available by phoning (818) 508-4200, or by visiting www.elportaltheatre.com.

The El Portal Theatre is at 5269 North Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood.