Transport Group has announced casting for its upcoming production of Picnic and Come Back, Little Sheba: William Inge in Repertory, directed by artistic director Jack Cummings III. Among the cast will be Tony nominees John Cariani, who will perform in both plays, and Emily Skinner, who will star in Picnic.
Following the company’s Obie-winning revival of Inge’s The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Transport Group returns with two of the master playwright’s works. The plays will be performed in rotating repertory, and six actors of the fourteen-member ensemble will perform in both plays. Performances are scheduled to begin February 23 and run through April 16 at the Gym at Judson. Opening night will be March 26.
The complete cast also includes Hannah Elless (Bright Star); Obie winner David Greenspan (The Patsy); Joseph Kolinski (Follies); Ginna Le Vine; Heather Mac Rae (I Remember Mama); David T. Patterson (Les Liaisons Dangereuses); Tony winner Michele Pawk (Hollywood Arms); Jennifer Piech (Titanic); Krystal Rowley; Jay Russell (Travels with My Aunt); and Rowan Vickers (Nat Turner in Jerusalem).
In the Pulitzer-prize winning Picnic, Inge explores the concepts of sex as currency, and class as opportunity. Here’s how the Transport Group outlines the play: “When a gorgeous drifter arrives in a small Kansas town, no one is prepared. He brings with him the possibilities and promises—some true, some false— of a life with real options. His instant and incendiary chemistry with a local 18-year old unexpectedly destroys the illusions of comfort harbored by everyone in this heartland’s physically expansive and emotionally suffocating landscape.”
In Come Back, Little Sheba, a Midwestern middle-aged couple’s lives are interrupted by a young boarder name Marie. “Their fragile acceptance of their own stifling reality is suddenly and brutally tested,” read production notes, “as Inge mercilessly exposes the pain and regret of the past that can be unmasked by the mere presence of youth and possibility of the future.”
Scenic design for Picnic and Come Back, Little Sheba: William Inge in Repertory is by Dane Laffrey; costume design is by Asta Hostetter; lighting design is by R. Lee Kennedy; casting is by Nora Brennan Casting. The production features an original score by five-time Tony nominee Michael John LaChiusa.
For tickets and information, including performance schedule and added performances and special curtain times, visit transportgroup.org or phone (212) 564-0333.
