Director Ciaran O'Reilly's staging, starting Oct. 7 (and opening Oct. 18) at Irish Rep in Manhattan, will feature Helen Hayes Award-winning actor Rick Foucheux as Smithers, Michael Akil Davis, Jon Deliz, Sameerah Harris, David Heron and Sinclair Mitchell.
Performances will play Off-Broadway's Irish Repertory Theatre (132 W. 22nd Street) through Nov. 29.
According to Irish Rep, "The Emperor Jones is the story of Brutus Jones, an African-American man who sets himself up as monarch of a Caribbean island after fleeing the United States following a prison break. The 1920 expressionistic drama is a compelling psychological portrayal of power, fear, and madness as it traces the life of the emperor as he tries to escape the island and the sins of his past."
O'Neill is the late four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning (and Nobel Prize-winning) American playwright of Long Day's Journey Into Night, Ah, Wilderness!, The Iceman Cometh and A Moon for the Misbegotten, among many others.
The Emperor Jones production team includes set designer Charles Corcoran; costume designer Antonia Ford-Roberts; lighting designer Brian Nason; original music composer and sound designer Ryan Rumery and Christian Fredrickson; and puppet designer Bob Flanagan. Last season, Thompson was acclaimed for his Off-Broadway performance as Othello for Theater for a New Audience. Thompson's Broadway credits include Cyrano de Bergerac and Julius Caesar.
Foucheux is best known for his regional work, particularly to theatregoers in Washington, DC, where he has received two Helen Hayes Awards and ten nominations.
O'Reilly (Irish Rep's co-founder and producing director) returns to O'Neill's work after having directed The Irish Rep's acclaimed revival of The Hairy Ape (Drama Desk, Drama League and Callaway nominations) in 2006.
Performances will be Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8 PM; plus 3 PM matinees on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays (with the following exceptions: no performance Nov. 26; and an additional performance Nov. 24 at 8 PM).
Tickets are $65 and $55, and are available by calling (212) 727-2737. For more information visit www.irishrep.org.
