Atlantic Theater Company’s critically acclaimed, sold out world premiere production of Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew at Stage 2, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, transfers this spring Off Broadway to Atlantic’s Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20 Street). Skeleton Crew will begin performances Friday, May 13; opens May 19 and plays a strictly limited engagement through Sunday, June 19. Click here for tickets and more information.
Jason Dirden and Nikiya Mathis in Atlantic Theater Company’s Skeleton Crew. Photo by Ahron R. Foster
Featuring the celebrated ensemble cast of Jason Dirden (A Raisin in the Sun), Wendell B. Franklin (Speak Truth to the Power), Lynda Gravatt (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Nikiya Mathis (Milk Like Sugar) and Adesola Osakalumi (Fela!).
Jason Dirden, Lynda Gravatt and Nikiya Mathis in Atlantic Theater Company’s Skeleton Crew. Photo by Ahron R. Foster
2015 Steinberg Award winner Dominique Morisseau attends the 2015 Steinberg Playwright Awards on November 16, 2015 in New York City. Photo by Lia Chang
In Dominique Morisseau’s third play in her Detroit trilogy, a makeshift family of workers at the last exporting auto plant in the city navigate the possibility of foreclosure. Power dynamics shift and they are pushed to the limits of survival. When the line between blue collar and white collar gets blurred, how far over the lines are they willing to step?
Skeleton Crew began previews January 6 and opened to unanimous critical acclaim on January 19 Off Broadway at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16 Street).
Playwright Dominique Morisseau is best known for her trilogy of plays about her hometown Detroit. The first installment, Detroit ’67 was staged Off Broadway in 2013 and won the 2014 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History. Her second play, Paradise Blue, debuted at the Williamstown Theater Festival last summer. Her play Sunset Baby had its world premiere at the Gate Theater in London in 2012 before transferring Off Broadway in 2013. In November, she received the prestigious 2015 Steinberg Playwright Award.
Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Photo by Lia Chang
Tony and Obie Award winning actor and director Ruben Santiago-Hudson most recently staged the world premieres of Dominique Morriseau’s Paradise Blue and his own play Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine, and Encores! Cabin in the Sky. Off Broadway he has directed the Obie and Lortel Award winning production of The Piano Lesson and The Happiest Song Plays Last, My Children My Africa, Seven Guitars and The First Breeze of Summer. His Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominated screenplay adaptation of his autobiographical play Lackawanna Blues was awarded The Humanitas Prize, The National Board of Review Award and the NAACP Image Award.
Jason Dirden and Wendell B. Franklin in Atlantic Theater Company’s Skeleton Crew. Photo by Ahron R. Foster
Jason Dirden appeared in A Raisin in the Sun and Fences on Broadway and received Obie and Theatre World awards for his performance in the Obie and Lortel Award winning production of The Piano Lesson Off Broadway. Wendell B. Franklin’s New York credits include Speak Truth to Power, The Desire and Brothers from the Bottom. He was featured in The Lark and Sundance Theatre Lab workshops of Skeleton Crew. Lynda Gravatt has appeared on Broadway in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, King Hedley II and 45 Seconds from Broadway and recently Off Broadway in The Hummingbird’s Tour. Nikiya Mathis originated roles in the Off Broadway productions of Milk Like Sugar, Fidelis, Seed and co-starred in the Lortel Award winning production of The Brother Sister Plays trilogy. Adesola Osakalumi starred in the original Broadway cast, national and international tours of Fela!, appeared on Broadway in Equus and Off Broadway in Eyewitness Blues and Jam on the Groove.
Skeleton Crew features scenic design by Michael Carnahan, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Rui Rita, original music and sound design by Rob Kaplowitz, original songs by Jimmy “J. Keys” Keys, choreography by Adesola Osakalumi and casting by Caparelliotis Casting.
Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater is located at 336 West 20 Street (between 8 and 9 Avenues).
Lynda Gravatt and Wendell B. Franklin in Atlantic Theater Company’s Skeleton Crew. Photo by Ahron R. Foster
★★★★
Critics’ Pick, Time Out New York
“A VERY FINE NEW PLAY!
WARM-BLOODED, ASTUTE, and BEAUTIFULLY ACTED!
CLIFFORD ODETS’S dramas come to mind and so does the great
Pittsburgh cycle of AUGUST WILSON!
Squarely in the tradition of ARTHUR MILLER!
A DEEPLY MORAL and DEEPLY AMERICAN PLAY,
directed with a slow hand and quick pulse by Ruben Santiago-Hudson!”
– The New York Times
Wendell B. Franklin, Lynda Gravatt, Jason Dirden and Nikiya Mathis in Atlantic Theater Company’s Skeleton Crew. Photo by Ahron R. Foster
“ A PERFORMANCE SO POWERFUL THAT THE CHARACTER SEEMS TO RISE UP OUT OF THE PLAY!”
– Bergen Record
“MORISSEAU HAS HEART!
Her rough-edged dialogue has a touch of street poet.
Gravatt is FIERCE AND FINE!”
– Variety
Jason Dirden and Nikiya Mathis in Atlantic Theater Company’s Skeleton Crew. Photo by Ahron R. Foster
“A taut and VIBRANTLY ACTED drama with
vivid characters, keen-eared dialogue, and inside insights into this working class world.
MORISSEAU’S FINAL CHAPTER IS BUILT TO LAST!”
– NY Daily News
Adesola Osakalumi in Atlantic Theater Company’s Skeleton Crew. Photo by Ahron R. Foster
Like LORRAINE HANSBERRY and AUGUST WILSON,
Morisseau creates characters WHO SING WITH THE
VERNACULAR OF THEIR COMMUNITY! Rarely has
dialogue ever felt so much like eavesdropping on an actual conversation!”
– Theatermania
“UNQUESTIONABLY A STRONG, FORMIDABLE WORK!
All four leads are IMPECCABLE!
THEATERGOERS WON’T WANT TO MISS!”
– Huffington Post
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.
Lia Chang. Photo by Garth Kravits
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations. Lia is also an internationally published and exhibited photographer, a multi-platform journalist, and a publicist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Examiner.com, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
