Obie Award winner April Matthis, recently seen Off-Broadway in Fairview, is set to lead the cast of the world premiere of Lydia R. Diamond's Toni Stone at Roundabout Theatre Company this spring. Matthis, who replaces the previously announced Uzo Aduba, will star as Toni Stone, the first woman baseball player to go pro in the Negro Leagues.
Toni Stone will begin performances Off-Broadway May 23 at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, with direction by Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon. Opening night is June 20.
Rounding out the cast will be Eric Berryman (The B-Side: Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons, A Record Album Interpretation), Harvy Blanks (Jitney), Phillip James Brannon (Junk), Daniel J. Bryant (Broken Fences at Chicago's 16th Street Theatre), Jonathan Burke (Choir Boy), Toney Goins (Father Comes Home From the Wars at Juilliard), Kenn E. Head (Monster at Chicago's Steppenwolf), and Ezra Knight (Mean Girls).
Featuring an ensemble of actors crossing age, race, and gender to portray all supporting roles, Diamond's Toni Stone is a play about staying in the game, playing hard, playing smart, and playing your own way.
The creative team for the world premiere is made up of Camille A. Brown (choreography), Riccardo Hernandez (sets), Allen Lee Hughes (lights), Dede Ayite (costumes), and Daniel Baker and Aaron Meicht (original music and sound design).
Toni Stone is based on the book Curveball, The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone by Martha Ackmann. The play was commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company.
