Casting is now complete for the Broadway return of Jeremy O. Harris' Tony-nominated Slave Play, which begins previews November 23 at the August Wilson Theatre prior to an official opening December 2.
Directed by Tony nominee Robert O'Hara, the limited engagement will continue through January 23, 2022.
The final additions to the cast are Devin Kawaoka in the role of Dustin and Jonathan Chad Higginbotham as Phillip. The two actors join previously announced original Broadway and NYTW cast members Tony nominee Ato Blankson-Wood, Tony nominee Chalia La Tour, Irene Sofia Lucio, Tony nominee Annie McNamara, and Paul Alexander Nolan. Antoinette Crowe-Legacy had previously joined the company as Kaneisha, a role Harris wrote for her when he was a student at Yale School of Drama and which she originated in Slave Play’s first developmental production in 2017 as part of Yale’s Langston Hughes Festival.
Understudies are Eboni Flowers, Blake Russell, Luigi Sottile, Elizabeth Stahlmann, and Galen J. Williams.
The production also announced that the first Black Out performance for the Broadway return will be December 3. This private, invitation-only performance will allow the Black-identifying audience to experience and discuss the play free from the white gaze. Harris birthed the idea of Black Out performances in the original Broadway run, in recognition of Broadway’s diverse and fraught history with Black work. Tickets for the Black Out performance are priced at $100 or $45. For additional information, email [email protected].
Slave Play has also furthered its guiding principle of “radical accessibility” by doubling its ticketing initiative’s weekly commitment from the initial Broadway run. For the return engagement, 10,400 tickets have been made available for $39.
Slave Play originally played Broadway's John Golden Theatre in the 2019–2020 season, closing two months before the COVID-19 shutdown. The production received a record 12 nominations—the most of any play in history—including Best Play, Best Original Score (Lindsay Jones), and Best Direction of a Play (Robert O'Hara). Ultimately, it did not win in any category.
The upcoming production also has scenic design by Tony winner Clint Ramos, costume design by Tony nominee Dede Ayite, lighting design by Tony nominee Jiyoun Chang, sound design and original music by two-time Tony nominee Lindsay Jones, hair and wig design by Cookie Jordan, movement by Byron Easley, and intimacy and fight direction by Drama Desk Award winner Claire Warden and Teniece Divya Johnson.
Amauta Marston-Firmino is the dramaturg, and Doug Nevin is the production counsel with casting by Taylor Williams and additional casting by Victor Vazquez.
Slave Play is produced by Seaview, Troy Carter, Level Forward, and Nine Stories, founded by Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker, Sing Out, Louise! Productions, Shooting Star Productions, Roth-Manella Productions, Carlin Katler Productions, Cohen Hopkins Productions, Thomas Laub, Blair Russell, WEB Productions, Salman Al-Rashid, Jeremy O. Harris, and New York Theatre Workshop. Mark Shacket serves as executive producer.
