Off-Broadway's Keen Company will kick off its 2019 programming with the New York premiere of Chisa Hutchinson's Surely Goodness and Mercy, directed by Jessi D. Hill, at Theatre Row.

Leading the cast will be 19-year-old newcomer Jay Mazyck, an alumnus of LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, making his Off-Broadway debut.

Mazyck will play Tino, a bible-toting boy with a photographic memory who befriends the cantankerous old lunch lady, Bernadette. The role will be played by Brenda Pressley, seen on Broadway in The Lyons, The American Plan, Cats, Dreamgirls, and The Moony Shapiro Songbook.

Set in an under-funded public school in Newark, Surely Goodness and Mercy tells the story of two friends who, against the odds, help each other through the mess of growing up and growing old. Performances will run February 26–April 13.

Rounding out the cast will be Sarita Covington, Courtney Thomas, and Cezar Williams.

Hutchinson is the playwright of Somebody's Daughter and Dead and Breathing, among other works.

The design team for Surely Goodness and Mercy is made up of Lee Savage (scenic), Nicole Wee (costumes), Devorah Kengmana (lighting), and Sadah Espii Proctor (sound).