Shanice Williams, who starred in NBC's 2015 broadcast of The Wiz Live, will make her New York stage debut in in Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj’s Little Rock at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture this May. The play brings to life the true story of the historic Little Rock Nine, a group of brave black students from Little Rock, Arkansas, who tested the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision by attending the city’s formerly segregated central high school in 1957.
Written and directed by Maharaj, Little Rock is scheduled to begin performances May 30 ahead of a June 14 opening night. The Off-Broadway engagement is scheduled to play through September 8.
Completing the cast will be Rebekah Brockman (The Bridge of Spies), Justin Cunningham (The Winter’s Tale), Brandon Gill (Too Heavy For Your Pocket), Charlie Hudson III (A Raisin in the Sun), Crystal Lucas-Perry (Ain’t No Mo’), Quentin Mare (The Good Fight), Ashley Robinson (A Clockwork Orange), and Stephanie Umoh(Ragtime).
The creative team for Little Rock is made up of Darryl G. Ivey (music director), Rasean Davonte Johnson (scenic designer), Leslie Bernstein (costume designer), Anshuman Bhatia (lighting designer), Lindsay Jones (sound designer), Wendall K. Harrington (projection designer), Robert Westley (fight direction), and Nikkole Salter (dramaturg). The production stage manager is Giles T. Horne.
Little Rock received a developmental production as part of the 2011 New Works Festival at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California. It was produced in 2014 at Passage Theatre in Trenton, New Jersey, where it won the 2015 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Ensemble.
The New York premiere is presented by Rebel Theatrical Management, LLC, in association with The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture. For tickets and more information visit LittleRockPlay.com.
