Casting is complete for Playwrights Horizons' upcoming production of Mia Chung’s Catch as Catch Can, which will begin performances Off-Broadway October 14. The show officially opens November 1, with performances set through November 20.
The cast will star Cindy Cheung (Log Cabin, The Great Immensity) as father Lon Lavecchia and daughter Daniela, Jon Norman Schneider (Awake and Sing!, The Oldest Boy) as mother Roberta Lavecchia and son Robbie, and Rob Yang (Succession, American Rust) as mother Theresa Phelan and son Tim. Daniel Aukin directs.
Double-cast across gender, generation, and race in the family drama set in a blue-collar New England town, Catch as Catch Can follows two families—the Irish-American Phelans and the Italian-American Lavecchias—as the prodigal son returns home for a holiday gathering. Two off-stage characters, who are Korean and Korean-American, impact the families as they face the weight of generational expectations.
“With Catch as Catch Can," says Chung, "I wanted the audience’s experience of what they’re watching to mirror that felt by the characters; the character doubling articulates and enhances the propulsion of the play. I believe in performance, I believe in the actor’s capacity to inhabit a character to the extent that an audience may stop seeing that the actor is a man, or is Asian, or is 30 years younger than the role they’re playing. The cognitive dissonance is by design.”
The creative team also includes scenic designer Matt Saunders, costume designer Enver Chakartash, lighting designer Marika Kent, and sound designer Bray Poor. Genevieve Ortiz will serve as production stage manager, with Zach Brecheen as assistant stage manager and Eva Shannon-Dabek as stage management fellow.
Page 73 Productions presented the world premiere of Catch as Catch Can in 2018.
Visit PlaywrightsHorizons.org.
