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After beginning performances August 4, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s Pass Over is set to officially open at the August Wilson Theatre August 22. The play, directed by Danya Taymor, is scheduled for a limited engagement through October 10. The production marks the first play or musical to return to Broadway since the theatre shutdown in March 2020.
Inspired by both Waiting for Godot and the Exodus saga, Pass Over follows Moses and Kitch, two young Black men who dream of an existence beyond their street corner. After premiering at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the play opened Off-Broadway in 2018 as part of Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 programming. A few months prior, a film version of the Chicago staging, directed by Spike Lee, debuted at Sundance Film Festival. It is now available to stream as an Amazon Prime original.
The Broadway production stars Tony nominee Jon Michael Hill as Moses, Namir Smallwood as Kitch, and Tony winner Gabriel Ebert as Mister with Julian Robertson, Alphonso Walker Jr., and Andrea Syglowski as understudies. The staging marks the Broadway debuts of Nwandu, Taymor, and Smallwood.
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Nwandu has modified the play between its iterations. "Though much about Pass Over remains a lament over the lives of Black people stolen too soon, I am happy to confirm that my team and I, along with our producers, are presenting a new version that centers the health, hope, and joy of our audiences, especially Black people,” the playwright said in an earlier statement. “We are reuniting to envision this play again, to tell a version of the story on Broadway where Moses and Kitch both survive their encounter with white oppression.”
Pass Over features set design by Wilson Chin, costume design by Sarafiina Bush, lighting design by Marcus Doshi, and sound design by Justin Ellington with stage management by Cody Renard Richard, John C. Moore, and Angela Griggs. Visit the Playbill Vault for the complete cast and creative team.
