Signature Theatre opened its new production of Dominique Morisseau's Sunset Baby February 20, and the reviews are in. Steve H. Broadnax III is directing the revival in the Off-Broadway company's Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center. The run will continue through March 10.
The cast features Russell Hornsby (Fences) as Kenyatta, Emmy nominee Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit) as Nina, and J. Alphonse Nicholson (A Soldier’s Play) as Damon, Nina’s boyfriend.
Set in East New York, Sunset Baby explores the relationship between Nina and her estranged father. A former Black revolutionary and political prisoner, Kenyatta reappears to claim a piece of Nina’s late mother's legacy. While he had visions of changing the world, his daughter became everything he feared. Now Kenyatta’s at her mercy for his own redemption.
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New York Theatre Guide (Kyle Turner)
The New York Times (Juan A. Ramírez)*
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TheaterMania (Zachary Stewart)
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Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
In her Signature Premiere Residency, Sunset Baby follows Morisseau’s Confederates (2022) and Paradise Blue (2018).
This new production reteams Broadnax III both with Morisseau (he directed the world and New York premieres of Blood at the Root) and with Signature (where he staged the world premiere of Katori Hall’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hot Wing King).
The staging also features scenic design by Wilson Chin, costume design by Emilio Sosa, lighting design by Alan C. Edwards, co-sound design by Curtis Craig and Jimmy Keys aka “J. Keys," projection and video design by Katherine Freer, intimacy coordination by cultural specialist Ann C. James, and casting by Caparelliotis Casting. The production stage manager is Mars Wolfe.
