The production will feature:

• three-time Emmy Award-winner Uzo Aduba (In Treatment, Orange is the New Black), who made her Broadway debut in Coram Boy (’07) and was last seen on Broadway 10 years ago in the revival of Hair
• two-time Emmy Award-winner Ron Cephas Jones (This is Us, Truth Be Told, Between Riverside and Crazy), father of Jasmine Cephas Jones (Hamilton), was last seen on Broadway in Of Mice and Men (’14)
• Reza Salazar (Sweat)
• Lucille Lortel Award winner and Antonyo nominee Kara Young (All The Natalie Portmans, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven) making her Broadway debut
• A fifth role remains to be cast

Directed by Kate Whoriskey, CLYDE’S will begin previews on Wednesday, November 3, 2021, and officially open on Monday, November 22, 2021, at Second Stage’s Broadway home, The Hayes Theater (240 West 44th street).

CLYDE’S, a stirring and funny new play, a truck stop sandwich shop offers its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff a shot at redemption. Even as the shop’s callous owner, Clyde (played by Aduba), tries to keep them under her thumb, the staff members are given purpose and permission to dream by their shared quest to create the perfect sandwich. You’ll want a seat at the table for this humorous, moving, and urgent play. It’s an example of Nottage’s “genius for bringing politically charged themes to life by embodying them in ordinary characters living ordinary lives” (The Wall Street Journal).

The full creative team for CLYDE’S includes scenic design by Takeshi Kata, costume design by Jennifer Moeller, lighting design by Christopher Akerlind, sound design by Justin Ellington, original compositions by Justin Hicks, and casting by The Telsey Office.

The post Uzo Aduba, Ron Cephas Jones + More Cast in Lynn Nottage’s <em>CLYDE’S</em> On Broadway appeared first on Broadway Black.

Smart People asks whether our beliefs and prejudices are hard-wired into us. The quest for love, achievement and identity is universal, but what role does race play in the story of our lives? Four Harvard intellectuals – a neurobiologist, an actress, a doctor, and a psychologist, delve into the human brain’s response to race, class, friendship, the search for love, and identity in a complex world of social and sexual politics on the eve of Barack Obama’s first presidential election.

Diamond had this to say about her play, Smart People: “I have always spoken to my work being about the intersection of race and class and sexuality, but I always kind of back-ended into it,” Diamond said. “I started writing this play and I thought, you know what? This is about race. I’m not going to pretend it’s a play that’s just about how these people who just happen to be these different races bounce off each other and such is the landscape of America and blah blah blah. This is my ‘there it is’ kind of play.”

Second Stage Artistic Director Carole Rothman released the following statement regarding the upcoming 37^th season: “The writers behind our first two productions of next season embrace a unique and refreshing perspective on the American experience. And I know our audiences will embrace Smart People, the incredibly perceptive new play by Lydia Diamond, a writer I’ve been wanting to work with for years. And it is an honor to have Diane Paulus and Kenny Leon, two of the finest directors working in this country, joining us for the season.”

After its showing at Second Stage, Smart People will also be directed by Leon from July 12 – August 7, 2016 at the Southwest Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia as part of Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company.

Kenny Leon is a Tony Award winning Broadway and film director. His work on the 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun starring Denzel Washington won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Best Revival, and August Wilson‘s Fences garnered ten Tony nominations and won three Tony Awards including Best Revival. Other Broadway credits include The Mountaintop starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, Stick Fly produced by Alicia Keys, the 2004 revival of A Raisin in the Sun with Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Gem of the Ocean, Radio Golf, and Holler if You Hear Me, a musical created using the music of Tupac Shakur.

The post Kenny Leon Brings Lydia Diamond’s Smart People to Second Stage appeared first on Broadway Black.

Previously announced star Sherie Rene Scott will be joined by Derrick Baskin (…Spelling Bee), Nicholas Christopher (Motown), Chris Myers (An Octoroon), Ryan Quinn (King Lear), Daniel J. Watts (In the Heights), and Donald Webber, Jr. (Motown).

Performances are set to begin August 4, 2015 at 2econd Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd street). Season subscriptions are currently available through 2st.com or by calling the box office at 212-246-4422.

Here’s how 2econd Stage is billing the production:

“A well-regarded actress agrees to teach six inmates how to tell their stories behind the bars of a men’s maximum security prison. Sharing intimate and sometimes hilarious details of their former lives, this unlikely group forms a bond — even as the actress’ life outside spins out of control. And when what happens in prison doesn’t stay there, no one is sure who to trust. From the team that brought you Everyday Rapture, this new play features Sherie Rene Scott and six men playing two dozen characters in a constant shifting of scenes, ages, genders and races. Whorl Inside A Loop explores the fine line between convicted felons and the criminal inside each of us, the viability of forgiveness and the unreliability of redemption.”

The post Whorl Inside A Loop Will World Premiere At 2econd Stage appeared first on Broadway Black.