MCC THEATER ANNOUNCES COMPLETE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM FOR NEW YORK PREMIERE OF “THE LIGHT”
Press Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Michael Jorgensen / Pete Sanders
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
MCC THEATER
ANNOUNCES COMPLETE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM FOR
NEW YORK PREMIERE OF
“THE LIGHT”
BY LOY A. WEBB
DIRECTED BY LOGAN VAUGHN
FIRST PRODUCTION IN THE ROBERT W. WILSON MCC THEATER SPACE IN HELL’S KITCHEN
PREVIEWS BEGIN JANUARY 23, 2019
OPENING NIGHT SET FOR FEBRUARY 10, 2019
New York, NY (November 30, 2018) – MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) announced today the complete cast and creative team for the first show at their new 52nd Street home: the New York Premiere production of The Light, written by Loy A. Webb, and directed by Logan Vaughn.
The cast will feature Drama Desk Award winner McKinley Belcher III and Mandi Masden. The creative team for The Light includes scenic design by Kimie Nishikawa, costume design by Emilio Sosa, lighting design by Ben Stanton, sound design by Elisheba Ittoop, and casting by Telsey + Company/Adam Caldwell, CSA, William Cantler, CSA, Karyn Casl, CSA. The Production Stage Manager is Erin Gioia Albrecht and the Stage Manager is Kasson Marroquin.
The Light begins performances on Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space (511 West 52nd Street), with an official opening night set for Sunday, February 10, 2019.
As part of MCC Theater’s “Let’s Talk” series, there will be talkbacks following the Thursday, January 31st and Wednesday, February 13th (evening) performances, as well as Audience Conversations following the Friday, February 1st, Saturday, February 16th (matinee), and Wednesday, March 13th performances.
Not every marriage proposal goes as planned. Loy A. Webb’s The Light introduces us to Rashad and Genesis on what should be one of the happiest days of their lives, but their joy quickly unravels when ground-shifting accusations from the past resurface in this gripping two character drama. Can their relationship survive the growing divide between them over who- and what – to believe? Directed by Logan Vaughn, The Light is a reckoning that unfolds in real-time and peels away the layers of truth, doubt, pain, and ultimately the power of love.
The Light was originally developed at The New Colony (Andrew Hobgood and Evan Linder, Co-Artistic Directors; Stephanie Shum, Managing Director) in Chicago, Illinois. The New Colony presented the world premiere at The Den Theatre in January 2018, director, Tom Langston.
Priority Booking has begun for MCC Theater Patrons & Subscribers, and will go on sale to the general public on Dec 12th.
BIOGRAPHIES
Loy A. Webb (Playwright) is a Chicago born playwright and theatre journalist. Her debut play The Light premiered in January 2018 at The New Colony, where it was cited as one of the highest rated shows in Chicago by Theatre in Chicago. Her newest play, His Shadow, is currently in development at Chicago Dramatists where she is an inaugural Tutterow Fellow. Her one-act plays have been produced at Black Ensemble Theatre, American Theater Company, 20 Percent Theatre Company Chicago, GI60 International One Minute Play Festival, Modern-Day Griot Theatre Company New York, and the Black Lives, Black Words International Project. As a theatre journalist she is a member of the Association of Women of Journalist-Chicago, a past mentor with the AWJ-Chicago/Goodman Theatre’s Cindy Bandle Young Critics Program, and a contributing theater critic for Newcity. Loy holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a J.D. from The John Marshall Law School.
Logan Vaughn (Director) is a New York based Artist and Director. In 2008 Logan was awarded the Goodman Theater’s prestigious Joyce Arts Fellowship in Casting and subsequently worked as an Associate in the Tony Award winning theater’s casting department for five seasons. Logan was Playwrights Horizon’s Director in Residence 2012-2013. In 2012 Logan was also named a Member of the Director’s Lab, Lincoln Center. As a Director she has worked with Geva Theatre, Playwrights Realm, Baltimore Center Stage, Mosaic Theatre, 59E59, National Black Theatre, and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Logan, most recently directed the World Premiere of Mat Smart’s The Agitators at Geva Theatre where it became the Best Selling World Premiere in Geva Theatre’s history.
McKinley Belcher III (Rashad) recently wrapped filming on The Art of Racing in The Rain, directed by Simon Curtis, starring Amanda Seyfried, for Fox 2000. He will next star in the upcoming FOX series “The Passage.” He is best known for his lead role in the period medical drama series “Mercy Street.” His television credits include guest and recurring roles on numerous network and cable television series. Most notably, he starred in David Simon’s cable miniseries, “Show Me a Hero,” and in the cable drama “Power.” McKinley made his film debut in John Sayles’ 2013 independent film Go for Sisters. He recently appeared in the biopic Mapplethorpe, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Currently, McKinley can be seen in a recurring role on the streaming series “Ozark.” Raised in Atlanta, he currently resides in New York City.
Mandi Masden (Genesis). Broadway: Saint Joan, Jitney (MTC, 2017 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play). Off-Broadway: Our Lady of Kibeho, The Piano Lesson (Signature Theatre Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (TFANA). Film/TV: Trouble, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “NCIS: New Orleans,” “Madam Secretary,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Knick.” M.F.A., National Theatre Conservatory. For support or information on surviving sexual assault please contact RAINN.org or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE. Free and confidential. For those who sit silently. For those who scream justice.
ABOUT MCC THEATER
MCC is one of New York’s leading nonprofit Off-Broadway companies, driven by a mission to provoke conversations that have never happened and otherwise never would. Founded in 1986 as a collective of artists leading peer-based classes to support their own development as actors, writers and directors, the tenets of collaboration, education, and community are at the core of MCC Theater’s programming. One of the only theaters in the country led continuously by its founders, Artistic Directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, and William Cantler, MCC fulfills its mission through the production of world, American, and New York premiere plays and musicals that challenge artists and audiences to confront contemporary personal and social issues, and robust playwright development and education initiatives that foster the next generation of theater artists and students.
MCC Theater’s celebrated productions include Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play; Penelope Skinner’s The Village Bike; Robert Askins’ Hand to God (Broadway transfer; five 2015 Tony Award® nominations including Best Play); John Pollono’s Small Engine Repair; Paul Downs Colaizzo’s Really Really; Sharr White’s The Other Place (Broadway transfer); Jeff Talbott’s The Submission (Laurents/Hatcher Award); Neil LaBute’s Reasons to Be Happy, reasons to be pretty (Broadway transfer, three 2009 Tony Award® nominations, including Best Play), Some Girl(s), Fat Pig, The Mercy Seat, and All The Ways To Say I Love You; Michael Weller’s Fifty Words; Alexi Kaye Campbell’s The Pride; Bryony Lavery’s Frozen (Broadway transfer; four 2004 Tony Award® nominations including Best Play, Tony Award® for Best Featured Actor); Tim Blake Nelson’s The Grey Zone; Rebecca Gilman’s The Glory of Living (2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist); Margaret Edson’s Wit (1999 Pulitzer Prize); and the musicals Coraline, Carrie, and Ride the Cyclone. Many plays developed and produced by MCC have gone on to productions throughout the country and around the world.
Blake West joined the company in 2006 as Executive Director. MCC will begin producing in January, 2019 in its new home in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space, unifying the company’s activities under one roof for the first time and expanding its producing, artist development, and education programming.
ABOUT THE ROBERT W. WILSON CHARITABLE TRUST
A successful investor from the 1960s through the 1980s, Robert W. Wilson devoted his life to philanthropy after his retirement, focusing on supporting organizations on preservation and conservation initiatives worldwide. An avid New Yorker, Wilson was also deeply engaged with a number of New York’s cultural institutions. He was a major supporter of, and held leadership roles with, the Whitney Museum and the Metropolitan Opera, where he was a board member for many years. In addition, the Trust continues to support the New York Public Library, Central Park Conservancy, BAM, Wildlife Conservation Society, EDF, Nature Conservancy, WMF, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, organizations he championed during his lifetime. He played a leading role in transforming many of these institutions. The matching gift to MCC was the Trust’s first grant to a theater company. The trust is now managed by three trustees: Richard Schneidman, Robert Feidelson, and Ron Zimmerman.
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