Stockard Channing to Star in Almeida’s Awake and Sing!

Stockard Channing will play the lead role of Bessie Berger in Michael Attenborough’s production of Clifford Odets’ classic drama, Awake and Sing!, which will play the Almeida Theatre, August 31-October 20, with an official opening slated for September 6. Additional casting and creative team will be announced at a later date.

The play focuses on a Depression-era Jewish family in New York City, where the dreams and hopes of three generations living under the same roof clash. The show premiered on Broadway in 1935 and its 2006 revival by Lincoln Center Theatre won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Channing received a Tony Award for Joe Egg. She received Tony nominations for The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Four Baboons Adoring the Sun — all written by John Guare — as well as for the Roundabout Theatre’s revival of The Lion in Winter. Her many film and television credits include The West Wing, Up Close and Personal, and Grease.

Attenborough is the artistic director of the Almeida, where he is currently helming Big White Fog. His other credits include The Mercy Seat, The Late Henry Moss, and There Came a Gypsy Riding.