Photo Flash

First Look at Gossip Girl's Margaret Colin in The City of Conversation

The production will run at Arena Stage.

| Washington, DC |

December 30, 2015

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has released the first images from the meet-and-greet for its upcoming production of Anthony Giardina's The City of Conversation. Doug Hughes, who also directed the play's off-Broadway premiere at Lincoln Center in 2014, helms the production. The City of Conversation is set to run from January 29-March 6.

Freddie Bennett (Donald Logan), and Michael Simpson (Colin Ferris/Ethan Ferris) get to know one another at the meet and greet for Arena Stage's The City of Conversation. — Freddie Bennett, playwright Anthony Giardina, Margaret Colin, Tom Wiggin, and director of artistic programming Robert Barry Fleming at the first rehearsal of *The City of Conversation*.
(courtesy of Arena Stage)

The show's cast is led by Margaret Colin, known for playing Eleanor Waldorf on Gossip Girl, as Washington hostess Hester Ferris. Also featured are Michael Simpson (reprising his roles as Colin Ferris and Ethan Ferris, which he originated in the New York premiere), Caroline Hewitt as Anna Fitzgerald, Ann McDonough as Jean Swift, and Tom Wiggin as Chandler Harris. The cast also includes Freddie Bennett as Donald Logan, Todd Scofield as George Mallonee, Jjana Valentiner as Carolyn Mallonee, and 9-year-old Tyler Smallwood as Young Ethan Ferris, with Caedan White as understudy for Young Ethan.

Artistic Director Molly Smith, Ann McDonough (Jean Swift) and playwright Anthony Giardina at the first rehearsal of The City of Conversation at Arena Stage. — Artistic director Molly Smith, Ann McDonough, and playwright Anthony Giardina at the first rehearsal of *The City of Conversation* at Arena Stage.
(courtesy of Arena Stage)

The Arena Stage production reunites the original off-Broadway creative team, including set designer John Lee Beatty, costume designer Catherine Zuber, lighting designer Tyler Micoleau, and original music and sound designer Mark Bennett.