Jessica Frances Dukes, Jenni Barber, and More Star in By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
(© David Gordon)
Signature Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for its production of Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, directed by Kamilah Forbes, running January 29-March 3, 2019, in the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center, with opening night set for February 19.
Jenni Barber (Sunday in the Park With George), Jessica Frances Dukes (Yellowman), Manoel Felciano (Sweeney Todd), Warner Miller (Luke Cage), Carra Patterson (Jitney), Heather Alicia Simms (Fabulation, or The Re-education of Undine), and David Turner (The Boys in the Band) will star. The creative team will include Clint Ramos (scenic design), Dede M. Ayite (costume design), Matt Frey (lighting design), Mikaal Sulaiman (sound design), Katherine Freer (projection design), and Daniel Kluger (composition).
Nottage's play is described as follows: "It's the Golden Age of Hollywood, and aspiring starlet Vera Stark works as a maid to Gloria Mitchell, an aging star grasping at her fading career. Worlds collide when Vera lands a trailblazing role in an antebellum epic starring…her boss. While Vera's portrayal of a slave turns out to be groundbreaking, decades later scholars and film buffs still grapple with the actress' legacy in Hollywood and the impact that race had on her controversial career."
