Theater News

Josh Pais Joins Cast of Downtown Race Riot

Pais replaces the previously announced Daniel Oreskes in the New Group’s world premiere production of Seth Zvi Rosenfeld’s play.

Josh Pais will replace Daniel Oreskes in the New Group's world premiere production of Seth Zvi Rosenfeld's Downtown Race Riot.
Josh Pais will replace Daniel Oreskes in the New Group's world premiere production of Seth Zvi Rosenfeld's Downtown Race Riot.
(photo provided by Seven17 Public Relations)

The New Group announced that Josh Pais will replace Daniel Oreskes in the world premiere production of Seth Zvi Rosenfeld's Downtown Race Riot November 14-December 23 at Pershing Square Signature Center, with opening night set for Sunday, December 3.

Pais joins a cast that includes Cristian DeMeo, David Levi, Moise Morancy, Sadie Scott, Chloë Sevigny, and Daniel Sovich. Scott Elliott directs, and the production features set design by Derek McLane, costume design by Clint Ramos, lighting design by Yael Lubetzky, sound design by M.L. Dogg, and fight direction by UnkleDave's Fight-House.

Downtown Race Riot is described as follows: "On a hot late summer day in 1976, a mob of young men — all white except one — descended on Washington Square Park with pipes and bats, and attacked any people of color they could find. Seth Zvi Rosenfeld takes us back to that day, to the cramped Village apartment of Mary Shannon, a strung-out, freewheeling single mom, as her son Pnut and his Haitian best friend Massive wrestle with their obligation to join the riot. The boys, torn between loyalty to each other and to the neighborhood, grasp for ways to keep the violence from destroying their friendship forever. A snapshot of a time not so different than today, when a new social freedom ran smack into the forces of reaction, and when the stakes were truly life and death."

For tickets and more information, click here.