Shanice Williams to Make Her New York Stage Debut in Little Rock
(© David Gordon)
Rebel Theatrical Management, in association with the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, has announced the cast and the creative team for the New York premiere of Little Rock, a new play written and directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj. Performances will run from May 30-September 8 at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture. The production's press opening is set for June 14.
The cast of will feature Rebekah Brockman (Bridge of Spies), Justin Cunningham (The Winter's Tale), Brandon Gill (Too Heavy for Your Pocket), Charlie Hudson III (A Raisin in the Sun), Crystal Lucas-Perry (Ain't No Mo'), Quentin Mare (The Good Fight), Ashley Robinson (A Clockwork Orange), Stephanie Umoh (Ragtime), and Shanice Williams (NBC's The Wiz Live) making her New York stage debut.
The creative team for Little Rock includes Darryl G. Ivey (music director), Rasean Davonte Johnson (scenic design), Leslie Bernstein (costume Design), Anshuman Bhatia (lighting design), Lindsay Jones (sound design), Wendall K. Harrington (projection design), Robert Westley (fight direction), and Nikkole Salter (dramaturg). The production stage manager is Giles T. Horne.
Little Rock tells the true story of the Little Rock Nine, the first black students to attend their city's formerly segregated Little Rock Central High School three years after the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision ruled separating students based on race was unconstitutional. What began as their quest for a better education soon became a national crisis, igniting the passions of a divided country and sparking a historic fight for justice in the Jim Crow south. On the cusp of the Civil Rights movement, a changing world watched as these nine children from Arkansas battled for their rights, armed with only a notebook and pencil.
Little Rock received a developmental production as part of the 2011 New Works Festival at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California. It went on to receive a production in 2014 at Passage Theatre in Trenton, New Jersey, where it won the 2015 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Ensemble.
