West Coast Premiere of BARBECUE at the Geffen Playhouse!

(Photos: Play Poster per Geffen Playhouse, Robert O'Hara and Colman Domingo)

Geffen Playhouse announces the cast for its West Coast premiere production of Barbecue written by Obie and Helen Hayes Award winner Robert O’Hara. Tony nominee Colman Domingo directs the production starring Yvette Cason, Dale Dickey, Omar J. Dorsey, Frances Fisher, Kimberly Hébert Gregory, Travis Johns, Elyse Mirto, Maya Lynne Robinson, Heather Alicia Simms and Rebecca Wisocky.

The grill is hot, the beer is chilled and the table is set for a typical O’Mallery family barbecue. But when their drug-addicted sister Zippity Boom arrives strung-out and out of control, her siblings have finally had enough — enough beer, enough whiskey and enough pills to confront her. Their ham-handed intervention ignites the fuse of this raucous and rollicking new comedy that skewers our warped view of the American family. From Obie and Helen Hayes Award winner Robert O’Hara, this Barbecue serves up a healthy helping of sibling love and loathing.

“…my idea of an American classic, or the kind of classic we need…” – Hilton Als, The New Yorker

“Family stereotypes and racial politics clash with reality during a raucous drug intervention!” – The Hollywood Reporter

“Easily one of the funniest plays of the year!” – TheaterMania.com

"Robert O’Hara and I are nearing twenty years of artistic championship of each other’s work as playwrights/directors,” said director Colman Domingo. “We have a short hand with our many collaborations because we essentially believe in pushing the boundaries of expression, humor and theatricality. Mr. O’Hara 's work speaks deeply to me as a creative artist and I believe wholly in his mission that theater is essential to be served with ‘a theatrical slap.’"

Tickets are currently priced from $43 to $84 for the regular run (Sept 14 – Oct 16), and are available online at www.geffenplayhouse.org, via phone at 310.208.5454, or in-person at the Geffen Playhouse box office. Based on seat availability, rush tickets may be available onsite 30 minutes prior to show time. Rush tickets are priced at $35 or general admission and $10 for students, with a valid student I.D.

SIGNATURE SERIES

In addition to the opening night, the run of Barbecue will feature pre-show Signature Series events. These include Talk Back Tuesdays (Audience Q+A with artists), Girls Night Out, Lounge Fridays and Wine Down Sundays. Thanks to the support of Geffen Playhouse partners and sponsors, all elements of Signature Series evenings are complimentary as part of the ticket price.

ROBERT O’HARA (Playwright)

Robert O’Hara has received the NAACP Best Director Award, the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play, 2 OBIEs and the Oppenheimer Award. He directed the World Premieres of Nikkole Salter and Danai Guiria’s In the Continuum, Tarell McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays (Part 2), Colman Domingo’s Wild with Happy as well as his own plays, BootyCandy and Insurrection: Holding History. His new plays Zombie: The American and Barbecue, world premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theater and New York Shakespeare Festival, respectively.

COLMAN DOMINGO (Director)

Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League and Olivier Award nominee Colman Domingo has recently directed Seven Guitars (Actors Theater of Louisville) and A Band of Angels (Off Broadway Alliance Award, New York City Children’s Theater). Mr. Domingo has directed productions Off Broadway and Regionally. He is a Lortel and Obie Award winning playwright whose plays include Dot, Wild with Happy, A Boy and His Soul. On television he has starred as Strand in AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead and co-stars in the upcoming Fox Searchlight film The Birth of a Nation.

YVETTE CASON (Lillie Anne)

Yvette recently played Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone in A Night With Janis Joplin at the Pasadena Playhouse and 5th Avenue Theatre. Other credits include: Ella The Musical, Dreamgirls, Play On! (Ovation Award), Once On This Island, Ain’t Misbehavin’, St. Louis Woman, Into The Woods and Sisterella (NAACP Theatre Award). Her film credits include Dreamgirls and Middle of Nowhere. She has toured with Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, David Foster and Babyface.

DALE DICKEY (Adlean)

Film work includes Winter’s Bone (2011 Indie Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress), Iron Man 3, Super 8, Domino, Changeling, The Pledge, Being Flynn, The Guilt Trip, and upcoming Hell or High Water and Blood Father. Television: over 30 guest starring and recurring roles on True Blood, Justified, Breaking Bad, and My Name is Earl. Upcoming: series regular in the 2nd 'Spring' season of HBO's new Vice Principals. She is a veteran of the stage having been on Broadway and off, in numerous regional theatres and has 2 L.A. Ovation awards and 2 L.A. Weekly awards for her work in Del Shores' Southern Baptist Sissies and ....Trailer Trash Housewife.

OMAR J. DORSEY (James T.)

Omar is known for his roles in Academy Award nominated films Django Unchained, The Blind Side and Selma. Recently, he co-starred in Ray Donovan and Eastbound & Down. His upcoming credits include Queen Sugar alongside Oprah Winfrey and Thank You For Your Service alongside Miles Teller and Amy Schumer. He currently plays a recurring role on NBC’s Aquarius. Omar has appeared onstage in Blue Monk and In the Jungle of Cities at 7Stages Theater in Atlanta.

FRANCES FISHER (Lillie Anne)

Frances Fisher began her career at Virginia’s Barter Theatre, then spent 14 years in NYC off-Broadway and in regional theatre with credits including Elia Kazan’s The Chain, Arthur Miller’s last play Finishing The Picture, Three More Sleepless Nights (Drama League Award) and The Taper’s The Cherry Orchard. A member of the Actors Studio, her first acting teacher was the legendary Stella Adler. Fisher is best known in film for Titanic and Unforgiven. Some of her television credits include Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, The Shield, Torchwood and Masters of Sex. Recent credits include JT Mollner’s Outlaws and Angels, the docu-drama Titanic: Sinking of the Myths, Phedon Papamichael’s A Beautiful Day, and Criminal Minds.

KIMBERLY HÉBERT GREGORY (Adlean)

Kimberly Hébert Gregory currently stars as Dr. Belinda Brown in the HBO television series, Vice Principals with Danny McBride. Kimberly garnered much acclaim for her performance in Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark which was celebrated with an “Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play” Drama Desk Award nomination and a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for "Outstanding Featured Actress.” Kimberly has appeared in many stage productions including Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays at The Public Theater.

TRAVIS JOHNS (James T.)

Highlights of Travis’ stage work include Boy (L.A. Theatre Works), In the Heat of the Night (L.A. Theatre Works), Atlanta: The Musical (Geffen Playhouse), National Pastime (Fremont Centre Theatre), The Exonerated (Playhouse West), The Diviners (Santa Monica Playhouse) and Take Me Out (Ensemble Theatre Company). Film credits include Imagine, Term Life, Swelter, Sound of My Voice, Adventures of Power and Dead Man Rising, among others. His TV credits include Queen of the South, Ray Donovan, 2 Broke Girls, The Mentalist, Sons of Anarchy, and Justified.

ELYSE MIRTO (Marie)

Some of Elyse’s stage credits include White’s Lies (Off Broadway), Any Day Now (NY Innovative Theatre Award winner, Lead Actress), Next Year in Jerusalem (NYITA nomination), The Guardsman, Figaro (LA Drama Critics Circle nomination 2015), Conviction (Ovation nomination 2015), the Shakespeare Repertory and The Goodman. She appeared in Scandal, NCIS and The Last Ship among numerous film, TV, commercial, voice over and audio book credits. Elyse is a company member at Antaeus and Theatre of NOTE.

MAYA LYNNE ROBINSON (Barbara)

Maya’s theatre credits include: Echo Location (B Street Theatre), Metamorphoses (Ensemble Theatre Company), Shotgun (Florida Studio Theatre) and Insurrection: Holding History (Theatre Alliance), for which she received a Helen Hayes nomination. Her role in In The Red and Brown Water (The Fountain Theatre) won an L.A. Drama Critics Circle award and received nominations from LA Weekly and Ovation. Film and web credits include Monogamy, Heaven is Now, Soul Stealer and HTMAST, which Maya Lynne also created, wrote and produced.

HEATHER ALICIA SIMMS (Marie)

Heather’s Broadway credits include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, A Raisin in the Sun, and Gem of the Ocean. Other credits include Born Bad, The Exonerated and Insurrection: Holding History. Her film credits include Red Hook Summer, The Nanny Diaries, Broken Flowers, and the upcoming Roxanne, Roxanne. Her television credits include Law and Order, Whoopi, and The Good Wife. She received an Audie award for her work on the audiobook Upstate, and the prestigious TCG/Fox Foundation Fellowship.

REBECCA WISOCKY (Barbara)

Rebecca Wisocky is known for her current role in Devious Maids as fan favorite Evelyn Powell. Rebecca’s credits include the feature film Hello My Name is Doris with Sally Field and as a recurring guest star on American Horror Story, The Mentalist, X-Files, Once Upon a Time, True Blood, Longmire and many more. Rebecca’s notable theatre credits include Jordan Harrison’s Amazons and Their Men (OBIE Award), God’s Ear (The Vineyard), Hot ‘n Throbbing (Signature), 36 Views (Public).

ABOUT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the not-for-profit organization continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. www.geffenplayhouse.org.

MEDIA CONTACT

Katy Sweet & Associates PR

katy@katysweetpr.com/310.479.2333