Cast Announced for Geffen Playhouse West Coast Premiere of “Power of Sail”

CAST ANNOUNCED FOR GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF “POWER OF SAIL”

FEATURING EMMY AND TONY AWARD WINNER BRYAN CRANSTON

WRITTEN BY PAUL GRELLONG AND DIRECTED BY WEYNI MENGESHA

PREVIEWS BEGIN FEBRUARY 8 - OPENING NIGHT IS FEBRUARY 17

LOS ANGELES (January 10, 2022) – Geffen Playhouse today announced the full cast for its West Coast premiere of Power of Sail, written by Paul Grellong (The Boys, Manuscript) and directed by Weyni Mengesha (Bars and Measures, Duchess! Duchess! Duchess!).

The cast includes Hugo Armstrong (Mysterious Circumstances, God of Carnage) as Frank Sullivan, Amy Brenneman (Judging Amy, Private Practice) as Amy Katz, Emmy and Tony Award winner Bryan Cranston (All the Way, Network) as Charles Nichols, Donna Simone Johnson (Broken Fences, Pang!) as Quinn Harris, Tedra Millan (Present Laughter, The Wolves) as Maggie Rosen, Seth Numrich (Switzerland, Turn: Washington’s Spies) as Lucas Poole and Brandon Scott (Grey’s Anatomy, This Is Us) as Baxter Forrest.

Previews for Power of Sail begin Tuesday, February 8 in the Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse. Opening night is Thursday, February 17.

Distinguished Harvard professor Charles Nichols (Emmy & Tony Award winner Bryan Cranston) finds himself in hot water after inviting an incendiary white nationalist to speak at his annual symposium. His colleagues are concerned, his students are in revolt, but Charles is undeterred in his plot to expose and academically thrash his invited guest. This profoundly relevant new play by Paul Grellong (The Boys, Manuscript) examines the insidiousness of hate disguised as free speech and the question of who ultimately pays the price.

POWER OF SAIL
Written by Paul Grellong
Directed by Weyni Mengesha
Produced with Daryl Roth

Previews: Tuesday, February 8 – Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Opening Night: Thursday, February 17, 2022
Closing Night: Sunday, March 13, 2022

CAST
Hugo Armstrong as Frank Sullivan
Amy Brenneman as Amy Katz
Bryan Cranston as Charles Nichols
Donna Simone Johnson as Quinn Harris
Tedra Millan as Maggie Rosen
Seth Numrich as Lucas Poole
Brandon Scott as Baxter Forrest

PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Designer Rachel Myers
Costume Designer Samantha C. Jones
Lighting Designer Lap Chi Chu
Original Music & Sound Design by Jonathan Snipes
Dramaturg Mike Sablone
Production Stage Manager J. Jason Daunter
Assistant Stage Manager Lizzie Thompson
Casting Director Phyllis Schuringa, CSA

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Monday No performance
Tuesday – Friday 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 3:00 and 8:00 p.m.
Sunday 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.

LOCATION
Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets currently priced at $30.00 - $129.00. Available by phone at 310.208.2028 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org. Fees may apply.

Currently, children under six years of age will not be admitted. Proof of vaccination and masks are required – additional policy details can be found at www.geffenplayhouse.org/plan/reopening/.

Rush tickets for each day’s performance are made available to the general public two hours before showtime at the box office. $35.00 General/$15.00 Student.

COLLEGE AUDIENCES
Through a variety of events and other opportunities, Geffen Playhouse welcomes college students to experience the live storytelling presented on our stages. We are proud of our association with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, and open our doors to all college students throughout Los Angeles. More information is available at www.geffenplayhouse.org/college.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Paul Grellong (Playwright)
Paul Grellong’s plays include Manuscript, produced by Daryl Roth at the Daryl Roth Theatre, which has since been performed internationally; Radio Free Emerson (Winner: Elliot Norton Award from the Boston Theater Critics Association for Outstanding New Script), which was commissioned and produced by Rhode Island’s Gamm Theatre; and Power of Sail, which had its world premiere at The Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, South Carolina. He is currently at work on a commission for Bay Street Theater. His plays have been read and workshopped at Center Theatre Group, MCC, Trinity Repertory Company, Symphony Space, Echo Theater Company, and the Cape Cod Theatre Project. Television credits include: The Boys, Scorpion, Revolution, and Law & Order: SVU. Paul studied playwriting at Brown University. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is an alumnus of the Playwrights Union.

Weyni Mengesha (Director)
Weyni Mengesha is the Artistic Director of Soulpepper Theatre Company in Toronto and an award-winning director, known for her ground-breaking work and community engagement. Weyni has directed shows across Canada that have gone on to tour nationally and internationally, and have been developed into television shows playing on CBC, Global, and Netflix. She has also directed in London, New York, and Los Angeles, garnering an NAACP nomination for Best Direction as well as Dora (Toronto), Drama League (New York), and Drama Critics Circle (Los Angeles) nominations and awards for Outstanding Direction. She has been an instructor at the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Canadian Film Centre and was Co-Artistic Director of the A.M.Y. (artists mentoring youth) Project for 7 years. She has also directed award winning short films, episodic TV, and is developing her first feature. She wants to thank everyone at the Geffen, and her wonderful cast and crew. She also wants to thank her husband and two boys for all their love and support.

Hugo Armstrong (Frank Sullivan)
Hugo Armstrong has been a part of productions at Mark Taper Forum, Sacred Fools Theatre Company, Theatre of Note, The Kennedy Center, Ahmanson Theatre, LA Theatre Works, The Echo, Kirk Douglas Theatre, RedCat, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Boston Court, as well as at South Coast Repertory where he played LBJ in All the Way, and here at the Geffen Playhouse in Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie and Mysterious Circumstances. Most recent television work includes the upcoming Bosch: Legacy, Cinema Toast, The Blacklist, Room 104, For the People, Into the Dark, Fear The Walking Dead, and NCIS. Movies include Lucky with Harry Dean Stanton and David Lynch, Jim Byrkit’s Coherence, Roman J. Israel, Esq. with Denzel Washington, Daniel Martinico’s OK, Good and Excursions, as well as Drib, Love in the Time of Monsters, No Man of God with Elijah Wood and Luke Kirby, the newly released The Only One, as well as the upcoming features Dark Cloud, Mr. Limbo, and Rachel by Victor Nunez. Hugo is a CalArts grad.

Amy Brenneman (Amy Katz)
Amy Brenneman was a founding member of the award-winning Cornerstone Theater Company, which specializes in site-specific community-based theater on themes of social justice. Favorite Cornerstone roles include Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Natasha (Three Sisters), Clytemnestra (The Oresteia) and Solveig (Peer Gynt). Other theater: CSC Rep, Lincoln Center Theater, LA Theater Works, LATC, Williamstown Theater Festival, En Garde Arts, American Repertory Theater and Yale Rep. She starred in the world premiere of the Pulitzer Prize nominated Rapture, Blister, Burn (Playwrights Horizons, Geffen Playhouse) and in the world premiere of Rules of Seconds directed by Jo Bonney. Additionally, Amy co-created, wrote and starred in Mouth Wide Open (The Yard, American Repertory Theater) and Overcome (The Yard). Amy created, executive produced and starred in Judging Amy (two TV Guide Awards, three Golden Globe nominations, Producer’s Guild Nomination, three Emmy Award nominations, People’s Choice SAG nomination). Other television: NYPD Blue (two Emmy nominations, SAG award), Frasier, Heartbeat (exec producer), Goliath, Private Practice, The Leftovers (Peabody Award, Critic’s Choice nomination), and Tell Me Your Secrets. In 2022 she will be seen in Shining Girls with Elisabeth Moss and The Old Man opposite Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. Film credits include Casper, Fear, Daylight, Heat, Friends and Neighbors, The Jane Austen Book Club, Peel, The Look of Love, Words and Pictures, Nine Lives, Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her, Mother and Child.

Bryan Cranston (Charles Nichols)
Bryan Cranston is an Academy Award nominee, Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, Tony, and Olivier Award winner. Cranston recently starred in Showtime’s Your Honor, in which he serves as executive producer. It was renewed for Season 2. In 2021, Cranston wrapped production on Jerry and Marge Go Large for Paramount+; the Untitled Wes Anderson Film; and on the Apple Original Film, Argylle. Cranston made his Broadway debut as President Lyndon B. Johnson in All the Way and went on to produce the film adaption of the play through Moonshot Entertainment. In 2018, Cranston starred in the Broadway run of Network. Cranston is best known for his portrayal of Walter White on Breaking Bad and as Hal in Malcolm in the Middle. Cranston’s production company Moonshot Entertainment has developed three series for Amazon: Sneaky Pete, The Dangerous Book for Boys, Electric Dreams, and SuperMansion for Sony Crackle. Cranston is a New York Times bestselling author of A Life in Parts, where he revisits the many parts he’s played on and off camera. Cranston released an artisanal Mezcal, “Dos Hombres” with Aaron Paul.

Donna Simone Johnson (Quinn Harris)
Donna Simone Johnson is thrilled to be making her Geffen Playhouse debut! She most recently appeared in the World Premiere of Inda Craig-Galván’s A Hit Dog Will Holler at Playwrights’ Arena / Skylight Theatre and is next seen as Madame de Senneterre in Revenge Song at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Select theatre credits include Bring Down The House (Henry VI) at OSF, Broken Fences (NAACP Award, Best Lead Actress, The Road Theatre Company), Van Helsing in Dracula (Actors Theatre of Louisville), I Go Somewhere Else (Playwright’s Arena), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (The Resident Acting Company), and A.R.T./CNP’s Hamlet, directed by Robert Brustein. She has also done numerous national and international tours, including the European tour of Cloud 9 (Moving Arts) and Pang!, now a New York Times-acclaimed. TV/Film credits include Netflix’s Super Drags (recurring), The Inspectors (NBC), Teachers (CBS), Agent X (TNT), and most recently, WarnerMedia OneFifty/HBO Max’s Bertie the Brilliant. She holds an M.F.A. in Acting from CalArts and is Co-Artistic Director of Watts Village Theater Company, which produces and honors the stories of South LA. She is buoyed by Chad and her son, Coltrane, who make it all possible.

Tedra Millan (Maggie Rosen)
Broadway: “Daphne Stillington” in Present Laughter opposite Kevin Kline. Off-Broadway: The Wolves (The Playwrights Realm and Lincoln Center, Drama Desk and Obie Awards), Happy Talk (The New Group), On the Shore of the Wide World (Atlantic Theater Company), The Flick (Barrow Street Theatre). Film: The Lot (Speakeasy Pictures), Daddy’s Girl (Station 26 Productions, upcoming Sundance premiere), Modern Persuasion (Tangerine Entertainment). TV: A League of Their Own (Amazon), Fosse/Verdon (FX), Almost Family (FOX), Katy Keene (CW), Tales of the City (Netflix), The Goldbergs (ABC). Tedra is making her directorial debut with the upcoming film We Can Voyage There (Floor 1 Productions). M.A. in Classical Acting, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and B.F.A. in Acting, University of Michigan.

Seth Numrich (Lucas Poole)
Seth Numrich is thrilled to be returning to the Geffen after appearing in 2015’s production of Switzerland opposite Laura Linney. Broadway credits include leading roles in War Horse, Golden Boy, The Merchant of Venice, and Travesties. Off-Broadway credits include roles at Signature Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and LAByrinth Theater Company, among others. London/UK theatre includes The Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse, Menier Chocolate Factory, King’s Theatre (Edinburgh), and Theatr Clwyd (Wales). For his stage work, Seth has received a Theatre World Dorothy Loudon Award, an Evening Standard Award, and nominations from the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama League. On screen, Seth will be seen in the upcoming limited series Under the Banner of Heaven for FX/Hulu, and has previously appeared in Turn: Washington’s Spies, Homeland, The Blacklist, Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, and Gravity. Film credits include the independent features Imperium, Paper Tiger, and Private Romeo. Training: Juilliard.

Brandon Scott (Baxter Forrest)
Brandon Scott is a founding member of Los Angeles theater companies IAMA Theatre and Ammunition Theatre. He recently originated the role of Will in the Center Theatre Group/IAMA Theatre/Latino Theater Company co-production of Jonathan Caren’s Canyon (original direction by Whitney White, Digital Stage direction by Colleen Labella). He holds a B.F.A. in Theater from NYU. TV/Film credits include Nick Prager in Dead to Me (Netflix), Rob Bettencourt in the fourth and final season of Goliath (Amazon), Leroy in Guerrilla (Showtime), Dr. Ryan Spaulding in Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), Cory Lawrence in This Is Us (NBC), Coach J.J. Kerba in 13 Reasons Why (Netflix), amongst others. Brandon recently wrapped a starring role in the feature film Dead for a Dollar, directed by Walter Hill and co-starring Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, and Rachel Brosnahan. He is excited to make his Geffen Playhouse debut.

25TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON SPONSOR
Jodi & Howard Tenenbaum

PRESENTING SPONSOR
City National Bank

OPENING NIGHT SPONSORS
UCLA Health and STK Steakhouse

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. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company was founded by Gilbert Cates and is currently helmed by Executive Director Gil Cates, Jr., Artistic Director Matt Shakman and Board Chair Adi Greenberg. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains extensive education and community engagement programs, designed to involve underserved young people and the community at large in the arts. www.geffenplayhouse.org

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MEDIA CONTACTS
Zenon Dmytryk
Geffen Playhouse

Georgia Arnold
Geffen Playhouse