Full Cast Announced For Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous at Geffen Playhouse

FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR ANGRY, RAUCOUS, AND SHAMELESSLY GORGEOUS AT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

FEATURING MICHELE SHAY, OLIVIA WASHINGTON, DEBORAH JOY WINANS AND CHARLAYNE WOODARD

WRITTEN BY PEARL CLEAGE AND DIRECTED BY LaTANYA RICHARDSON JACKSON

PREVIEWS BEGIN JUNE 10 - OPENING NIGHT IS JUNE 18

LOS ANGELES (April 21, 2026) – Geffen Playhouse today announced the full cast for its production of Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous, written by Pearl Cleage (Blues for an Alabama Sky, Flyin’ West) and directed by three-time Tony Award nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson (The Piano Lesson, Purpose). Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous is produced in association with Black Rebirth Collective. Rehearsals begin Tuesday, May 12, 2026.

The cast includes Michele Shay (Seven Guitars, Home) as Betty Samson; Olivia Washington (Wine in the Wilderness, Slave Play) as Precious “Pete” Watson; Deborah Joy Winans (Greenleaf, Whitney) as Kate Hughes; and Charlayne Woodard (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Secret Invasion) as Anna Campbell.

Previews for Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous begin Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in the Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse. Opening night is Thursday, June 18, 2026.

Anna Campbell is a trailblazing actress flush with accolades but short on cash. After returning to the U.S. to stage a career-defining comeback, she collides with a new generation that challenges her past, her politics, and her place in the movement. Award-winning playwright Pearl Cleage teams up with Tony Award nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson to deliver a sharp-witted and soulful new comedy about art, activism, and aging on your own terms.

This production is made possible, in part, by support from Cast Iron Entertainment and the David Lee Foundation.

Geffen Playhouse is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.

Geffen Playhouse is proud to welcome members of local arts, non‑profit, and service organizations during our Community Meetup Nights. These special evenings offer patrons the chance to connect with community partners and discover more about their missions and values. A full list of participating organizations can be found here.

ANGRY, RAUCOUS, AND SHAMELESSLY GORGEOUS
Written by Pearl Cleage
Directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson
Produced in Association with Black Rebirth Collective

Previews: June 10, 2026 – June 17, 2026
Opening Night: June 18, 2026
Closing Night: July 12, 2026

CAST
Michele Shay as Betty Samson
Olivia Washington as Precious “Pete” Watson
Deborah Joy Winans as Kate Hughes
Charlayne Woodard as Anna Campbell

PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Designer Beowulf Boritt
Costume Designer Emilio Sosa
Lighting Designer Lap Chi Chu
Sound Designer Jeff Gardner
Projection Designer Hana S. Kim
Hair & Wig Designer George Robert Fuller
Associate Director Kelly Jenrette
Production Stage Manager Sam Allen
Assistant Stage Manager Lisa Toudic
Casting Director Phyllis Schuringa, CSA

UNDERSTUDIES
Pauline Dyer as u/s Precious "Pete" Watson / Kate Hughes
Monica Parks as u/s Anna Campbell / Betty Samson

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Monday, Tuesday No performance*
Wednesday, Thursday 7:30 p.m.
Friday 8:00 p.m.**
Saturday 3:00 and 8:00 p.m.***
Sunday 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.

*There will be a performance on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 at 7:30 pm and Tuesday, July 7, 2026 at 7:30pm
**There will be no performance on Friday, June 19, 2026.
***There will be no performance on Saturday, July 4, 2026 at 8:00 p.m.

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

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets currently priced at $36.00 - $139.00. Available by phone at 310.208.2028 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org. Fees may apply.

All Geffen Playhouse productions are intended for an adult audience; children under 10 years of age will not be admitted.

Rush tickets for each day’s performance are made available to the general public one hour before showtime at the box office. $40.00 General/$20.00 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

Pearl Cleage (Playwright)
Pearl Cleage is an Atlanta-based writer who serves as the city’s first Poet Laureate. Currently Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Alliance Theatre, she has premiered eight plays there, including Flyin’ West, Blues for an Alabama Sky, What I Learned in Paris, and The Nacirema Society. The first of her eight novels, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, was a New York Times bestseller. Her praise poem, “We Speak Your Names,” commissioned by Oprah Winfrey in 2005 and written in collaboration with her husband, Zaron W. Burnett, Jr., is performed across the country regularly by those who accepted Cleage’s invitation to “use it, adapt it, pass it on.” Her ten-year performance collaboration with Burnett is the subject of the award-winning documentary Live at Club Zebra directed by Matthew and David Adeboye. Cleage’s newest play, Flying Fish & Folding Money, will have its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in 2027.

LaTanya Richardson Jackson (Director)
LaTanya Richardson Jackson is a three-time Tony Award–nominated stage and screen actress, director, and producer. She recently starred on Broadway in Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Purpose, for which she received Tony, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle nominations, and was honored with Black Women on Broadway’s 2025 Audra McDonald Legacy Award. Her previous Broadway credits include A Raisin in the Sun (Tony and Drama League nomination), To Kill a Mockingbird (Lilly Award), and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, plus Shakespeare in the Park’s The Taming of the Shrew, for colored girls…, and August Wilson’s Century Cycle, among many. As a theater creative, she made history as the first woman to direct an August Wilson play on Broadway with the Tony–nominated 2022 revival of The Piano Lesson and co-produced the 2023 revival of Purlie Victorious (Tony nomination). For her decades-long dedication to the theater, she was honored with the NAACP Theater Award’s 2016 Trailblazer Award. Her screen credits include Show Me A Hero (NAACP Image Award nomination), Grey’s Anatomy, Luke Cage, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Sidney Lumet’s 100 Centre Street, and the films Freedomland, Losing Isaiah, The Fighting Temptations, U.S. Marshals, Mother and Child, and You Hurt My Feelings. She also executive produced Apple TV’s The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, EPIX’s Enslaved, and the upcoming Paramount+ series Frisco King. She is a graduate of Spelman College, where she and her husband recently opened the LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson Performing Arts Center. In recognition of her career achievements, support of the arts, and her relentless civic engagement, she has been named a 2026 ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood distinguished honoree.

Michele Shay (Betty Samson)
Michele is happy to be at the Geffen for the first time. Broadway credits include August Wilson’s Seven Guitars (Tony Award nomination), Samm-Art Williams’ Home, and Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls... Other appearances include War by Branden Jacob-Jenkins, Playboy of the West Indies (Lincoln Center Theater); Meetings (Obie Award); Coriolanus with Morgan Freeman; as “Titania” opposite William Hurt in Midsummer Night’s Dream (New York Stage & Film); Stew (Cincinnati Playhouse in the park), Toni Morrison’s Jazz adapted by Nambi E. Kelley (Baltimore Center Stage); as “Aunt Esther” in Gem of the Ocean (Seattle Rep, The Kennedy Center); Radio Golf (Yale Repertory Theatre); Spike Lee’s He Got Game; and as “Henrietta Morgan” on NBC’s Another World. She also directs, teaches acting at USC’s School of Dramatic Arts and served as Acting Coach for the TV series Swagger. Michele is a Fox Foundation grant recipient whose passion is researching the connection between acting and the healing arts.

Olivia Washington (Precious “Pete” Watson)
Olivia Washington was most recently seen Off-Broadway in Alice Childress’ Wine in the Wilderness—where Olivia was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Desk Award for her performance—and in Jeremy O. Harris’ Slave Play opposite Kit Harington on the West End. Previously, Olivia starred as “Flora” in Boots Riley’s Amazon series, I’m a Virgo, opposite Jharrel Jerome, for which she was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award. She has also appeared in Abi Damaris Corbin’s feature Breaking, alongside John Boyega, which was the largest acquisition of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Olivia has also made notable appearances in Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It for Netflix, and in Emmy nominee and Tony winner Kenny Leon’s Mahalia opposite Danielle Brooks. Olivia has appeared on stage in Familiar, directed by Edward Torres, at The Old Globe in San Diego and in Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Kenny Leon, for 2019’s Shakespeare in the Park. Olivia Washington is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of Drama.

Deborah Joy Winans (Kate Hughes)
Deborah Joy Winans is an actor and singer best known for her role as “Charity Greenleaf” on the award-winning drama Greenleaf, produced by Oprah Winfrey for OWN. She is also featured on the series’ soundtrack across all seasons, including the Top 20 Billboard Gospel single “The Master’s Calling,” and debut single “Changed” from season 3 with Grabby Award–winning artist Patti LaBelle. Born and raised in Detroit, Deborah Joy’s first regional theatre run came when she portrayed “CeCe Winans” in Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story at Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage, and BroadStage. She holds an M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts and a B.F.A. from Wayne State University. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.

Charlayne Woodard (Anna Campbell)
Two-time Obie Award winner and Tony Award nominee. Off-Broadway: “Daddy”; Hamlet (as “Queen Gertrude”); War (as “Roberta”); The Substance of Fire (as “Marge Hackett”); The Witch of Edmonton (as “Elizabeth Sawyer”); In the Blood (as “Hester”); Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (as “Undine”); The Caucasian Chalk Circle (as “Grusha”); Twelfth Night (as “Maria”); Stunning; Sorrows and Rejoicings. Regional: The Garden (as “Casandra”); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (as “Titania”); The Taming of the Shrew (as “Katherine”); The Good Person of Szechwan. Broadway: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (original cast); Hair (revival). Film: Glass, Unbreakable, The Crucible, Eye for an Eye, Sunshine State. TV: Pose (series regular), Secret Invasion (series regular); recurring roles: Ann Rice’s Mayfair Witches, In Treatment, Prodigal Son, Sneaky Pete; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, ER; guest star: All Rise, The Leftovers, The Blacklist. Playwright: The Garden, Pretty Fire, Neat, In Real Life, The Night Watcher, Flight. Nominations: Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award. Member of The Actors Studio.

2025/2026 SEASON SPONSOR
S. Mark Taper Foundation

ABOUT BLACK REBIRTH COLLECTIVE
Black Rebirth Collective (BRC) is a non-profit collective dedicated to empowering Black women in leadership within the theatre arts. Founded by visionary artist and leader Kimberly Hébert, BRC amplifies Black voices and creates equitable opportunities through curated programs and community initiatives. We foster a supportive space for Black artists, advocate for systemic change, and promote cultural sustainability. BRC is living out its mission to reshape narratives and inspire transformative leadership. Our work has been recognized through numerous successful readings and performances, co-productions with award-winning Los Angeles theatres, and grants from The Black Seed and the California Arts Council.

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/CEO Gil Cates, Jr., Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney and Board Chair Mary Ann Cloyd. 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