AMERICAN PREMIERE
Nell Gwynn
September 20
November 4, 2018
CST’s Courtyard Theater
by Jessica Swale
directed by Christopher Luscombe
Lead Production Sponsors
A visually spectacular evening! Plenty of tongue-in-cheek laughs…in this amusing new comedy-with-music.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Theatre at its best! The kind of joie de vivre that makes you want to go back to see it again and again.
CHICAGO ON STAGE
The Play
The Olivier Award Winner for Best New Comedy, which took audiences by storm in its Shakespeare’s Globe London debut, now has its American premiere. Be transported to the flamboyant world of seventeenth-century London, dripping with decadent excess and bawdy amusements, in this song-and-dance-filled comedy. Nell Gwynn's quick wit and exceptional beauty propel her from selling oranges on the streets of London’s burgeoning theater district to performing on its stages, where she captures the hearts of her audiences—and England’s King Charles II.
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Critical Acclaim
Stage and Cinema raves, “Enchanting exuberance...Scarlett Strallen’s deservedly praised Nell beguiles and seduces everyone in the house”
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Q&A with the Playwright
"Part of the joy of writing Nell Gwynn has been sketching around the bones of the known facts, imagining and inventing."
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The Players
Creative Team
Jessica Swale Playwright
Christopher Luscombe Director
Nigel Hess Music
Hugh Durrant Scenic Designer/Costume Designer
Greg Hofmann Lighting Designer
Stephen Ptacek Sound Designer
Amber Mak Choreographer
Jermaine Hill Music Director
Eva Breneman Dialect Coach
Bob Mason Casting
Laura Stanczyk New York Casting
Allison Selby Cook Associate Music Director
Lanise Antoine Shelley Assistant Director
Theresa Ham Associate Costume Designer
Cast
David Bedella Edward Kynaston
Allison Selby Cook Associate Music Director/Ensemble
Richard David Ned Spiggett
Jeff Diebold Ensemble
Emily Gardner Xu Hall Lady Castlemaine/Louise de Keroualle
Timothy Edward Kane King Charles II
Emma Ladji Rose
Justin LaForte Ensemble
Nicholas J. Ober Ensemble
Laura Osterlund Ensemble
Hollis Resnik Ma Gwynn/Portuguese Queen
Emily Rohm Ensemble
Christopher Sheard John Dryden
Scarlett Strallen Nell Gwynn
John Tufts Charles Hart
Bret Tuomi Thomas Killigrew
Natalie West Nancy
Larry Yando Lord Arlington
Dylan Obrochta Ensemble Intern
Carter Sherman Ensemble Intern
Rengin Altay Understudy
Emily Goldberg Understudy
Colin Lawrence Understudy
Maddy Low Understudy
Colter Schmidt Understudy
Kelsey Shipley Understudy
Robert Sicklesteel Understudy
Ryan Stajmiger Understudy
David Turrentine Understudy
Additional Sponsors
Additional support provided by the Mary and Nick Babson Fund to Support Chicago Actors.
Production Elements supported by the Anstiss and Ronald Krueck Stage Design Fund.
