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Condola Rashad in Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan at Manhattan Theatre Club
Condola Rashad in Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan at Manhattan Theatre Club

Condola Rashad to Lead Shaw’s Saint Joan

Manhattan Theatre Club is readying a revival of Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan set to hit Broadway this spring. The production, which is poised to begin previews on April 3, 2018 toward an April 25th opening, will star three-time Tony nominee Condola Rashad. The production will play the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Daniel Sullivan, who has been represented on Broadway this recent season with The Little Foxes, will helm the revival of Saint Joan. Sullivan’s other Broadway credits include Proof, The Sisters Rosensweig, Mornings at Seven, Rabbit Hole, An American Daughter, Glengarry Glen Ross, and The Heidi Chronicles. Condola Rashad has emerged as one of theatre’s most-promising actresses, having secured three Tony-nominations for her work in A Doll’s House, Part 2, Stick Fly, and The Trip to Bountiful. Opposite Orlando Bloom, she portrayed one of the two title characters in the revival of Romeo and Juliet.  Rashad debuted off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club playing a young girl in a brothel in Lynn Nottage’s 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined.

Saint Joan, written by Shaw, premiered in 1923 at Broadway’s Garrick Theatre. The titular character was originated onstage by Winfred Lenihan. Shaw, who typically premiered his shows in Britain, found his reputation at a low-point and decided to tryout Saint Joan in America instead. The show has since been revived often with the likes of Katherine Cornell (1936), Uta Hagen (1951), Joan Plowright (1963), Lynn Redgrave (1978), Imelda Staunton (1979), Frances de le Tour (1984) and Imogen Stubbs (1994) tackling the role.

The plot is described: “Set in 15th century France, Saint Joan follows a country girl whose mysterious visions propel her into elite circles. When the nation’s rulers become threatened by her popularity and influence, they unite to bring her down and she finds herself on trial for her life. This timeless and powerful play dramatizes the limits of an individual in a society dominated by overwhelming political and religious forces.”

Saint Joan completes the lineup for Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2017-2018 season, which also includes Prince of Broadway and the American premiere of The Children at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre; the world premiere of The Portuguese Kid, the New York premiere of In the Body of the World and the world premiere of Dan Cody’s Yacht at New York City Center – Stage I; and the New York premiere of Actually and the world premiere of Sugar in Our Wounds at MTC at the Studio At Stage II – Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series.

Single-ticket information will be forthcoming.

Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals and maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com

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