The Whipping Man

April 04–May 13

The Whipping Man
By Matthew Lopez
Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah

Why is this night different from all other nights? For three Richmond Jews—one a former Confederate soldier, two his former slaves—gathered around a makeshift Seder table at the close of the Civil War, age-old questions of justice and freedom find new and surprising answers.

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Cast

Michael Micalizzi*
Caleb

Kevyn Morrow*
Simon

Johnny Ramey*
John

Baltimore Center Stage: The Whipping Man. New York—The Flea Theater: The Memoirist, Looking at Christmas (world premiere), The Great Recession, Love/Stories (or But You Will Get Used To It) (world premiere), The Footage (world premiere). International—The Old Vic: However Long the Night. Regional—Son of Semele Theater: things i found on craigslist; Mile Square Theater: Bottom of the Ninth; Eugene O’Neill Theater: Standing Ground. Readings/Workshops—The Public: Yellowjackets; Playwrights Horizons: I Wanna Destroy You; Working Theater: Waiting for Lefty; The Flea Theater: Off the Main Road (William Inge, world premiere). Film/TV—Army Wives, Looking at Christmas (Great Performances Series), The Red Woman, New Brooklyn, The Likes of Us, Blue Sky, American Gothic, Think Tank, Circledrawers.

Baltimore Center Stage: The Whipping Man. Broadway—original casts of The Scarlett Pimpernel, Dream, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Leader of the Pack; additional Broadway includes Dreamgirls (1987 revival), A Chorus Line (1990 closing company). London West End—125th Street (Georgie Blues, World Premiere), Ragtime (Coalhouse Walker Jr., 2004 Olivier Award Nominee for Best Actor in a Musical). Off Broadway— 40th Anniversary Production of The Boys in the Band (Bernard), Blue (Blue Williams). Regional—Broadway bound Stormy Weather (Billy Strayhorn), The First Wives Club (1st Husband Bill, 2010-NAACP Best Male Actor Nominee), It’s a Wonderful Life (Clarence the Angel), The Little Mermaid (King Triton), Xanadu (Danny/Zeus), Gem of the Ocean (Solly Two Kings), Radio Golf (Harmond), The Pajama Game (Sid), The Three Musketeers (Aramis), Five Guys Named Moe (Nomax/Four-Eyed), Thunder Knockin On The Door (Jaguar), Our Town ( Dr. Gibbs), Stone My Heart (Othello), Tambourines to Glory (Buddy Lomax, 2005 Helen Hayes Award Nominee for Best Actor), The Winter’s Tale (King Polixenes). Film/TV—Dark Light, The Trade, Stayin Alive, 2010 Kennedy Center Honors (feature), Hope and Faith (recurring), Ed (recurring), Law & Order (guest), Coach (guest), Murphy Brown (guest), L.A. Law (guest), One Life To Live( recurring), Kidsworld (Host).

Baltimore Center Stage: The Whipping Man. New York—credits include MTSource: God is a Puerto Rican; Nylon Fusion Co.: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Classical Theatre of Harlem: The Three Sisters; Fulcrum Theater: Julius by Design; Juilliard: credits include Top Dog/Underdog, Our Lady of 121^st Street, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Winter’s Tale, The Three Sisters, Twelfth Night, Cymbeline, King Lear. Regional—credits include Crossroads Theatre Co.: A Raisin in the Sun; Studio Theatre: Superior Donuts (Helen Hayes Award, Lead Actor). Film—New Year’s Eve, Addicted, A Happy Ending, Prodigal, Sealed, Pour Aimer Encoure. Training—Juilliard.

Creative Team

Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE
Director

Neil Patel
Scenic Designer

David Burdick
Costume Designer

Michelle Habeck
Lighting Designer

Shane Rettig
Sound Designer

Faedra Chatard Carpenter
Production Dramaturg

J. Allen Suddeth
Fight Director

Gillian Lane-Plescia
Dialect Consultant

Stephanie Klapper
Casting Director

Laura Smith*
Stage Manager

Katie Ambrose*
Assistant Stage Manager

Matthew Melchiorre*
Assistant Stage Manager

Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE is a playwright, director, actor, and broadcaster. At Baltimore Center Stage he has directed Jazz, Marley, One Night in Miami…, Amadeus, dance of the holy ghosts, The Mountaintop, An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man, and Things of Dry Hours. Other directorial credits include One Love: The Bob Marley Musical (originally Marley) at Birmingham Repertory Theatre; One Night in Miami… at London’s Donmar Warehouse; Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, and the world premiere of Detroit ’67 at The Public Theater in New York; Naomi Wallace’s The Liquid Plain and Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew. His works as playwright include One Love: The Bob Marley Musical, Elmina’s Kitchen, Let There Be Love, A Bitter Herb, Statement of Regret, Seize the Day, and Beneatha’s Place, which debuted at Baltimore Center Stage in 2013 as part of The Raisin Cycle. Kwame served as Artistic Director at Baltimore Center Stage from 2011 to 2018, he is now the Artistic Director at the Young Vic in London. He has served on the boards of Theatre Communications Group, Steinberg Playwright Awards, The National Theatre, and The Tricycle Theatre, and as Artistic Director for the World Arts Festival in Senegal. He was named the Chancellor of the University of the Arts London, and was named an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Baltimore Center Stage: Marley, dance of the holy ghosts, Animal Crackers, Mud Blue Sky, The Mountaintop, The Whipping Man, American Buffalo, Working it Out, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Once on This Island, Elmina’s Kitchen, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Hostage, As You Like It, many others. Broadway—Soul Doctor; Oleanna; Wonderland; [title of show]; Ring of Fire; ’night, Mother; Sideman (also West End & Kennedy Center). Off Broadway—Civilians: Pretty Filthy, This Beautiful City; Signature Theatre: stop.reset, My Children! My Africa!; Second Stage: Water by the Spoonful, By the way, Meet Vera Stark, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Peter & Jerry, Living Out; Roundabout: McReele, Hurrah at Last; Vineyard: Now.Here.This., The Long Christmas Ride Home; MTC: The Lion, Between Us, Glimmer Glimmer and Shine; MCC: The Mercy Seat; NYTW: The Beard of Avon, Lydie Breeze, Resident Alien, A Question of Mercy, Bob, Quills, Slavs!; Playwrights Horizons: Mr. Burns a Post Electric Play, Stage Kiss, Lobster Alice, On the Mountain; Public/NYSF: Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), Dirty Tricks, Othello. Film/TV—Some Velvet Morning, Loitering With Intent, Dil Dhadakne Do, In Treatment (HBO), Billy and Billie (DirecTV). Awards—Obie Award (2), Helen Hayes Award, Eddy Award, Hewes nom (5), Drama Desk nom (3).

Baltimore Center Stage: Lookingglass Alice, Next to Normal; Amadeus; Twelfth Night; dance of the holy ghosts; Animal Crackers; …Edgar Allan Poe; The Mountaintop; An Enemy of the People; The Whipping Man; A Skull in Connemara; The Rivals; Snow Falling on Cedars; Working it Out; Cyrano; Caroline, or Change; Hearts; Things of Dry Hours; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Elmina’s Kitchen; Picnic; a.m. Sunday; The Rainmaker; Blithe Spirit; and many others. Regional—Everyman Theatre: Sweat, Dancing at Lughnasa, Intimate Apparel, Long Day’s Journey into Night, The Revolutionists, The Book of Joseph, Dot, Los Ostros, An Inspector Calls, Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ruined, Ghosts, Blithe Spirit; Walnut Street/Totem Pole: The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Moon Over Buffalo. Opera—Cincinnati: Don Giovanni; Boston Lyric: I Puritani; Tulsa: Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Carmen, Fidelio. Dance—BAM: FLY: Five First Ladies of Dance; Dayton Contemporary Dance: Lyric Fire (world premiere, dir/choreographer Dianne McIntyre). Other—Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Holiday Spectacular.

Baltimore Center Stage: Jazz, Marley, Amadeus, dance of the holy ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man, A Skull in Connemara, Let There Be Love, Things of Dry Hours, Elmina’s Kitchen. Broadway—Thoroughly Modern Millie (Slide Artist); The Boy from Oz, King Hedley, Movin’ Out, Thoroughly Modern Millie, King Hedley II Associated & Assistant Lighting Designer). Off Broadway—Fifty Words, MCC Theatre. Regional—The Guthrie, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Goodman, Alliance Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis Children’s Theatre, The Zach, Kansas City Repertory, Penumbra, Arizona Theatre Company, Writer’s Theatre, Lookingglass, and others. Opera—Austin Lyric Opera: Elixir of Love, The Masked Ball; Julie Taymor’s Grendel, New York (Associate Lighting Designer). Awards—NEATCG Career Development Grant for Design, The University of Texas Faculty Fine Arts Award. Professional—Michelle heads the lighting design program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Baltimore Center Stage: Jazz, Marley, One Night in Miami…, The Whipping Man, Things of Dry Hours, Elmina’s Kitchen, a.m. Sunday. New York—The Public, The New Group, Signature, Roundabout, Vampire Cowboys, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Ma-yi, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, The Flea, New Victory, La MaMa, Soho Rep, Rattlestick and HERE. Music/Co-Lyrics for War is F**cking Awesome with Qui Nguyen, 2013 Sundance Lab. Music for The Unknown, 2005 NYMF. Regional—Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Children’s Theatre Company, Dallas Theatre Center, La Jolla, Williamstown, Yale Rep, Prague Quadrennial. Awards—Drama Desk and Lortel Nominations.

Baltimore Center Stage: Pride and Prejudice, Twelfth Night, The Whipping Man, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fabulation, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Regional—Mosaic Theater Company: Queens Girl in Africa; Kennedy Center: The Wings of Ikarus Jackson, Locomotion, New Voices/New Visions; African Continuum: The Amen Corner, Fresh Flavas New Play Development program; TheatreWorks: Fences; Crossroads: Former Resident Dramaturg/Literary Manager, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Spirit North (world premiere); Arena Stage: Holiday Heart, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Odyssey (American premiere). Professional— Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Maryland, College Park. Education— BA: Spelman College; MA; Washington College; Stanford University

Baltimore Center Stage: American Buffalo, The Whipping Man, The Homecoming, The Wiz; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Cyrano, The Importance of Being Earnest, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Matchmaker; Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead; Joe Turner’s Come & Gone; Hearts; Arsenic & Old Lace; Ah, Wilderness!; Death and the Maiden; The Three Sisters; King Lear; over 60 others. Broadway— Gem of the Ocean; Saturday Night Fever; Jekyll & Hyde; Angels in America; Loot; Saint Joan; A Small Family Business; Hide and Seek. Off Broadway— MTC; The Public; Playwrights Horizons; INTAR; Women’s Project; NYTW; TFANA; Big Apple Circus. Regional—Arena Stage; Shakespeare Theatre (DC); Denver Center; Hartford Stage; Goodman; ATL; Seattle Rep; many others. TV— over 750 episodes. Author— Fight Directing for the Theater. Professional— one of 15 Fight Masters recognized by The Society of American Fight Directors.

Baltimore Center Stage: The Whipping Man, The Skull in Connemara, The Homecoming, The Importance of Being Ernest, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Things of Dry Hours, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Hay Fever, The Voysey Inheritance, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Elmina’s Kitchen, Sweeney Todd, Mary Stuart, Peter Pan, Blithe Spirit, A Raisin in the Sun, An Ideal Husband. Broadway—Roundabout: The Philanthropist. Off Broadway—NYTW, Public, Classic Stage Co., Cherry Lane, Clurman, Madison Square Garden, Acting Company, Roundabout, George Street Playhouse. International—Banff Centre (Canada). Regional—Alley; Arena Stage; Actors Theatre of Louisville; Barrington Stage Co.; Bay Street; Goodman; Guthrie; Hartford Stage; Huntington; Long Wharf; NJ Shakespeare Fest; McCarter; Milwaukee Rep; Seattle Rep; Steppenwolf; Trinity Rep; Yale Rep. Professional—Faculty, The Juilliard School.

Baltimore Center Stage: That Face, The White Snake, The Secret Garden, Herzog Festival (4000 Miles and After the Revolution), It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Next to Normal, Vanya and Sonia…, Stones in His Pockets, dance of the holy ghosts, …Poe, The Whipping Man, A Skull in Connemara. Selected credits include: Broadway—Bronx Bombers; A Christmas Story, The Musical; Dividing the Estate; Bells Are Ringing; It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues. Off Broadway—Daniel’s Husband; That Golden Girls Show!; Fade; Exit Strategy; The Roads to Home; Informed Consent; The Winter’s Tale; The Glass Menagerie; Billy Porter’s While I Yet Live; The Model Apartment; Emotional Creature; Karen O’s Stop the Virgens!. Regional—Many theaters including: Asolo, Canadian Stage Company; Cincinnati Playhouse, Capital Rep, Ford’s Theatre, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival; Kansas City Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Berkeley Rep, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Company, Old Globe Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. Film/TV—Another Dance With Death; Poor Behavior; Stag; Alice Jacobs is Dead, Roberta, Feast of the Goat; Sidewalk Stories. TV—Lazytown. Member—Casting Society of America and League of Professional Theatre Women.

Baltimore Center Stage: Detroit ’67, As You Like It; 4000 Miles; After the Revolution; It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play; Amadeus; Wild with Happy; Twelfth Night; Stones in His Pockets; dance of the holy ghosts; Clybourne Park; Beneatha’s Place; The Mountaintop; Bus Stop; An Enemy of the People; The Whipping Man; Gleam; The Rivals; Snow Falling on Cedars; Cyrano; Working it Out; Fabulation or, The Re-Education of Undine; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Regional—Shakespeare Theater Company: Salome; Contemporary American Theater Festival: World Builders; Everyman: Pygmalion, Shipwrecked, The Exonerated, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Gem of the Ocean, And a Nightingale Sang, The School for Scandal, A Number, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Yellowman; Woolly Mammoth: Gruesome Playground Injuries, House of Gold, The Unmentionables, Vigils, After Ashley; Folger: Measure for Measure, Olney Theatre: Stuff Happens; Theater Alliance: Headsman’s Holiday, Pangea.

Baltimore Center Stage– Into the Woods, Assistant Stage Manger: The Whipping Man, A Skull in Connemara. Broadway—The Light in the Piazza, Coram Boy, Hamlet, Curtains, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Wicked, The Lion King, All Shook Up, The Frogs. Off Broadway—A.R. Gurney’s Black Tie dir. Mark Lamos, Happy Now?, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment…, A.R. Gurney’s Buffalo Gal dir. Mark Lamos, White Chocolate, Open Heart, The Architecture of Loss (Primary Stages). Other New York—Show Boat In Concert (Carnegie Hall). Regional—Twelfth Night, or What You Will dir. Mark Lamos; Suddenly Last Summer; Lips Together, Teeth Apart dir. Mark Lamos; Beyond Therapy; The Diary of Anne Frank; Beckett’s Happy Day’s dir. Mark Lamos; She Loves Me dir. Mark Lamos; That Championship Season dir. Mark Lamos; Tick, Tick, Boom!; Around the World in 80 Days; A Holiday Garland; The Pavilion (Westport Country Playhouse); Honk! (Two River Theater Company).

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

In the Press

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Reviews

““Powerful production””— City Paper

““A truly thought-provoking play and a powerful end to the CENTERSTAGE season.””— WYPR

““A taut, atmospheric production…astutely directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah.””— The Baltimore Sun

““Director Kwame Kwei-Armah... shows a rich instinct for atmosphere” in a “brooding, coiled production””— The Washington Post

““CENTERSTAGE’s powerful production – filled with mesmerizing performances – is an experience you do not want to miss””— DC Metro Theater Arts

““A FASCINATING PERSPECTIVE ON A FAMILIAR STORY””— BROADWAY WORLD BALTIMORE

In the News

03.30.12: The Baltimore Sun — Center Stage's Kwame Kwei-Armah is finally putting his vision on stage
04.12.12: The Washington Post — ‘The Whipping Man’ at Baltimore’s Centerstage: Drama aplenty
04.13.12: The Baltimore Sun — 'The Whipping Man' gets taut, atmospheric production at Center Stage
04.18.12: City Paper — Production about the aftermath of slavery has a powerful immediacy
04.23.12: Broadway World Baltimore — A Potent WHIPPING MAN
04.12.12: DC Metro Theater Arts — ‘The Whipping Man’ at Centerstage by Amanda Gunther
04.21.12: DC Theatre Scene — The Whipping Man at Center Stage

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