(RAHWAY, NJ) -- Broadway veteran Kenny Ingram will direct American Theater Group's (ATG) production of the exhilarating and Tony Award-winning musical Purlie, running March 6-23, 2025, at Hamilton Stage in Rahway. Gary Mitchell, Jr. will provide Musical Direction. Purlie is the 1970 musical adaptation of Ossie Davis's comedic play Purlie Victorious, which just completed a hugely successful revival on Broadway last season.
Ingram was nominated for a 2023 Audelco Award for his direction of James T. Lane’s Triple Threat Off Broadway at Theatre Row and choreographed the NY Times’ Critic Choice’s Emojiland at the Duke on 42nd St. Ingram’s Broadway debut was in The Lion King, where he performed for a decade.
Featuring an unforgettable score, Purlie tells the story of a traveling preacher who returns to his hometown in Georgia and concocts a scheme to reclaim his church while ringing the bell of freedom for plantation workers. Nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction and Best Choreography, the original Broadway production launched the careers of Melba Moore (Tony Award – Best Featured Actress in a Musical), Cleavon Little (Tony Award - Best Performance by a Leading Actor) and Sherman Hemsley. Purlie was written by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose and Peter Udell with music by Gary Geld.
(LEFT) Timothy Ware-Hill (RIGHT) Aeja Barrows
Leading the cast as Purlie will be Timothy Ware-Hill (Broadway: Kinky Boots), joined by newcomer Aeja Barrows as Lutiebelle. Tyson Jennette (B’way: Book of Mormon) will portray Gitlow, Tom Souhrada ((B’way: Mary Poppins) will play Ol’ Cap’n, Ryan Bronston will play Charlie, Nicole Powell (B’way: Ragtime, Hairspray) will portray Missy, Virginia Woodruff (B’way: Violet, Leap of Faith) will play Idella and Kayla Ceaser, Berlin Lee Charles, Lilliannie Arie Urgent, Maya Mays, Lathan Roberts, Joshua Shepard, Shaquile Hester and LJ Brodie will round out the ensemble. A local choir will also appear in the opening and closing numbers.
Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling the box office at 732-499-8226. Ticket prices range from $20 (student) to $65. Performances are Thursday – Sunday, March 6-9; Thursday – Sunday, March 13-16 and Friday – Sunday, March 21-23. Hamilton Stage is located at 360 Hamilton Street in Rahway, New Jersey.
“Purlie is a show that we are delighted to re-introduce to new audiences,” noted ATG Producing Artistic Director Jim Vagias. “It has an amazing, raise-the-roof score that is a real crowd-pleaser. It is truly a great American musical that we are honored to produce.”
Kenny Ingram has served as director and/or choreographer at Regional Theaters across the US, most recently at Maine State Music Theatre where he directed and choreographed Funny Girl and 9 to 5 The Musical. He also served as director/choreographer for The Wiz at New Bedford Musical Festival Theater and Blues in the Night at Porchlight Dinner Playhouse in Chicago, for which he won a Jeff Award. He also choreographed Emojiland at the Duke, Turtles on a Fence Post and Till, The Musical. In addition, Ingram served as choreographer for Dreamgirls, Sound of Music and Jolly Holiday at Papermill Playhouse. He will make his directing and choreography debut this spring at The Fulton Theatre in Pennsylvania with Anastasia.
Musical Director Gary Mitchell, Jr., regularly collaborates with renowned singers, instrumentalists, artists, and ensembles throughout the world. He has been featured at Carnegie Hall, The Apollo Theatre, Lincoln Center, The Harlem Opera Festival, The United Nations, Teatro alla Scala, Dance Theater of Harlem, 54 Below, Cape Playhouse, New London Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, and Barrington Stage Theatre with select performances in Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, Copenhagen, and Australia.. He has also collaborated and performed with The New York Historical Society, Broadway Inspirational Voices, PBS, MTV, VH1, and is currently Director of Music and Arts Administration at First AME Church: Bethel-Harlem.
The creative team also includes Bernita Robinson (Production Stage Manager); Cat Murphy (Production Manager); Max Evans (Assistant Stage Manager); Jose Luis Santiago Jr (Lighting Designer); Saawan Tiwari (Costume Designer); Seth Howard (Set Designer); Travis Joseph Wright (Sound Designer); Ben Merrick (Tech Director); Alison Merrick (Props) and Sara Norton (Hair and Wigs).
Purlie is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
Following Purlie, ATG will present “Broadway in the ‘Burbs,” a unique 90-minute “behind-the-scenes” look at Broadway with veteran theater critic and insider Peter Filichia at the Sieminski Theater on May 17-18. Filichia will regale the audience with anecdotes, gossip and entertaining tales of his life on the aisle, including his 20 years as the state’s top critic for the NJ Star-Ledger. He will be joined by Broadway artists singing popular songs from the shows mentioned. Filichia has seen 13,000 shows in 47 states and 17 foreign countries, appears on the “Broadway Radio” podcast and has a weekly column for Masterworks Broadway.
Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) is a non-profit organization offering quality programming and performances that strive to be educational, affordable, and enrich the arts within our diverse communities. UCPAC features two venues, the Main Stage, built in 1928, and the Hamilton Stage, a recently renovated intimate 199-seat theater built by the City of Rahway Redevelopment Agency, and located at 360 Hamilton Street.
American Theater Group (ATG), founded in 2012, produces new and classic works primarily by American playwrights with an emphasis on the development of new works and the reimagining of undeservedly neglected older ones. It also provides quality arts-in-education initiatives, including its annual DramaFest for students and its PlayLab program for BIPOC and queer playwrights. ATG programming is made possible in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
