The full cast and creative team have been announced for the world premiere of The Avett Brothers’ musical. The ensemble includes Wayne Duvall (O Brother, Where Art Thou?), Adrian Blake Enscoe (Apple TV+ Dickinson), Tony Award winner John Gallagher, Jr. (Spring Awakening) and Tony Award nominee Stark Sands (Kinky Boots).
The show will feature music created and inspired The Avett Brothers, a Grammy nominated folk rock band, and is written by Tony Award-winning and Academy Award nominee John Logan (Red, Broadway’s Moulin Rouge!, Skyfall, Gladiator). Logan is joined by director Michael Mayer who has a successful history of helming new musicals including Spring Awakening, for which he won the Tony Award for direction, American Idiot, and the first Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Swept Away takes place in1888, off the coast of New Bedford, MA. When a violent storm sinks their whaling ship, the four surviving souls—a young man in search of adventure, his older brother who has sworn to protect him, a captain at the end of a long career at sea, and a worldly first mate who has fallen from grace—each face a reckoning: How far will I go to stay alive? And can I live with the consequences?
Cast
Wayne Duvall (Captain) Duvall will be making his Berkeley Rep debut with Swept Away. Theatre credits include Broadway: 1984; Off-Broadway: Big River and Of Thee I Sing (Encores), The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC Theater); Regional: The Cake (La Jolla Playhouse), Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill (Signature Theatre), Bright Star and Working (The Old Globe), Bonnie and Clyde (Asolo Rep and La Jolla). Film credits include Richard Jewell; The Kitchen; American Animals; Wolves; Hello My Name Is Frank; Prisoners; Lincoln; Edge of Darkness; Duplicity; Leatherheads; In the Valley of Elah; Pride and Glory; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Hard Rain; The Fan; Apollo 13. Upcoming films: A Quiet Place 2, The Trial of The Chicago 7, The Hunt, and Werewolves Within. Over 100 TV guest stars, including Pearson, Suits, One Dollar, The Code, Sneaky Pete, Fargo, BrainDead, Madam Secretary, Gotham, The Leftovers, Hell on Wheels, Elementary, Person of Interest, The Good Wife, all the Law & Orders, Hawaii 5-0, Boardwalk Empire, The West Wing, The District.
Adrian Blake Enscoe (Little Brother) Since graduating from Carnegie Mellon’s undergraduate acting program, Enscoe has made a name for himself by landing roles in Carter Smith’s indie film Jamie Marks Is Dead, opposite Cameron Monaghan and Morgan Saylor, as well as HBO’s Girls, and on the hit Netflix show Orange Is the New Black. He played opposite Catherine Keener and Anton Yelchin in their indie feature The Greens Are Gone, and had a strong supporting role in Owen Long’s indie film Seeds. When not acting, Adrian moonlights as lead guitar and vocalist in the trio Bandits on the Run, with whom he recently wrapped up a local tour. Adrian can currently be seen starring opposite Hailee Steinfeld as Austin Dickinson in the Apple TV+ breakout hit Dickinson. He is based in Brooklyn, NY where he is very active in theatre.
John Gallagher, Jr. (Mate) Gallagher recently wrapped a series of high-profile film and television projects: HBO’s Westworld with Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright; Amazon Studio’s anthology series Modern Love with Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, and Dev Patel; The Best of Enemies with Sam Rockwell and Taraji P. Henson for STXfilms; Will Eubank’s Underwater opposite Kristen Stewart for 20th Century Fox; and Amblin Partners’ Larry, which is based on the horror short by Jacob Chase. He won a Tony Award originating the role of Moritz Stiefel in Spring Awakening (2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album); starred in the stage adaptation of punk rock band Green Day’s rock opera American Idiot (2011 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album); and starred as Edmund Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night alongside Michael Shannon, Jessica Lange, and Gabriel Byrne; and recently opened the American premiere of Nassim Soleimanpour’s NASSIM at New York City Center’s Stage II.
Stark Sands (Older Brother) Sands most recently appeared on Broadway in Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird opposite Jeff Daniels. Prior to that, he was nominated for a Tony Award and received a Grammy Award for originating the role of Charlie Price in the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots. Recent film credits include Steven Spielberg’s The Post opposite Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis with Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, and Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers opposite Ryan Phillippe and John Slattery. He was most recently seen on television as the lead of the FOX series Minority Report. He made his Broadway debut in Journey’s End, for which he received his first Tony Award nomination and won the 2007 Theatre World Award before going on to star in Green Day’s rock musical American Idiot.
Taurean Everett (Ensemble) This will mark Everett’s is Berkeley Rep debut. His Broadway credits include Mamma Mia! (Broadhurst Theatre), Miss Saigon (Broadway Theatre), and The Cher Show (Neil Simon Theatre). His national tours and regional credits and concerts include Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (first national tour); Thoroughly Modern Millie Concert (The Actors Fund/Minskoff Theatre); Guys and Dolls Concert (Carnegie Hall); Audrey 2 (in drag) in Little Shop of Horrors (Berkshire Theatre); Can Can, Damn Yankees, Curtains,and Peter Pan (Paper Mill Playhouse); Nikkos in Legally Blonde (Cape Playhouse); Steam Heat (Mason Street Warehouse); Hairspray, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Full Monty, A Chorus Line,and Plato/Macavity in Cats (Music Theatre of Wichita).
Dan Gleason (Ensemble) Gleason will be making his Berkeley Rep debut. His other credits include Wicked (Broadway/national tour), American Idiot (national tour), Miss Saigon (Kansas City Starlight/regional tour), My One and Only (Goodspeed Opera House), Baby (Pennsylvania Centre Stage), Shenandoah (Gretna Theatre), and Fantastical Family Night (Transcendence Theatre). Dan is also a singer/songwriter/guitarist for the band Sir Richard Newton along with Larkin Bogan and Rob Marnell; their debut album is expected by winter 2020.
Ebrin R. Stanley (Ensemble) Stanley is an actor, singer, songwriter, and producer from Houston, TX. He graduated from the University of South Dakota with a BFA in Musical Theatre and a minor in Dance. He released his debut album, For The Lovers and The Heartbreakers, on all streaming platforms last September and was most recently seen as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison in the Chicago company of Hamilton.
Jacob Keith Watson (Ensemble) Watson is returning to Berkeley Rep after appearing in the world premiere of Amélie, A New Musical. Broadway/NYC: Carousel (Enoch Snow, Imperial Theatre), Hello, Dolly! (Shubert Theatre), Violet (American Airlines Theatre), Amélie, A New Musical (u/s Nino, Walter Kerr Theatre), The Phantom of the Opera (Joseph Buquet/Monsieur Reyer, Majestic Theatre), 1776 (Robert Livingston, New York Scott Center), Mack & Mabel (Harry/Ensemble, New York City Center). National tour: Chicago (Amos Hart). Regional credits include Benny & Joon (Waldo, Paper Mill Playhouse), Shrek the Musical (Shrek, Broadway at Music Circus), Sister Act (Joey, Paper Mill Playhouse), Amélie, A New Musical (Berkeley Rep/Center Theatre Group), A Christmas Carol (Jacob Marley, Shakespeare on the Sound), Othello (u/s Iago, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre), As You Like It (Corin, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre).
Nikita Burshteyn (Swing) Berkeley Rep credits: Alexander Supertramp in Into the Wild (The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep). Off-Broadway credits: Romeo in Romeo and Bernadette (The ART/New York Theatres/Theatre Row at the Acorn Theatre). Recent regional credits: Jack Kelly in Newsies (Woodminster Summer Musicals), Gene Gorman in Saturday Night (42nd Street Moon), Jean-Michel in La Cage aux Folles (San Francisco Playhouse), Bobby Strong in Urinetown (Berkeley Playhouse).
Creative Team
John Logan (Book) Logan received the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critic Circle, and Drama League awards for his play Red. This play has had more than 400 productions across the U.S. and over 160 foreign productions in 25 languages. He is the author of more than a dozen other plays, including Peter and Alice, I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers, and Never the Sinner. Musical theatre work includes Moulin Rouge, The Last Ship, Superhero, and Swept Away. He is the proud recipient of the O’Neill Theater Center’s 2019 Monte Cristo Award. As a screenwriter, John has been three times nominated for the Oscar and has received Golden Globe, BAFTA, WGA, Edgar, and PEN Center awards. His film work includes Skyfall, Spectre, Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator, Rango, Alien: Covenant, Genius, Coriolanus, Sweeney Todd, The Last Samurai, Any Given Sunday, and RKO 281. He created and produced the television series Penny Dreadful and Penny Dreadful: City of Angels for Showtime.
The Avett Brothers (Music and Lyrics) The Avett Brothers made mainstream waves with their 2009 major label debut, I and Love and You, landing at No. 16 on the Billboard Top 200 and garnering critical acclaim. 2012 saw The Carpenter hit No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 and was followed by Magpie and the Dandelion (2013) which debuted at No. 5 on Billboard’s Top 200 and saw the band appear twice on Jimmy Kimmel Live! True Sadness (2016) achieved The Avett Brothers’ highest career debut to date hitting No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Albums Chart, No. 1 Top Rock Albums Chart, No. 1 Digital Albums Chart, No. 3 on Billboard Top 200, and scoring two GRAMMY®nominations. In the same year, the band was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. In 2017, the band released their critically acclaimed documentary May It Last: A Portrait of The Avett Brothers, which was co-directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio. The film followed the band as they wrote their GRAMMY® nominated album True Sadness. Last year, the band released their tenth studio album Closer Than Together featuring new single “High Steppin’” which reached #1 on the Americana Radio Chart.
Michael Mayer (Director) Mayer is returning to Berkeley Rep where he created the Tony Award-winning American Idiot nearly 10 years ago. Recent credits include the new Little Shop of Horrors now playing Off-Broadway, Burn This starring Adam Driver and Keri Russell, Head Over Heels, a new production of La Traviata at the Met, and the film of The Seagull starring Annette Bening and Saoirse Ronan. Other credits include Spring Awakening (Tony Award, Best Director, Best Musical), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony Award, Best Revival), Marnie (ENO and Met), and a new Rigoletto (Met), Side Man (Tony Award, Best Play), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award, Best Musical), A View from the Bridge (Tony Award, Best Revival), among others. TV: Smash (Pilot, Season One), Alpha House (Amazon). Film: A Home at the End of the World (Warner Bros.), Flicka (Fox 2000). He has won Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Jefferson, Ovation, and Carbonell awards. He serves on the boards of New York Stage and Film and The Arthur Miller Foundation.
David Neumann (Choreographer) Swept Away will be Neumann’s Berkeley Rep debut. Broadway: Hadestown (Chita Rivera Award, Tony, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel nominations). Neumann’s original work as artistic director of Advanced Beginner Group has been presented in New York at PS 122, New York Live Arts, The Kitchen, Central Park Summerstage, Symphony Space, Abrons Arts Center, The Chocolate Factory, and The Whitney. ABG has also performed at the Walker Art Center, Jacob’s Pillow, MASS MoCA, and the American Dance Institute, among others. Recent New York projects include directing Geoff Sobelle in The Object Lesson (New York Theatre Workshop, BAM), choreography for Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova), An Octoroon (Soho Rep.), and The Antipodes (Signature Theatre). Film: I Am Legend, various Hal Hartley films, Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach). David is the recipient of three NY Dance & Performance Bessie Awards, including Best Production in 2015 for I Understand Everything Better. He is currently a professor of theatre at Sarah Lawrence College.
Brian Usifer (Music Supervisor, Music Arrangements, and Orchestrations) Usifer is a New York City-based music director, pianist, orchestrator/arranger, producer, and composer and is currently the music director of Disney’s Frozen on Broadway. He is also currently the associate music supervisor of The Book of Mormon on Broadway and on tour. Prior to that he was the music director of Kinky Boots on Broadway, which won six Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Orchestrations. The cast recording won the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album, and the West End production won an Olivier Award for Best Musical. He was the associate music supervisor as well for Kinky Boots on tour, London, and in Toronto. Brian has played in the Broadway and off-Broadway orchestras of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Avenue Q, Altar Boyz, and The Book of Mormon. Credits also include Chess at the Kennedy Center and more than five years of regional theatre including Follies at Barrington Stage Company. Concerts include Bobby and Kristen Lopez: American Songbook at Lincoln Center and Clay Aiken “Tried and True DVD,” for PBS.
Chris Miller (Music Arrangements and Orchestrations) Berkeley Rep debut. Composer, Tuck Everlasting (Broadway 2016); The Burnt Part Boys (Playwrights Horizons/Vineyard Theatre, Lucille Lortel nominee Best Musical 2011); Fugitive Songs (Drama Desk Award nominee Outstanding Revue 2008); all have cast albums available at iTunes and Amazon. Television: Sesame Street, Elmo’s World, and The Electric Company. Incidental music: The Whipping Man (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Anna Christie (The Old Globe, San Diego); co-composer with Michael Friedman, the first New York revival of Angels in America (Signature Theatre). Upcoming: the book, music, and lyrics for Ravello (Signature Theatre (VA) American Musical Voices Project); April Twilights, a song cycle for soprano and orchestra using the poetry of Willa Cather; and a commission for producer Barbara Whitman and Grove Entertainment. With Nathan Tysen, Revival, for Playwrights Horizons and TheaterWorks Silicon Valley, and a musical for the Educational Theater Association and Concord Theatricals.
Justin Craig (Music Director) Craig is a Grammy-nominated record producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music director based in New York City. Theatre: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Belasco Theatre/Broadway, first national tour), This Ain’t No Disco (guitarist, Atlantic Theatre/off Broadway), Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (guitarist). TV/film (as a musician): The Magic Within (upcoming), How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017), The Nice Guys (2016), Admission (2013), Lovelace (2013), Little Fockers (2010), Barko (Animated Short 2010), The Backup Plan (2010), Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009), Sex Drive (2008).
Rachel Hauck (Scenic Designer) Berkeley Rep credits include What the Constitution Means to Me, The Madwoman in the Volvo, Roe, It Can’t Happen Here, An Iliad, Mother Courage, Antony & Cleopatra, and Valley Song. Broadway credits include Hadestown (Tony Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle nominations), What the Constitution Means to Me, and Latin History for Morons. Recent work includes The Wrong Man (MCC), Hadestown (National Theatre, Citadel, New York Theatre Workshop), Hurricane Diane (NYTW), Othello and Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova), You’ll Still Call Me by Name (Sonya Tayeh/Jacob’s Pillow), Tiny Beautiful Things and Dry Powder (The Public Theater), Amy and the Orphans and On the Exhale (Roundabout Theatre Company), and Antlia Pneumatica and Grand Concourse (Playwrights Horizons). Rachel is honored to have received the Princess Grace Award and Lilly Award, Drama Desk and Lortel nominations, and an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.
Susan Hilferty (Costume Designer) Berkeley Rep credits include Compulsion, Dream of a Common Language, The Illusion, Born in the RSA, Road to Mecca, Twelfth Night, Woman Warrior, Tooth of Crime,and Convict’s Return. Susan has designed sets and costumes for over 350 productions across globe. She has collaborated on 39 productions with South African playwright Athol Fugard. Broadway designs include Wicked (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics awards), Present Laughter (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics award nominations), Spring Awakening (Tony nomination), Lestat (Tony nomination), Annie, Hands on a Hardbody, Wonderland, Assassins, Into the Woods (Tony and Drama Desk nominations, Hewes Award). Recent designs include Blood Wedding (Young Vic, London), Hamlet (St. Anne’s Warehouse), Boesman and Lena (Signature Theatre), Bright Room Called Day and The Gabriels (The Public Theater), Uncle Vanya (Old Globe), Love, Love, Love (Roundabout Theatre; Lucille Lortel Award), Buried Child and The Spoils (NY and London), Turn Me Loose (Arena Stage). Her designs for opera include La Traviata and Rigoletto (Metropolitan Opera); film (Laurie Anderson); dance (Ailey); circus (Ringling Bros.); and concerts (Taylor Swift). Her many awards include TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement and Obie Award for Sustained Excellence Costume Design.
Kevin Adams (Lighting Designer) Adams’ Berkeley Rep credits include American Idiot and Passing Strange. He has received four Tony Awards for his work on Broadway, which includes The Cher Show, Head Over Heels, SpongeBob The Musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot, Next to Normal, Passing Strange, The 39 Steps, Spring Awakening, Hair, Take Me Out, and solo shows by Michael Moore, Eve Ensler, and John Leguizamo. Off-Broadway credits include the original productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and The Scottsboro Boys, revivals of Carrie and Rent,and new work by Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, Neil Simon, Terrence McNally, Richard Greenberg, Anna Deavere Smith, Eric Bogosian, and Christopher Durang. Other work includes numerous productions at The Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, the Hollywood Bowl, Las Vegas, London’s West End, Disney Hall, and Sandra Bernhard’s 1990 feature film Without You I’m Nothing. Kevin has received the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Award, Lucille Lortel Awards, Hewes Design Awards, Knights of Illumination Award, and an Obie for Sustained Excellence.
Kai Harada (Sound Designer) Berkeley Rep: Amélie. Broadway: Head Over Heels, The Band’s Visit (Tony Award and Drama Desk Award), Amélie, Sunday in the Park with George, Allegiance, Gigi, Fun Home, On the Town, First Date, Follies (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), and Million Dollar Quartet. Other credits include Hercules (The Public Theater at the Delacorte); Soft Power (The Public Theater); A Legendary Romance and Poster Boy (Williamstown Theatre Festival); The Light in the Piazza and Candide (L.A. Opera); We Live in Cairo and The Black Clown (American Repertory Theater); Brooklynite (Vineyard Theatre); The Music Man, Little Shop of Horrors, Chess, Little Dancer,and First You Dream (Kennedy Center); Silent Night (Washington National Opera); Zorro (Moscow; Atlanta); Hinterm Horizont (Berlin); Sweeney Todd and Man of La Mancha (Portland Opera); and She Loves Me (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Audio consultant for the revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Education: Yale University.
Swept Away will end Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s 2019-20 season and play from June 14 to July 26. Tickets are available online.