Signature Theatre announces the cast and creative team for Play On!, conceived by Sheldon Epps (Broadway’s Blues in the Night, Purlie) with a book by Cheryl L. West (Shout, Sister, Shout!, Pullman Porter Blues) and music by Duke Ellington. The production will be directed by Lili-Anne Brown (Olney and Round House’s Fela!, Goodman Theatre’s The Color Purple), with choreography by Breon Arzell (Goodman Theatre’s The Color Purple, Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Once On This Island) and music direction by Jermaine Hill (Goodman Theatre’s The Color Purple, The Muny’s RENT). Performances run August 12 – October 5, 2025 in Signature’s MAX Theatre. Tickets start at $47 and are available at SigTheatre.org.
“Signature begins its 36th season filling the MAX Theatre with the rich and syncopated sounds of Duke Ellington in a rarely staged gem of the American musical theater,” said Signature Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner. “Play On! is a big-hearted and utterly irresistible musical comedy that sets Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in the vibrant, high-style world of 1930s swing-era Harlem. I am thrilled to welcome award-winning Chicago native Lili-Anne Brown to direct this production in her Signature debut. If music be the food of love, then we hope you will join us at Play On! this fall for a fabulous feast as the MAX transforms into Harlem’s Cotton Club.”
“Play On! is one of those rarely produced musicals that makes you immediately wonder ‘why isn’t this delightful show better known,’ and I have wanted to direct it for years,” said director Lili-Anne Brown. “I am so thrilled to introduce this witty, charming musical comedy to audiences in the DC area. Get ready for some classic romantic comedy in a gorgeous historic setting, top it all off with this incredible score of Duke Ellington songs, and you have a recipe for a fantastic night at Signature Theatre!”
Play On! is a delightful musical based on Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night and set to the syncopated soundtrack of Duke Ellington’s greatest hits. Aspiring songwriter Vy comes to swinging 1930s Harlem to make it big. But when she discovers the doors of opportunity are closed to women, she disguises herself as a man to pitch her songs to Harlem’s hottest composer, the Duke. However, when her tunes attract the attention of Cotton Club performer Lady Liv, the object of The Duke’s affection, Vy-Man is swept up in a swinging tempest of love, mistaken identity and jazz. If music be the food of love, then Play On’s timeless classics “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Mood Indigo,” “I Got it Bad and That Ain’t Good,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” combine with stunning dance to make for a joyous feast in a fun and fresh take on a beloved comedy.
The cast of Play On! includes Wesley J. Barnes (Broadway’s A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, National Tour of Mean Girls) as Jester, Chuckie Benson (The Acting Company’s Comedy of Errors, McCarter and Goodspeed’s Dreamgirls) as Rev, Awa Sal Secka (The Public’s GODDESS, Signature’s Ragtime) as Lady Liv, Alana S. Thomas (Constellation’s Little Shop of Horrors, Imagination Stage’s The Hula Hoopin’ Queen) as CC, Derrick D. Truby Jr. (Ford’s Little Shop of Horrors, Folger’s The Merry Wives of Windsor) as Sweets, Greg Watkins (Arena Stage’s Jubilee, Keegan’s Legally Blonde) as Duke, Jalisa Williams (Signature’s The Color Purple, Olney and Round House’s Fela!) as Vy, and Kanysha Williams (Signature’s Gun and Powder, Ford’s Sister Act) as Miss Mary. The ensemble of Play On! is rounded out by Bryan Archibald (Olney and Round House’s Fela!, Studio’s Choirboy), Montel B. Butler (Signature’s Gun and Powder, Olney’s Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Ciara Hargrove (Olney’s Senior Class, Long Way Down), Divine Iweha (54 Below’s 54 Below Passes the Bechdel Test), Vaughn Ryan Midder (Olney and Round House’s Fela!, Constellation’s Avenue Q), Kalen Robinson (The Kennedy Center’s Finn, Woolly Mammoth’s The Sensational Sea-Minkettes), and Sean Walton (McCarter Theatre’s Dreamgirls, The Muny’s The Color Purple). Jared Martin (Signature’s In the Heights) and Tierra London Rush (Know Theatre of Cincinnati’s BLERDS) are swings.
Play On! runs August 12-October 5, 2025, in the MAX Theatre at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave, Arlington, VA 22206. Tickets start at $47 and are available online or by calling the box office at 703.820.9771.
ABOUT SIGNATURE THEATRE
Signature Theatre is a Tony Award-winning regional theater that broadens and brightens the region’s cultural landscape with its bold productions of challenging new and established works and engaging education and outreach programs. Founded in 1989 by Eric Schaeffer and Donna Migliaccio, and currently under the leadership of Managing Director Maggie Boland and Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner, musical theater is Signature’s “signature,” and the Theatre is renowned for its definitive Sondheim productions, inventive adaptations of overlooked or forgotten works, and investment in fresh new projects. Signature combines Broadway-caliber productions with intimate playing spaces and aims to be a leading force in U.S. musical theater.
Since its inception, the Theatre has produced 61 world premiere works — including 20 new musical commissions. Signature opens its doors to more than 100,000 people annually from the Washington, DC region and beyond and reaches more than 10,000 students every year through its innovative education programs, including the award-winning initiative Signature in the Schools. Signature has won 148 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the Washington, DC region’s professional theater and has been honored with 527 nominations.
