The Signature Theatre has extended its Off-Broadway revival of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by resident playwright Lynn Nottage with direction by Kamilah Forbes. The production, which began January 29 and will officially open February 19, will now play an additional week through March 10.
First seen Off-Broadway in 2011, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark charts a 70-year journey through the life of an actor whose career begins with a portrayal of a slave in an antebellum epic.
READ: Lynn Nottage Delivers the Unexpected in Off-Broadway’s By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Forbes directs a cast led by Jessica Frances Dukes as Vera, along with Jenni Barber as Gloria, Tony Award nominee Manoel Felciano as Max/Peter, Warner Miller as Leroy/Herb, Carra Patterson as Anna Mae/Afua, Heather Alicia Simmsas Lottie/Carmen, and David Turner as Brad/Slavick.
It’s the Golden Age of Hollywood, and aspiring starlet Vera Stark works as a maid to Gloria Mitchell. Worlds collide when Vera lands a trailblazing role in an antebellum epic starring her boss. While Vera’s portrayal of a slave turns out to be groundbreaking, decades later scholars and film buffs still grapple with her legacy in Hollywood and the impact that race had on her controversial career.
With By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Nottage continues her playwriting residency at the Signature. Previously, the theatre presented Nottage's play Fabulation.
