Tony Award–winning actress Phylicia Rashad will direct Immediate Family, Paul Oakley Stovall’s comedy about secrets revealed at a family reunion

Charlotte, NC (June 30, 2025) – Blumenthal Arts and Martian Entertainment announced casting for the celebrated new American play Immediate Family, written by Hamilton’s Paul Oakley Stovall and directed by Tony Award–winning actress, director, and TV star Phylicia Rashad. Part of Blumenthal’s 2024–2025 PNC Broadway Lights series, Immediate Family will make its regional premiere at Blumenthal Arts July 29 through August 31 in the Booth Playhouse. Tickets are on sale now at blumenthalarts.org.

 

The ensemble cast features Christina Sajous (Evy), Elijah Jones (Jesse), Freddie Fulton (Tony), Andy Mientus (Kristian), and Kai Almeda Heath (Nina). Britney Coleman (Ronnie) returns to Charlotte following her starring role as Bobbie in the Broadway national tour of Company. Rounding out the cast are Deon Releford-Lee, Samuel Douglas, Aigner Mizzelle, and Vanessa R. Butler as off-stage standbys.

 

The Immediate Family creative team includes set design by Paul Tate dePoo III; costume design by Colleen Morris-Glennon; lighting design by Levi J. Wilkins; sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman; and production props supervision by Emmarose Campbell. Sets will be constructed locally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at Majestic Scenic, LLC. Casting is by ARC, Duncan Stewart, CSA & Jarrett Reiche.

 

Immediate Family tickets are on sale now at blumenthalarts.org.

 

The Bryant family reunion takes a comedic turn when the middle son brings home his boyfriend and tosses him into a stew of family dysfunctions. Race, sexuality, and religion are on the menu as Modern Family meets Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in this "timely and important American play" (Chicago Tribune) written by multi-hyphenate artist Paul Oakley Stovall (Tony Award® winner and Olivier-nominated producer of A Strange Loop; George Washington in the first national tour of Hamilton) and directed by two-time Tony Award® winner and multiple Emmy Award® nominee Phylicia Rashad. 

 

This summer, Paul Oakley Stovall directed and co-adapted the world premiere of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room to great acclaim. Charlotte audiences were introduced to Paul when he played George Washington in the national tour of Hamilton. He worshopped his concert Love Rules, an evening of songs exploring the nature of love, in Charlotte in early 2024, followed by his follow-up concert, Life Rules, in 2025. Other Broadway and regional credits include co-producing the 2022 Ton Award Best Musical A Strange Loop, portraying Belize in Angels in America directed by Tony award winner David Cromer, a Jeff Award–nominated turn as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, national tours of RENT and Once on this Island, and television appearances on Shameless, Empire, and Chicago Fire. Film work includes John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus and Robert Altman’s The Company. His award-winning films under his production company KernoForto include Buffalo, Columbus, Charlotte, Chicago, and Arlington. Immediate Family was featured at the Goodman Theatre and Mark Taper Forum, directed by Phylicia Rashad. Other plays include the Barrymore recommended Written by Phillis (with Marilyn Campbell), Ape, and the musical Alkebulan, among others. Paul made his Jeff-nominated directorial debut with the US premiere stage adaptation of the film Gods and Monsters, based on the book by Christopher Bram. Outside of entertainment, Paul spent six years as an advance staff lead and media logistics coordinator for First Lady Michelle Obama, after spending a year as a Press Lead for President Obama. @tallpowerpaul

 

Phylicia Rashad made her Broadway directorial debut with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose, which won the 2025 Tony Award for Best Play, Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Play), and New York Drama Critics Circle Award (Best Play). Other directing credits include: Our Lady of 121st Street, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Fences, Gem of the Ocean, A Raisin in the Sun, The Roommate, and Four Little Girls. This marks her third time directing Immediate Family. Producing credits include the 2024 Tony nominated Broadway revival of Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious, and the PBS film The Old Settler.

 

Fondly remembered by television audiences for her portrayal of Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show, Phylicia Rashad can be seen this season in recurring roles in hit TV series The Gilded Age and Lena Waithe’s The CHI. Film and television credits include: The Beekeeper, Jingle Jangle, Pixar’s Soul, Black Box, A Fall from Grace, Creed, Creed II, Creed III, For Colored Girls, This is Us, Diarra from Detroit, Little America, The Crossover, The Good Fight, David Makes Man, and Empire.

 

A Theater Hall of Fame inductee (2016) , Ms. Rashad received Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her performances as Faye in Skeleton Crew (2022) and as Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun (2004), the Lucille Lortel Award for her performance as Shelah in Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s Head of Passes (2016), and a Tony nomination for her portrayal of Aunt Ester in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (2005).

 

Rashad, who serves as co-chair of the advisory council for the African American Cultural Heritage Fund, is Dean Emerita of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University. She served as Inaugural Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and Inaugural Toni Morrison Chair at Howard University. She was also the first recipient of the Denzel Washington Scholar Chair at Fordham University. She holds Honorary Doctorates from Bennett College, Barber -Scotia College, Clark-Atlanta University, Brown University, Providence College, Tuskegee University, Carnegie-Mellon University, Fordham University, Spelman College, Morris Brown College, St. Augustine College, University of South Carolina at Columbia, and Howard University.

 

Tickets and more information are available at blumenthalarts.org.

 

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About Blumenthal Arts

 

Blumenthal Arts serves the Carolinas as a leading cultural, entertainment and education not-for-profit. For more information, call (704) 372-1000 or visit BlumenthalArts.org. Blumenthal Arts receives support from the Infusion Fund and the North Carolina Arts Council. Generous support is also provided by PNC Bank, sponsor of the PNC Broadway Lights series, and Equitable, sponsor of the Equitable Bravo Series.

 

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