Theater News

Amy Morton to Direct World Premiere of New Rajiv Joseph Play Guards at the Taj

The drama will see a New York production at Atlantic Theater Company.

Tony nominee Amy Morton will direct Rajiv Joseph's new drama, Guards at the Taj, at Atlantic Theater Company.
Tony nominee Amy Morton will direct Rajiv Joseph's new drama, Guards at the Taj, at Atlantic Theater Company.
(© David Gordon)

Tony Award nominee Amy Morton will direct the world-premiere production of Guards at the Taj, a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph, at the Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theatre. The drama will begin previews on May 20, with opening night set for June 11. The limited engagement is scheduled to conclude on June 28.

The two-character work will star Tony Award nominees Omar Metwally (Munich; Sixteen Wounded) and Arian Moayed (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo). Set in 1648 India, Guards at the Taj finds Metwally and Moayed as a pair of Imperial Guards who must watch over the completed Taj Mahal, and are forced to perform an unthinkable task that changes their lives forever. It was awarded the 2015 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, given annually for an unproduced, full-length play of social relevance by an emerging American playwright.

Guards at the Taj will feature scenic design by Timothy R. Mackabee, costume design by Bobby Frederick Tilley II, lighting design by David Weiner, original music and sound design by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen, special effects design by Jeremy Chernick, and fight direction by J. David Brimmer.

Morton makes her New York directorial debut with the production. A longtime member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, she has also directed plays including Clybourne Park, The Pillowman, American Buffalo, and Glengarry Glen Ross, among many others, for the Chicago-based organization. She received Tony nominations for her performances on Broadway in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and August: Osage County.

Joseph's drama Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was named a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize before opening on Broadway in a 2011 production featuring Moayed and Robin Williams. His other plays include Animals Out of Paper, Gruesome Playground Injuries, and The North Pool.

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Guards at the Taj

Closed: July 12, 2015