Albert Jones to Lead Cast of Ira Aldridge-Themed Play Red Velvet

The cast and creative team have been announced for Lolita Chakrabarti's Red Velvet, coming to the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Directed by Stafford Arima (Allegiance), performances will run March 25-April 30 with an official March 30 opening.

Red Velvet is a stirring drama that transports audiences to the turbulent backstage world of London’s Theatre Royal in the early 1800s. Edmund Kean, the greatest actor of his generation, can’t go on tonight as Othello, and his company is in disarray. A young American actor named Ira Aldridge arrives to step into the role — but no black man has ever played Othello on the English stage. His groundbreaking performance upends stage tradition and changes the lives of everyone involved.

Albert Jones (Henry IV, The Night Of) leads the cast as Ira Aldridge alongside Michael Aurelio (The Merry Wives of Windsor) as Casimir and Henry Forrester, with Sean Dugan (Next Fall) as Pierre Laporte, Monique Gaffney (Much Ado About Nothing) as Connie, John Lavelle (The Graduate) as Charles Kean, Allison Mack (Smallville) as Ellen Tree, Amelia Pedlow (The Liar) as Halina Wozniak, Betty Lovell, and Margaret Aldridge, and Mark Pinter (Rothschild & Sons) as Terence and Bernard Warde.

The creative team includes Jason Sherwood (scenic design), David Israel Reynoso (costume design), Jason Lyons (lighting design), Jonathan Deans (sound design), Lynne Shankel (original music), Jenn Rapp (movement, associate director), David Huber (vocal coach), Caparelliotis Casting (casting), and Jess Slocum (production stage manager).

For tickets and more information, click here.