Cast and Creatives Announced for West Coast Premiere of A Strange Loop

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) and Center Theatre Group (CTG) have announced the cast and creative team for the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical A Strange Loop, making its West Coast premiere at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater April 18-May 12. It will then run at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre June 5-June 30.

With book, music, and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop is about Usher, a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer.

The cast of A Strange Loop includes Malachi McCaskill as Usher, Tarra Conner Jones (White Girl in Danger) as Thought 1, J. Cameron Barnett as Thought 2, Avionce Hoyles as Thought 3, Tony Award nominee John-Andrew Morrison (A Strange Loop on Broadway) as Thought 4, Jordan Barbour (The Inheritance) as Thought 5, and Jamari Johnson Williams (Ain’t Too Proud) as Thought 6. Alvis Green Jr. is the Usher alternate. Understudies for the Thoughts are Dave J. Abrams (Thought 2 & 3), Angela Alise (Thought 1), Carlis Shane Clark (Thought 5 & 6), and Albert Hodge (Thought 4).

Members of the show’s Broadway creative team will join the West Coast engagements, including Tony Award nominated director Stephen Brackett, choreographer Raja Feather Kelly, Tony award nominated scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado, costume designer Montana Levi Blanco, Tony Award nominated sound designer Drew Levy, Tony Award nominated lighting designer Jen Schreiver, associate lighting designer Aaron Tacy, associate choreographer Candace Taylor, hair, wig, and makeup designer Cookie Jordan, and intimacy director Chelsea Pace. Rounding out the creative team are associate director Nailah Harper-Malveaux, music director Sean Kana, associate music director David Möschler, and keyboard programmer Randy Cohen.

A Strange Loop made its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in May 2019. In December 2021, the show ran at Washington D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company prior to coming to Broadway in spring 2022. A Strange Loop won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was the recipient of 11 Tony Award nominations and won Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical.