By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, Starring Sanaa Lathan, Extends Off-Broadway

Ten days before its official opening on May 9, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, a new play from Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, has extended its run at off-Broadway’s Second Stage Theatre. Rather than closing on the previously announced date of May 22, the piece now will run an additional week and close on May 29.

Directed by Jo Bonney, the play is a 70-year journey through the life of Vera Stark (Sanaa Lathan), a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress in Hollywood’s Golden Age, and the tangled relationship she has with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately grasping to hold on to her career (Stephanie J. Block). When both women end up landing roles in the same Southern epic, the behind-the-cameras story leaves Vera with a surprising and controversial legacy.

In addition to Lathan and Block, the cast of Vera Stark includes Tony winner Karen Olivo, Tony nominees Daniel Breaker and David Garrison, Kevin Isola and Kimberly Hebert Gregory.

The show features scenic design by Neil Patel, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, costume design by ESosa and original music & sound design by John Gromada.