Michael Kenneth Williams of The Wire to Star in Vineyard's Wig Out!

Michael Kenneth Williams of HBO's The Wire and Passing Strange star Rebecca Naomi Jones and will star in Tarell Alvin McCraney's Wig Out!, a new play about a drag competition that will open the season at the Vineyard Theatre. Directed by Tina Landau, the production also features downtown drag entertainer Daniel T. Boothe, who goes by the stage name Sweetie. Previews begin September 10 with opening night set for September 17.

Before breaking out with his recurring role as Omar Little in the HBO series The Wire, Williams started performer as a dancer and choreographer in Brooklyn, appearing in several music videos before joining productions at LaMama and the Black National Theatre Company. His film credits include Bringing Out the Dead and Gone Baby Gone. Other TV credits include Alias and Six Degrees.

Jones recently played multiple roles on Broadway in Passing Strange. Her other theater credits include the national tours of Caroline, or Change, Little Shop of Horrors and Rent and the off-Broadway productions of Fallen Angel and How Love Is Spelt.

Boothe had a cameo in the 1995 drag comedy To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newman written by Douglas Carter Beane, and has also appeared in the films Starbooty and No Exit.

Landau directed Mary Rose at the Vineyard last year. Her New York theater credits include directing Faith Prince in 2001's Broadway revival of Bells Are Ringing, as well as various productions at Playwrights Horizons, the Public Theater and Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.