Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano, Mos Def & More Set for John Guare's A Free Man of Color at LCT

Tony and Emmy Award winner Jeffrey Wright (Angels in America, Topdog/Underdog), rising movie actor Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine) and Wright's Topdog/Underdog co-star, rapper/actor Mos Def (now billed as "mos") are among the cast members announced for Lincoln Center Theater’s forthcoming Broadway production of John Guare’s A Free Man of Color. Directed by George C. Wolfe, the play will begin performances on October 21 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater and open on November 18.

Joining Wright, Dano and mos in the cast will be Peter Bartlett (The New Century, The Drowsy Chaperone), Nicole Beharie, Arnie Burton (The 39 Steps), Rosal Colon, Veanne Cox (La Cage aux Folles, Company), Sara Gettelfinger (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Joseph Marcell, Nick Mennell, Teyonnah Parris, Brian Reddy (Dinner at Eight), Reg Rogers (The Royal Family, Holiday), Triney Sandoval (Frost/Nixon), Robert Stanton (Mary Stuart, Love Child), Wendy Rich Stetson (In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play) and David Emerson Toney (Juan Darien).

Described as a freewheeling epic set in 1801 New Orleans, A Free Man of Color centers on title character Jacques Cornet (Wright), a new world Don Juan and the wealthiest inhabitant of this sexually charged and racially progressive city. Jacques thinks all is well in his paradise until history intervenes, setting off a chain of events which no one, much less this free man of color, realizes is about to splinter the world.

A Free Man of Color marks Guare’s return to Lincoln Center Theater, which produced his plays The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, Four Baboons Adoring the Sun (all nominated for the Best Play Tony Award) and Chaucer in Rome. Wolfe, who directed Wright in the original Broadway productions of both parts of Angels in America and in Topdog/Underdog, will make his LCT debut with the new play.

A Free Man of Color will have sets by David Rockwell, costumes by Ann Hould- Ward, lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, sound by Scott Stauffer, original music by Jeanine Tesori and choreography by Hope Clarke.