Lynn Nottage’s By the Way, Meet Vera Stark Extends a Second Time Off-Broadway

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 for a second time. The show began performances on April 6 and opened on May 9, and was originally scheduled to close on May 22. It will now run through June 12.

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.