Odds & Ends: Hadestown's Amber Gray to Star in New Film Master & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed recently.

Hadestown's Amber Gray to Star in New Film Master
Amber Gray, a Tony-nominated standout of the Tony-winning smash musical Hadestown, has booked a high-profile new film gig. Gray will co-star alongside Regina Taylor and Zoe Renee in the upcoming thriller Master, according to Deadline. The film "follows three black women who strive to find their place at the celebrated Ancaster College, an elite university in New England. The school was built on the site of a Salem-era gallows hill and the ghostly legacies of Puritan-era persecution haunt the campus in an increasingly supernatural fashion. The plot examines how each of these women will—or won't—survive in this space of privilege." In addition to her current turn as Persephone in Hadestown, Gray is known for her powerful Broadway-debut performance as Hélène in Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, for which she was the recipient of a 2017 Theatre World Award. Gray has been seen on the off-Broadway stage in Banished Children of Eve, We Play for the Gods and Iphigenia in Aulis.

Hailey Kilgore to Play Younger Version of Anika Noni Rose's Character in Power Prequel Series
Hailey Kilgore is lending her talents to the small screen. The Tony-nominated and Broadway.com Audience Choice Award-winning breakout star of Once on This Island has been cast in the series-regular role of Young Jukebox in Starz's prequel series Power Book III: Raising Kanan; the original Power series featured Tony winner Anika Noni Rose as Adult Jukebox. In addition to Kilgore's moving turn as Ti Moune in Once on This Island, she was seen in a starry reading of Ingrid Michaelson's musical adaptation of The Notebook last spring; this summer she'll appear on the big screen in the highly anticipated Aretha Franklin biopic Respect. Kilgore will be joined in Power Book III: Raising Kanan by the previously announced Tony winner Patina Miller, Mekai Curtis and Omar Epps.

The Public Theater's Mobile Unit Will Tour with Cymbeline
Off-Broadway's Public Theater has announced a new staging of Shakespeare's Cymbeline as part of its springtime Mobile Unit program. Carl Cofield will direct the production, which will visit correctional facilities, homeless shelters, social service organizations and community centers in all five boroughs of New York City from April 16 through May 15. The production will then play the Public's downtown Manhattan venue from May 18 through June 7. The Cymbeline cast will be led by Barzin Akhavan in the title role, with Danaya Esperanza as Imogen, Stephanie Roth Haberle as Queen/Belarius, Brandon Mendez Homer as Posthumus/Cloten, Paco Lozano as Caius Lucius, Keren Lugo as Arviragus, Daniel José Molina as Iachimo, Reynaldo Piniella as Guiderius and Simone Recasner as Pisanio. 2020 marks the 63rd anniversary year of the Public's Mobile Unit.

New Musical Drive Change, Based on a True Story, Newly in Development
A creative team of rising stars has been assembled to craft the new musical Drive Change. Playwright Donja R. Love (Sugar in our Wounds) and songwriters Matt Gould (Lempicka) and Griffin Matthews (Dear White People) have secured the rights to the fresh project, currently in development. Drive Change will tell the true story of a group of previously incarcerated young people who after years of facing discrimination in the job market decide to take the future into their own hands. Working together, they build a food truck from the ground up, and in the face of adversity and prejudice, turn the business into one of the most lauded food trucks in New York City. Details about a debut production will be announced at a later date.