Cast Set for Christopher Durang's Miss Witherspoon at Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons has announced the cast of Christopher Durang's Miss Witherspoon. The show will star Kristine Nielsen in the title role and also feature Lynda Gravátt, Mahira Kakkar, Jeremy Shamos and Colleen Werthmann.

In Miss Witherspoon, Veronica Nielsen is a woman who, in life turned her back on religion. So why is she spending eternity in the netherworld with a Hindu spirit guide Kakkar who calls her Miss Witherspoon? And why is she continually being sent back to earth to live lives she adamantly refuses to lead? Will she open herself up to enlightenment and learn her place in the world?

Nielsen last appeared at Playwrights Horizons in Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation, for which she won an Obie Award and received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations. Gravátt appeared on Broadway in August Wilson's King Hedley II and Neil Simon's 45 Seconds from Broadway. Kakkar is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School, where she appeared in productions of Don Juan, Love's Labours Lost, Translations and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Shamos appeared on Broadway last season in Reckless and The Rivals. Werthmann previously appeared at Playwrights Horizons in Recent Tragic Events.

Playwrights is presenting Miss Witherspoon as a co-production with the McCarter Theatre in New Jersey. The production, directed by Emily Mann, will run at the McCarter from September 9 through October 16. It will then begin previews at Playwrights on November 11 with an official opening scheduled for December 1.