Robards, Rebhorn and Powell to Headline The Overwhelming

Sam Robards, James Rebhorn and Linda Powell are part of the 11-person cast announced for the Roundabout Theatre Company's American premiere production of J.T. Rogers' The Overwhelming. The play will begin previews at the company's off-Broadway Laura Pels Theatre on September 28 and open on October 23, directed by Max Stafford-Clark. The limited engagement is scheduled to run through January 6, 2008.

In addition to Robards, Rebhorn and Powell, the complete cast will include Chris Chalk Defiance, Ron Cephas Jones Two Trains Running, Tisola Logan, Boris McGiver Book of Days, Owiso Odera Romeo an Juliet, Charles Parnell Intimate Apparel, Michael Stahl-David Goodman Theater production of The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? and Sharon Washington Stuff Happens.

The Overwhelming is described as the gripping story of an American family, newly arrived in Kigali, Rwanda, in early 1994, who come face-to-face with the realization that nothing and no one around them is what they understood it to be. Finding themselves embroiled in events beyond their understanding, three Americans struggle to discover who they can trust and what they will do when faced with matters of life and death. The play's world premiere took place in May 2006 at London's Cottesloe Theatre, directed by Stafford-Clark.

Robards received a Tony nomination for Roundabout's production of The Man Who Had All the Luck and appeared on Broadway in Misalliance and Absurd Person Singular. His off-Broadway credits include The Altruists, Moonchildren, Flux, Album and Taking Steps.

Rebhorn appeared on Broadway last season in Roundabout's production of Prelude to a Kiss. His other Broadway credits include Twelve Angry Men, The Man Who Had All the Luck, Our Town, Dinner at Eight and I'm Not Rappaport. Off-Broadway credits include Far East, Ancestral Voices, Oblivion Postponed, On the Bum, Isn't It Romantic?,The Innocents Crusade and Life During Wartime.

Powell appeared on Broadway in On Golden Pond and Wilder, Wilder, Wilder. Off-Broadway credits include Jitney, Jazr the Floor, The Odyssey, Pericles and Love's Labours Lost, plus eight season with the Willow Cabin Theatre Company.

The design team for The Overwhelming includes Tim Shortall sets, Tobin Ost costumes, David Weiner lighting and Gareth Fry sound.