Felciano, Cristofer & More Sign On for Peter Parnell's Trumpery

Complete casting has been announced for Atlantic Theater Company's world-premiere production of Peter Parnell's Trumpery. The play will begin previews on November 14 and open on December 5 at the off-Broadway company's Linda Gross Theater, directed by David Esbjornson. The limited engagement is scheduled through December 30.

The cast of Trumpery will feature Bianca Amato, Michael Countryman, Michael Cristofer, Manoel Felciano, Neal Huff, Peter Maloney and Paris Rose Yates.

It is 1858. Charles Darwin Cristofer struggles to finish The Origin of Species and give the world his theory of natural selection, while coping with family illness and his own loss of faith. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, an unknown explorer named Wallace Felciano is about to come up with the exact same theory. Trumpery examines what it means to live in a Darwinian universe from the point of view of the man who discovered the idea.

Amato appeared on Broadway in The Coast of Utopia and off-Broadway in The Importance of Being Earnest at BAM and Mr. Fox: A Rumination. The South African-born actress has appeared in leading roles in the Guthrie Theater's productions of As You Like It, Pygmalion, Pride And Prejudice and Top Girls.

Countryman's Broadway credits include Night Must Fall, Holiday, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, A Few Good Men and Face Value. Numerous off-Broadway credits include The Butcher of Baraboo, Mary Rose, Dedication, The Bald Soprano, The Stendhal Syndrome, House and Garden, The Clearing, Nine Armenians, All in the Timing, The Common Pursuit and Out.

Writer/actor Cristofer won the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for his play The Shadow Box and served as screenwriter of such films as Falling in Love, The Witches of Eastwick,The Bonfire of the Vanities, Breaking Up and Casanova. He played Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet this past summer in Central Park and has acted onstage in The Cherry Orchard, Hamlet, The Seagull, Chinchilla and Ashes, among many others. He also directed the TV movie Gia, which received five Emmy nominations.

Felciano was nominated for a 2006 Tony Award for Sweeney Todd and has appeared on Broadway in Brooklyn, Jesus Christ Superstar and Cabaret. Off-Broadway credits include Shockheaded Peter and Much Ado About Nothing. Regional credits include I Just Stopped By to See The Man, Sunday in the Park with George and Turandot: The Rumble for the Ring. He recently finished shooting his first feature film, Uncertainty, with Jen Colella and Joe Gordon-Levitt.

Huff, a cast member on HBO's The Wire, most recently appeared onstage in Darwin in Malibu at Bay Street Theatre. His Broadway credits include Take Me Out, The Lion in Winter and The Tempest. Off-Broadway credits include The Little Dog Laughed, The Foreigner, Occupant, Rude Entertainment, Blue Window, Troilus and Cressida and From Above.

Maloney most recently appeared at Atlantic in The Voysey Inheritance and has acted in the company's productions of 10 x 20 Leavings, The Room, The Cherry Orchard, Hobson's Choice, The Water Engine, Mr. Happiness, The Duck Variations, Down the Shore and The Dadshuttle. His Broadway credits include Dinner at Eight, Arcadia, Carousel, Six Degrees of Separation, Abe Lincoln in Illinoies, Our Town, Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley, Poor Murderer and Hughie.

Yates appeared last season in Kevin Kline's King Lear at the Public Theater and in the off-Broadway productions of Brutality of Fact and These People. Regional credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver! and The Wizard of Oz.

Trumpery will feature scenic design by Santo Loquasto, costume design by Jane Greenwood, lighting design by James Ingalls and sound design by Obadiah Eaves.