Casting Complete for Arena Stage's Death on the Nile World Premiere, From Ken Ludwig

Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif will stage the Agatha Christie story at the D.C. theatre.

By Molly Higgins for Playbill

Arena Stage has announced casting and a creative team for its upcoming world premiere production of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, newly adapted for the stage by Tony nominee Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy For You). Performances will run November 23-December 29 at the Washington, D.C. theatre, with Arena Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif at the helm. 

The cast will include Felicia Curry (Into the Woods) as Annabelle Pennington, Eric Hissom (The 39 Steps) as Sir Septimus Troy, Nancy Robinette (Prayer for the French Republic) as Salomé Otterbourne, Sumié Yotsukura (Soft Power) as Rosalie Otterbourne, Olivia Cygan (Doubt) as Linnet Ridgeway, Armando Durán (Julius Caesar) as Hercule Poirot, Katie Kleiger (Ring Twice for Miranda) as Jacqueline de Bellefort, Jamil A.C. Mangan (Murder on the Orient Express) as Colonel Race, Ryan Michael Neely (Much Ado About Nothing) as Ramses Praed, Robert Stanton (Ink) as Atticus Praed, and Travis Van Winkle (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) as Simon Doyle. New York casting is by Caparelliotis Casting/David Caparelliotis and Joseph Gery. D.C. casting is by Raiyon Hunter.

Death on the Nile follows Hercule Poirot, a renowned Belgian detective, who finds himself embroiled in lies and longing while on a luxurious cruise down the Nile River. The tranquil journey takes a sinister turn when a murder is committed among the passengers, and Poirot takes it upon himself to uncover the truth. 

Joining Sharif on the creative team will be Tony-nominated set designer Alexander Dodge (A Genttleman's Guide to Love & Murder), costume designer Karen Perry (Lackawanna Blues), Tony-winning lighting designer Kenneth Posner (The Coast of Utopia), sound designers and composers Charles Coes (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Nathan A. Roberts (Golden Shield), projection designer Brittany Bland (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), hair and wig designer LaShawn Melton (The Other Americans), fight director Rick Sordelet (Take Me Out), dialect and vocal coach Lisa Nathans (Catch Me If You Can), stage manager Christi B. Spann (Tempestuous Elements), and assistant stage manager Dayne Sundman (Angels in America Part 1: Millennium Approaches). 

“I could not be more thrilled to mark my Arena Stage directorial debut with Ken Ludwig’s glamorous adaptation of Agatha Christie's iconic tale,” Sharif said in a statement. “Audiences are in for a mesmerizing journey down the Nile, filled with breathtaking twists and turns, as we join detective Hercule Poirot in his investigation into the profound desires and pervasive corruption lurking beneath the gilded veneer of this luxury liner.”

"Mysteries, much like comedies, do something very specific,” added Ludwig. “They throw in threads of plot twists where you're not quite sure what’s going to happen next or how it’s going to end, but the puzzle pieces ultimately come together in a way that I think is very reassuring to us all. Right now there's a big renaissance in mysteries, especially Agatha Christie mysteries. We're living through such turbulent times, that we enjoy a sense of reassurance that everything is going to be alright in the end, and I think that's why the world gravitates toward these kind of productions.”