Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has announced the cast and creative team for Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. Adapted for the stage by two-time Tony Award nominee Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy For You), this thrilling new take on Agatha Christie’s jaw-dropping classic will premiere November 23 – December 29, 2024, in the Kreeger Theater, helmed by Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif in her Arena Stage directorial debut. For information and tickets, please visit arenastage.org/nile. 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, throwing the idyllic setting into disarray. With a keen eye for detail and a sharp mind, Poirot takes it upon himself to uncover the truth and expose the perpetrator before they can strike again. As tensions rise and secrets are revealed, Poirot navigates the treacherous waters of deception and intrigue to solve the gripping mystery at hand. “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,” said Sharif. “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,” said 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.” “I am thrilled beyond words to be here,” continued Ludwig. “I love Arena Stage. This is my fourth world premiere here and it is a great privilege to reunite with Hana on another Agatha Christie phenomenon.” Returning to Arena Stage are cast members Felicia Curry (Broadway’s Into the Woods, Arena’s POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive) as Annabelle Pennington, Eric Hissom (The 39 Steps National Tour, Arena’s JQA) as Sir Septimus Troy, Nancy Robinette (Broadway’s Prayer for the French Republic, Arena’s The Heiress) as Salomé Otterbourne, and Sumié Yotsukura (Signature Theatre’s Soft Power, Arena’s Unknown Soldier) as Rosalie Otterbourne. Making their Arena Stage debuts in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile are Olivia Cygan (Broadway’s Doubt) as Linnet Ridgeway, Armando Durán (Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Julius Caesar) as Hercule Poirot, Katie Kleiger (Off-Broadway’s Ring Twice for Miranda) as Jacqueline de Bellefort, Jamil A.C. Mangan (St. Louis Rep’s Murder on the Orient Express) as Colonel Race, Ryan Michael Neely (STC’s Much Ado About Nothing) as Ramses Praed, Robert Santon (Broadway’s Ink) as Atticus Praed, and Travis Van Winkle (Stella Adler Theatre’s Cat On a Hot Tin Roof) as Simon Doyle. In addition to director Hana S. Sharif, the creative team includes two-time Tony-nominated set designer Alexander Dodge (Broadway’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder), costume designer Karen Perry (Broadway’s Lackawanna Blues), Tony-winning lighting designer Kenneth Posner (Broadway’s The Coast of Utopia), sound designers and composers Charles Coes (Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird) and Nathan A. Roberts (Off-Broadway’s Golden Shield), projection designer Brittany Bland (Off-Broadway’s Cats: The Jellicle Ball), hair & wig designer LaShawn Melton (Arena’s The Other Americans), fight director Rick Sordelet (Broadway’s Take Me Out), dialect and vocal coach Lisa Nathans (Arena’s Catch Me If You Can), stage manager Christi B. Spann (Arena’s Tempestuous Elements), and assistant stage manager Dayne Sundman (Arena’s Angels in America Part 1: Millennium Approaches). DC casting is by Raiyon Hunter. CAST BIOGRAPHIES (in alphabetical order) Felicia Curry (Anabelle Pennington) last appeared at Arena Stage in the POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. She was last seen on DC stages in Our Town at Shakespeare Theatre Company and My Lord, What a Night at Ford’s Theatre. Curry received a Helen Hayes Award for Lela & Co. at Factory 449 where she is a company member. She is also a Resident Company Member at Everyman Theatre and an Artistic Associate at Ford’s Theatre. Felicia recently made her Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated revival of Into the Woods, and then toured with the show around the country, including The Kennedy Center. She has a Berkshire Theatre Critics Award, a RTCC Award, an Anderson Hopkins Award, and is an AUDELCO nominee for Queens Girl in the World at Abingdon Theatre off-Broadway. Felicia has been named one of “12 DC Stage Dynamos” by The Washington Post and one of “DC’s Biggest Theater Stars” by Washingtonian magazine. She is on the WAPAVA Board of Directors and the Emmy-nominated host of WETA Arts on PBS. Olivia Cygan (Linnet Ridgeway) is thrilled to be making her Arena Stage debut! Olivia is a New York-based actor and recent graduate of the Yale of the School of Drama. This spring, she understudied Doubt on Broadway (Roundabout), directed by Scott Ellis. A native of Chicago, Olivia has originated roles in world premieres at Steppenwolf and Goodman. She’s developed new work at theaters across the country, most recently with New York Stage and Film and Playwrights Realm in NYC. Television: Gotham. BS: Northwestern University. Carol Finch Dye Award, Yale School of Drama. Armando Durán (Hercule Poirot) was a member of the repertory acting company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for over twenty years, where his roles included Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar in Julius Caesar, Don Quixote in Don Quixote, Garcia Lorca in Lorca in a Green Dress, and Eddie Carbone in A View from the Bridge. He has originated characters in over a dozen world premieres including new works by Pulitzer Prize winners Nilo Cruz, Robert Schenkkan, and Frank Galati. He has appeared in productions at the Folger Theater, the Guthrie Theater, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Yale Repertory, Seattle Repertory, the Clarence Brown Theater, the Old Globe, and South Coast Repertory. His numerous audiobook titles include Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving, and Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Eric Hissom (Sir Septimus Troy) has appeared at Arena Stage in Vanya, Sonia, Masha & Spike, and JQA. DC credits include: Our Town and Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare Theatre, Twelve Angry Men and Born Yesterday at Ford’s; Cyrano and Arcadia (Helen Hayes Award) at the Folger; Body of an American and Life Sucks at Theatre J; The Tempest and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo at Round House; The Effect at Studio, The Vibrator Play at Woolly Mammoth, and others. National tour: The Thirty Nine Steps. He has worked at many regional theaters, including Seattle Rep, LaJolla Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, Asolo Rep, The Arden Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Cape Playhouse, and others. Eric has an MFA from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Katie Kleiger (Jacqueline de Bellefort) is excited to make her Arena Stage debut. Other DC credits include White Noise, The Wolves, The Effect (Studio Theatre); Unseen (Mosaic Theatre); and Book of Will, Miss Bennet (Round House Theatre). Katie is also a company member at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, where she most recently appeared as Dusty in POTUS. Her Off-Broadway credits include Sleep No More (McKittrick Hotel), Ring Twice for Miranda (New York City Center), and The Fall (Soho Playhouse). Select Regional credits include Everything is Wonderful (Philadelphia Theatre Company); Pride & Prejudice (Rep. Theatre of St. Louis), and Juno & The Paycock (Guthrie Theatre). Katie is also a singer/songwriter, and you can find her music on all streaming platforms. Training: Guthrie BFA Acting Program. Jamil A.C. Mangan (Colonel Race) has graced stages from Everyman Theater in Baltimore, where he portrayed Harmond Wilkes in Radio Golf, to Repertory Theatre of St. Louis as Monsieur Bouc in Murder on the Orient Express, and Bear in North Of The Boulevard at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. In NYC, he played Sargent in Mother Courage at Classic Stage Company alongside Tony Award winner Kecia Lewis. Regionally, Jamil earned the Connecticut Critic Circle Award for Best Actor as Troy Maxson in Fences at Playhouse on Park. Jamil also played Othello at Perseverance Theater and MLK Jr. in The Mountaintop at Theaterworks Hartford. His TV work includes FBI (CBS), Blue Bloods (CBS), Manifest (NBC), and Gotham (FOX). Ryan Michael Neely (Ramses Praed) is thrilled to be making his Arena Stage debut. D.C. credits include King Lear (w/Patrick Page), Much Ado About Nothing (dir. Simon Godwin), Our Town, and The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare Theatre Company). Other regional credits include the title role in Hamlet (StoryTellers Theater), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival), Pride and Prejudice (Classic Theater of Maryland), East of Heart Mountain (Dir. Giovanna Sardelli), House For Sale (Dir. Daniel Fish) and Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe, UK). New York credits include Hamlet (L+F), Romeo and Juliet (Secret Theater), and The Book of Z… (Manhattan Rep). TV credits include One Life to Live, Monumental Mysteries, A Day Late and Ten Pounds Overweight (Winner: Top Indie Film Awards). BFA: Rutgers, Mason Gross. MFA: GW/STC Academy. Nancy Robinette (Salomé Otterbourne) was most recently seen at Arena in The Heiress, Well, and Ah Wilderness!; other recent roles in DC include Nan in Jennifer Who Is Leaving (Round House), Carrie in The Trip to Bountiful (Ford’s), Bubbe in The Chameleon (Theatre J), and Aunt Barb in Problems Between Sisters (Studio). She was recently on Broadway in Prayer for the French Republic (Manhattan Theatre Club), and earlier in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. For Prayer she received an Outer Critic’s Circle nomination; for her 40-plus years in DC theater, she received a Helen Hayes Tribute. Robert Stanton (Atticus Praed) has appeared at Shakespeare Theatre Company as Mr. Puff in The Critic, Moon in The Real Inspector Hound, winning an Emery Battis Award, and as Charles Marsden in Strange Interlude. He recently performed Uncle Vanya at Lincoln Center, also appearing on Broadway in Ink, Saint Joan, A Free Man of Color, Mary Stuart, and The Coast of Utopia. Two dozen Off-Broadway credits include an Obie Award for All in the Timing, and Love Child, written and performed with Daniel Jenkins; Off-Off-Broadway credits include The Gold Room. Film credits include Confessions of a Shopaholic, Find Me Guilty, Next Stop Wonderland, Washington Square, Dennis the Menace, Bob Roberts, and A League of Their Own. Recent television credits include Blue Bloods, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, and Mr. Mercedes. Travis Van Winkle (Simon Doyle) was most recently seen in an adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as “Brick” at the Stella Adler Theatre. Presently he can be seen in the Netflix/Skydance action-comedy Fubar. Other television series regular roles include You, The Last Ship, and Instinct. Past recurring roles include Made for Love, Hart of Dixie, and Happy Endings. His film credits include Roadhouse, Friday the 13th, Meet the Spartans, Transformers, and Accepted. Travis is a proud mentor in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Los Angeles and serves as a member on their Junior Board. He is also a Global Ambassador for the non-profit BuildOn, building schools in Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Senegal. Sumié Yotsukura (Rosalie Otterbourne) is delighted to return to Arena Stage after appearing this past spring as the Nurse/Ensemble in Unknown Soldier. She has also appeared as Gussie in Merrily We Roll Along (Keegan Theatre), Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof (Olney Theatre Center), and was most recently seen in the ensembles of Signature Theatre’s Soft Power and Creative Cauldron’s Sondheim Tribute Revue. Other favorite DC credits include King of the Yees (Signature Theatre) and The Mortification of Fovea Munson (Kennedy Center TYA). Her regional credits include The Full Monty (Transcendence Theatre Company). She received her BA in Theatre and Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies from William & Mary. PRODUCTION INFORMATION DEATH ON THE NILE By Agatha Christie Adapted for the Stage by Ken Ludwig Directed by Hana S. Sharif In the Kreeger Theater | November 23 – December 29, 2024 ABOUT: In Ken Ludwig’s thrilling adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot becomes entangled in a web of deceit and desire aboard a cruise ship on the Nile River. When a murder occurs among the passengers, Poirot springs into action to unmask a killer who could strike again at any moment. CAST: Annabelle Pennington: Felicia Curry* Linnet Ridgeway: Olivia Cygan* Hercule Poirot: Armando Durán* Sir Septimus Troy: Eric Hissom* Jacqueline de Bellefort: Katie Kleiger* Colonel Race: Jamil A.C. Mangan* Ramses Praed: Ryan Michael Neely* Salomé Otterbourne: Nancy Robinette* Atticus Praed: Robert Stanton* Simon Doyle: Travis Van Winkle* Rosalie Otterbourne: Sumié Yotsukura* CREATIVE: Playwright: Agatha Christie Adapted for Stage by: Ken Ludwig Director: Hana S. Sharif Set Designer: Alexander Dodge Costume Designer: Karen Perry Lighting Designer: Kenneth Posner Sound Design and Composition: Charles Coes & Nathan A. Roberts Projection Designer: Brittany Bland Hair & Wig Designer: LaShawn Melton Fight Director: Rick Sordelet Dialect and Vocal Coach: Lisa Nathans DC Casting: Raiyon Hunter Stage Manager: Christi B. Spann* Assistant Stage: Dayne Sundman* *Members of Actors’ Equity Association PERFORMANCE DATES: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Weekday matinees are at 12 p.m. on December 12, December 18, and December 26 Early Curtains: Wednesday, November 27 at 6 p.m., Sunday, December 15 at 6 p.m., and Friday, December 27 at 7 p.m. Southwest Nights: Saturday, November 30 at 2 p.m. and Wednesday, December 4 at 7:30 p.m. Audio-Described Performance: Saturday, December 7 at 2 p.m. ASL-Interpreted Performance: Saturday, December 21 at 8 p.m. Mask-Required Performances: Tuesday, November 26 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, December 28 at 2 p.m. Closed Captioning: GalaPro pro begins Friday, December 6 Industry Night: Sunday, November 24 at 7:30 p.m. Pride Night: Tuesday, November 26 at 7:30 p.m. HBCU/Divine Nine Night: Friday, December 6 at 8 p.m. Post-Show Conversations Connect with the show beyond the performance at a post-show conversation on December 11, December 12, and December 18 following the 12 p.m. matinee performances, or on December 19 and December 26 following the 8 p.m. performances. Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile performs November 23 – December 29, 2024 at Arena Stage’s Kreeger Theater, 1101 Sixth St SW, Washington, DC. Ticket prices start at $55 plus applicable fees. Ticket prices and availability are subject to change. Arena Stage’s many savings programs include “pay your age” tickets for those aged 35 and under; military, first responder, and educator discounts; student discounts; and “Southwest Nights” for those living and working in the District’s Southwest neighborhood. To learn more, visit arenastage.org/savingsprograms. Tickets are available at arenastage.org. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at 202-488-3300, or in person through the Sales Office Tuesday-Sunday, 12-8 p.m.