Photo Coverage: 'VICTORIA & FREDERICK FOR PRESIDENT' Opening Night

Mel Johnson Jr. (Two Gentleman of Verona at The Public Theatre, The Lion King, and the original casts of On the Twentieth Century, The Rink, and Fosse's Big Deal on Broadway) stars in the production as Frederick Douglass. Audiences may also know Mel Johnson Jr. from co-starring with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the blockbuster film Total Recall, and also as Broca on the hit TV-series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Antoinette Lavecchia (The Bottle House at The Public Theatre, String of Pearls at Primary Stages, Kimberly Akimbo at MTC), also stars in the production, playing Victoria Woodhull.

Joining them in the cast are Devin E. Haqq (Strange Weather at The Roundabout Theatre Company), Edward James Hyland (Festen, The Man Who Had All The Luck, and Ah Wilderness! on Broadway), Kate MacCluggage (The Farnsworth Invention on Broadway), Brenda Pressley (The American Plan at MTC, Cats and the original cast of Dreamgirls on Broadway), and Ariel Shafir (starring opposite André De Shields this fall in Mamet's A Life in the Theater at The Alliance), and Liza Vann (Machiavelli, upcoming Good Ol' Girls on PBS) as Susan B. Anthony.

Adrian Grenier, star of the hit HBO series Entourage (currently in its sixth season) is presenting the production with New York based non-profit MOSON Productions and the Create Carolina Arts Festival. Written by Jonathan L. Davidson (HBO's "Shot in the Dark"), Victoria & Frederick for President will feature direction from Charles Randolph-Wright, writer/director of the upcoming feature film Mama I Want to Sing. Charles has directed productions at Lincoln Center, The Public Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, and is also the playwright of Blue, which starred Phylicia Rashad at the Roundabout Theatre Company. The production features original music by 5-time Grammy Award-winner Roy Wilfred Wooten (a.k.a. Future Man), percussionist and member of the jazz quartet Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

"Before there was Barack Obama, there was Frederick Douglass; and before there was Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, there was Victoria Woodhull and Susan B. Anthony. A little known fact in American history is that in 1872, Victoria Woodhull, the first female stockbroker, ran for President of the United States and chose former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass as her Vice-Presidential nominee. Victoria & Frederick for President is the untold story of a campaign and moment in American History that has taken 137 years to come again. The play was commissioned by the Create Carolina Arts Festival and Winthrop University to combine elements of traditional theater and modern multimedia to give historical context to the presidential candidacies of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama."

Victoria & Frederick for President will run at the New School for Drama (151 Bank Street) from August 15th- August 22nd. The performance schedule is: Saturday, August 15th at 1:45pm, Monday, August 17th at 6:30pm, Wednesday, August 19th at 7:30pm, Friday, August 21st at 3:45pm, and Saturday, August 22nd at 9:30pm. The 8/19 performance will be followed by a talkback with members of the cast and creative team.

Tickets are $15, and can be purchased online at www.FringeNYC.org

More Articles by This Author...