Cast set for 'Oratorio for Living Things' off Broadway

Heather Christian's award-winning, concert-style theatrical piece returns with many of the original performers from its 2022 world premiere at Ars Nova.

Signature Theatre has named the complete cast and creative team for its fall production of Oratorio for Living Things off Broadway, a revival of the acclaimed theatrical experience running from September 30 to November 16.

The complete cast, many of whom return from Oratorio's 2022 world premiere with Ars Nova, includes Kirstyn Cae Ballard, Jonathan Christopher, Carla Duren, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, Brian Flores, Jonny-James Kajoba, Barrie Lobo McLain, Ángel Lozada, Divya Maus, Ben Moss, Onyie Nwachukwu, and Dito Van Reigersberg, with Understudies Major Curda, Laura Darrell, Elisa Galindez, and Jacob Ryan Smith.

Instrumentalists include Fraser Campbell, Jane Cardona, Clerida Eltime, John Murchison, Odetta Hartman, and Peter Wise.

Led by previously announced, two-time Obie Award-winning director Lee Sunday Evans, who also staged the 2022 production, the creative team includes scenic, original artwork and environmental designer Krit Robinson; costume designer Márion Talán de la Rosa; lighting designer Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew; sound designer Nick Kourtides; music director Ben Moss; and Latin consultant Greg Taubman.

Created by Heather Christian, Oratorio for Living Things explores how music can connect us to — and unbind us from — time as we know it, blending the format of a classical oratorio with blues, jazz, and gospel styles. The show is an immersive, in-the-round experience that engages the audience in themes of science, spirituality, memory, and mystery.

“What I’ve tried to do is create a container for multiple very personal narratives, that an audience member could latch onto — depending on where they’re sitting, depending on who they are," Christian said in a statement. "It’s not about telling a very objective story, but sewing together meaning in a different way with the people in the room. We are the only species that we know of that processes time the way we do, and that is why we seek story: so theatre is in fact unavoidable.

“Because it’s through-composed and there’s no conductor, the piece is musically dangerous! It’s wildly different from show to show — especially if you put three years and new performers and a new space between a show! My deepest hope is that it’s completely timely whenever the hell we do it and with the room of people we do it with.”

Said Evans in a statement, “This piece is such a gift to get to revisit — especially because of the very specific set of circumstances that created this work’s continued journey. Oratorio is a meditation on time, so every time we come back to it, that layer of the piece’s journey in our material world and the piece’s content are always in this really deep dialogue with each other.”

Check back for information on Oratorio for Living Things tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Photo credit: Heather Christian. (Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre)