'Cullud Wattah' announces complete Off-Broadway casting at The Public Theater

The world-premiere play begins performances November 2.

The Public Theater has announced complete casting for Erika Dickerson-Despenza's play Cullud Wattah. Performances begin November 2 ahead of a November 17 opening night.

The complete cast includes the previously announced Crystal Dickinson as Marion, Lizan Mitchell as Big Ma, Andrea Patterson as Ainee, and Alicia Pilgrim as Plum, alongside the newly announced Lauren F. Walker as Reesee and Ta'Neesha Murphy, Jennean Farmer, and Chavez Ravine as understudies.

Candis C. Jones will direct the world-premiere production of Cullud Wattah, which follows three generations of Black women living amid the Flint, Michigan water crisis. As Marion also struggles with layoffs at the General Motors plant where she works, her sister Aimee seeks justice for lead poisoning, and her crusade uncovers the toxicity of their city's powerful auto industry.

Cullud Wattah was scheduled to open at the Public in July 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. The play is now the second in the Public's 2021-2022 season, which also includes the world-premiere musicals The Visitor and Suffs, the New York-premiere plays Fat Ham and The Vagrant Trilogy, and Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady, among other programming.

^{Photo credit: Joan Marcus}