ASOLO REPERTORY THEATRE ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR THE REGIONAL PREMIERE OF GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR
ASOLO REPERTORY THEATRE ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR THE
REGIONAL PREMIERE OF GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR
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(Sarasota, FL) – Asolo Repertory Theatre, the eminent theatre on Florida’s Cultural Coast, announces complete casting for the Regional Premiere of the tour-de-force play Good Night, Oscar, which begins previews on April 2, 2025. Written by Doug Wright and directed by Peter Amster. Good Night, Oscar runs April 2 – April 26.
“We are looking forward to producing the regional premiere of this extraordinary dramatic-comedy by Doug Wright and directed by Peter Amster, says Producing Artistic Director Peter Rothstein. “Doug Wright has crafted one of the most virtuosic roles I have ever witnessed in the theatre, and we were thrilled to welcome Max Roll in the role of Oscar Levant.”
There’s a fine line between genius and insanity, and Oscar Levant erased it. A multi-hyphenate talent famous for his film appearances in An American in Paris and The Band Wagon, Levant was an actor, a classical pianist, a composer, a storyteller, a fearless truth teller, and an over-medicated neurotic mess -- a unique cocktail that made him a difficult person and a brilliant talk show guest. Battling network executives, his 1958 appearance on The Tonight Show could make him a legend if he manages not to unravel first. Fresh from a hit Broadway run, Entertainment Weekly raves that Good Night, Oscar is “a gold mine of witticisms.”
CAST OF GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR (In Alphabetical Order)
Jonathon Acosta (Max Weinbaum) Jonathan Acosta graduated from Texas State University in 2022 with a BFA degree in Performance and Production. He is currently getting his MFA in Acting at the FSU/Asolo Rep Conservatory for Actor Training. Select credits include The Mayor in Escobar's Hippo by Franky D. Gonzalez (Repetorio NYC), Rafael in Clyde's by Lynn Nottage (FSU/Asolo Rep), and Nurse in Romeo and Juliet (FSU/Asolo Rep).
Jasmyn Ackah (Ensemble) Jasmyn Ackah is an actress and singer, born and raised in the heart of New York City. She is a recent graduate of Temple University, majoring in Acting concentration. Her most recent credits include Clyde in Clyde's by Lynn Nottage, Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet, and Irina in Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov.
Sasha Andreev (Jack Paar) Sasha Andreev has been seen at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Twelve Angry Men: A New Musical, Intimate Apparel, Inherit the Wind, Ragtime and most recently in All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, in which he performed on national tour, Off-Broadway, with Theatre Latté Da, and on PBS. Regional credits include Guthrie Theater, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Mixed Blood Theater, History Theatre, and Theatre de la Jeune Lune. On screen he recently appeared in A Taste of Love (Hallmark Channel) and Stranger Things (Netflix). He has been seen as host of Curb Appeal (HGTV) and Operation Build (A&E), as a tech expert on home shopping networks in the US and abroad, and in numerous commercials and films.
David Breitbarth (Bob Sarnoff) Over 85 productions at Asolo Rep include: Murder on the Orient Express (also Old Globe; San Diego), Rhinoceros (also A.C.T.; San Francisco), Inherit the Wind, The Little Foxes, Both Your Houses, The Grapes of Wrath, Glengarry Glen Ross, Clybourne Park, God of Carnage, Twelve Angry Men, The Immigrant, Men of Tortuga, A Flea in Her Ear, Art, Nicholas Nickleby, and 70 others. Broadway 1st National Tour: Spring Awakening. Film and television: Frasier, Taken, Law & Order, and Fame. He is 13 years an ensemble member at Florida Repertory Theatre and has numerous appearances regionally around the country. David is a 2013 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow selected by the prestigious Ten Chimneys Foundation.
John Leggett (Ensemble) This is John’s second season with Asolo Rep! John was seen on the Mertz stage in 2021 as a Fight Swing in The Three Musketeers and in the world premiere of Ken Ludwig’s Lady Molly of Scotland Yard! John is a Third Year MFA Candidate in Florida State University’s Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. Recent Credits include Piknik Theatre’s Complete Works [Abridged] (Daniel as Self) and Patches: A New Musical (Will), Asolo Conservatory’s Romeo & Juliet (Tybalt) and Chekhov’s The Three Sisters (Baron Tuzenbach).
Catherine Luciani (Ensemble) Catherine is excited to be working again with Asolo Rep while completing her MFA Acting journey with FSU/Asolo Conservatory. She was previously seen in Asolo Rep’s Anna in the Tropics, The Three Musketeers (u/s Sabine) and FSU’s: The Three Sisters; Miss Julie; Romeo & Juliet. Other credits include All About Image/We are the Elite (NY Fringe Festival); Nevermore (Old Sturbridge Village); The Panto Games; Fall River Axe Murders (Imaginary Beasts); Sisters (Keeler Tavern Museum); The Independents; Julius Caesar; (Curtain Call).
Ashley McCauley Moore (Ensemble) Ashley McCauley Moore is a union actor originally from North Carolina, by way of Los Angeles CA. She is currently in her final year at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. Ashley is returning to Asolo in the productions tour of Much Ado About Nothing as Hero/Don Jon. Her recent work includes Shakespeare & Company’s Comedy of Errors as The Courtesan/Balthazar, Romeo & Juliet as Juliet, and Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s as Letitia.
Ibukun Omotowa (Alvin Finner) Ibukun Omotowa is a conservatory trained actor who most recently appeared as Montrellous in Clyde’s and Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet. Of note, Ibukun was awarded 2024 Best Performer in a Play by Broadway World Sarasota. With roots in the Atlanta Film Scene, featuring in award winning independent films, theater has become a new love for the up-and-coming artist. Previously, Ibukun obtained his B.A. in History and Molecular Biology from Harvard University.
Ayda Ozdoganlar (Ensemble) Ayda is delighted for her second season with the Asolo Rep, where she appeared in the world premiere of Ken Ludwig’s Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, and understudied the role of Margret in Silent Sky. She attended Carnegie Mellon University, where she played Sophie in Mamma Mia! and received her B.S. in Biology and Minor in Drama with a dramaturgical focus. Recent credits include Regan in Lear and Jane in Pride and Prejudice at the Texas Shakespeare Festival, as well as Irina in Three Sisters, Kristin in Miss Julie, and Benvolia in Romeo and Juliet.
Harris Milgrim (George Gershwin) is thrilled to make his Asolo Rep debut! Selected credits: BROADWAY: Tootsie (OBC), Cats (2016 Revival OBC); OFF-BROADWAY: Grand Hotel, Call Me Madam, Paint Your Wagon, Piece of My Heart; NATIONAL TOUR: West Side Story 1st National (u/s Tony). WORLD PREMIERS: The Honeymooners (Dylan Casey); Secondhand Lions (Bruno); REGIONAL: Frozen (Hans), West Side Story (Tony), The World Goes ‘Round’ (Man #1), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Benjamin), Joseph…Dreamcoat (Reuben), Smokey Joe’s (Michael), Altar Boyz (Abraham).
Gail Rastorfer (June Levant) has appeared at Asolo Rep in Heidi Chronicles, The Game’s Afoot and You Can’t Take It With You. Theatre includes: Murder On the Orient Express (Milwaukee Rep), Women In Jeopardy (Arizona Theatre Co), Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Indiana Rep & Syracuse Stage), Mousetrap (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Drury Lane Oakbrook), Ten Chimneys (Cleveland Playhouse). TV/Film: 911, American Horror Story, Emperor of Ocean Park, Being the Ricardos, and over a dozen national commercials. In 2023, Gail took a musical adaptation of her play, Hello Kitty Must Die, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Max Roll (Oscar Levant) is proud to be making his Asolo Rep debut! Broadway: The Hills of California, An Enemy of the People, Good Night, Oscar. Off Broadway: Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Regional: The Importance of Being Earnest. Canada: 2 Pianos 4 Hands. UK: Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, The Great Gatsby. Narrator of multiple audiobooks.
Brian Zane (Ensemble) Brian recently appeared in Asolo Rep’s world premiere production of Ken Ludwig’s Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, and was an understudy for The Three Musketeers and Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Other regional credits include Master Class (Timeline Theatre Company), Clyde’s (FSU/Asolo Conservatory), Far from Heaven and City of Angels (Porchlight Music Theatre), The Tempest (Virginia Shakespeare Festival), South Pacific and Anything Goes (Music Theater Works), Noises Off and The Fantasticks (Crossroads Repertory Company), One Flea Spare (Connective Theatre Company).
Rounding out the cast are Moriel Behar (u/s June), Brandon Billings (u/s Ensemble), Trent Dahlin (u/s Oscar), Austin Ridley (u/s Ensemble), Edgardo Solorio (u/s Max Weinbaum), Dani Trevino (u/s Ensemble), Katriana Velez (u/s Ensemble), Patrick Vest (u/s Bob Sarnoff) and Zoe Zervas (u/s Ensemble).
PLAYWRIGHT
DOUG WRIGHT is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His Broadway credits include War Paint, Hands on a Hardbody, Grey Gardens, and I Am My Own Wife (Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize). Off-Broadway credits include Posterity, Unwrap Your Candy, and Quills. Films include Quills (Paul Selvin Award) and the upcoming The Burial starring Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones. He is the former president of the Dramatists Guild of America and a member of SAG-Aftra, SDC and the WGA.
DIRECTOR
PETER AMSTER is thrilled and grateful to be returning to Asolo, having been a guest director, choreographer, and performer there for 15 years. He directed such shows as Three Musketeers, Morning After Grace, Born Yesterday, Living on Love, The Matchmaker, You Can’t Take It With You, and Murder on the Orient Express. He also directed Dead Man’s Cell Phone for the MFA program, choreographed 1776, and crooned some tunes on the outdoor stage in We Need a Little Christmas. He has been directing and choreographing theatre and opera for over 50 years. In Chicago, he directed and choreographed at the Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Northlight, Apple Tree, Route 66, Live Bait, the Lyric Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, Chicago Symphony, and Steppenwolf. Elsewhere in the United States, he directed at the The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, American Players Theatre, Peninsula Players, Weston Playhouse, Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Syracuse Stage, Laguna Playhouse, and most recently, Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples. He taught theatre, opera, and performance studies at Northwestern University, Louisiana State University, CalArts, Columbia College, and Roosevelt University.
CREATIVE TEAM
Peter Amster (Director), Robert Perdziola (Scenic and Costume Design), Dawn Chiang (Lighting Design), Matthew Parker (Sound Design), Michelle Hart (Hair, Makeup and Wig Design), Murnane Casting, Chad Murnane, CSA, Amber Snead, CSA, James Monaghan (Dramaturg), Patricia Delorey (Voice and Dialect Coach), Kaitlin Kitzmiller (Stage Manager) and Beth Koehler (Assistant Stage Manager).
SPONSORS
Good Night, Oscar is made possible due to the generosity of our sponsors: Williams Parker, Sarasota Catering Company, Residence Inn, and Sunset Cadillac of Bradenton.
Co-Producers for Good Night, Oscar inclue: Ron Banyay, Gerald and Sondra Biller, Shirley Fein, Scott and Candy Greer, George and Judith Hofmann, Victor Kaufman and Ann Rainey, Gail and Skip Sack, Stephanie Shaw, in loving memory of Dr. Stan Pastor, Susan and Charles Wilson, and Mary Lou and Edward Winnick.
Out 2024-25 Season Sponsors include: Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax, Community Foundation of Sarasota County, and Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.
ENHANCED EXPERIENCES
Asolo Rep Talkbacks (FREE)
After the Tuesday Evening, and Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday Matinee performances
Attendees can enhance their experience with these post-show conversations that are facilitated between the audience and members of the production team or cast.
TICKETS
Asolo Repertory Theatre subscriptions and single tickets are on sale now. Show times are Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 PM and Matinees at 1:30 PM on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and select Thursdays. For more information, visit AsoloRep.org or call 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388.
ABOUT ASOLO REP
Now in its 66th season, Asolo Repertory Theatre is recognized as one of the premier professional theatres in America and one of the largest in the Southeastern United States. Asolo Rep produces a wide range of work each season, including classics, contemporary drama, large-scale musicals, and world premieres. A theatre district in and of itself, Asolo Rep is committed to expanding its reach into the community, furthering its collaboration with the best theatre-makers working in the industry today, and cultivating the next generation of artists through its affiliation with the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. Under the new leadership of Producing Artistic Director Peter Rothstein and Managing Director Ross Egan, Asolo Rep’s ambitious theatrical offerings, commitment to new work, and ground-breaking education and engagement programs, ensure the company’s lasting legacy for future generations. Visit www.asolorep.org to learn more.