Arena Stage Announces Cast and Creative Team for Fremont Ave.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announced today the cast and creative team for Fremont Ave., a searing and soulful new dramatic-comedy where three generations of Black men face off against masculinity, identity, and the weight of silence passed down. This world-premiere play penned by Colman Domingo Award winner Reggie D. White (Lessons In Survival: 1971, Broadway's The Inheritance) and helmed by two-time Helen Hayes Award winner Lili-Anne Brown (Baltimore Center Stage's Ain't No Mo'), will ignite Arena Stage's Kreeger Theater this fall, running October 8 - November 23, 2025, before it transfers to South Coast Repertory to anchor its Pacific Playwrights Festival in Spring 2026.

Fremont Ave. at Arena Stage

"Fremont Ave. exemplifies the kind of layered, courageous storytelling that defines our commitment to new work," said Arena Stage Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif. "With humor, tenderness, and unflinching honesty, this story unpacks the silences that echo across generations with power and grace, in doing so, offers audiences permission to reflect on their own truth."

Shuffling through time with the force of memory and the rhythm of Spades, Fremont Ave. meets young love and big dreams with buried resentment and unmet expectations. Around the card table, George, Robert, and Joseph confront quiet wounds and the weight of unspoken emotional truths. At the heart of it all sits Audrey, the family's formidable matriarch: beloved, feared, and never forgotten. Served with the sharp wit and laugh-out-loud honesty only a card game could unleash, Fremont Ave. lays all cards on the table and dares audiences to do the same.

"When Fremont Ave. was presented as a reading during our 2024 Pacific Playwrights Festival, the immediate and enthusiastic audience response confirmed what we already knew-Reggie has written a beautifully moving play of substance and significance. With plenty of humor and heart, this work speaks across generations and encourages all of us to deeply consider-and reconsider-the humanity of our loved ones," said David Ivers, South Coast Repertory Artistic Director. "It's thrilling to partner with Arena Stage to give audiences on both coasts the opportunity to experience this extraordinary work, destined to become a classic."

Cut from the finest deck, the players in Fremont Ave. include Doug Brown (Round House Theatre's Nine Night), Bradley Gibson (Starz's Power Book: II Ghost), Jerrika Hinton (ABC's Grey's Anatomy), Stanley Andrew Jackson (Roundabout Theatre Company's The Refuge Plays), Kevin Mambo (Broadway's The Color Purple), Wildlin Pierrevil (Broadway's Tina), Jeffrey Rashad (The Old Globe's Twelfth Night), and Galen J. Williams (Broadway's Motown). Eli El (1st Stage's The Piano Lesson), Dominique Gray (Keegan Theatre's Hand to God), and Raven Lorraine (Theater Alliance's Covenant) join the production as understudies.

Joining Brown and stacked like a winning hand, the creative team includes set designer Tim Mackabee (Broadway's Frozen), costume designer Jos N. Banks (Goodman Theatre's Fat Ham), lighting designer Kathy A. Perkins (Broadway's Trouble in Mind), and original music and sound design by Andre Pluess (Broadway's Good Night, Oscar). Gregory Geffrard (Berkeley Rep's Treasure Island) serves as assistant director and intimacy consultant. New York casting is by Murane Casting and DC casting is by Raiyon Hunter. The stage manager is Jamie Berry and the assistant stage manager is Lauren Pekel.