Arena Stage set for You, Nero

Arena Stage announces casting for You, Nero by American Voices New Play Institute resident playwright and Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Freed. Making his Arena Stage debut is director Nicholas Martin (Broadway's Present Laughter, Butley). You, Nero runs November 25, 2011-January 1, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage.

Danny Scheie returns to the role of Nero after starring in both the South Coast Repertory and Berkeley Repertory Theatre productions of You, Nero. Also reprising their roles are Susannah Schulman as Poppaea and Kasey Mahaffy as Fabiolo. Marc Vietor (Kennedy Center's Company, Broadway's Present Laughter directed by Martin) joins the cast as Scribonius.

Returning Arena favorites include Helen Hayes Award winner Nancy Robinette as Agrippina (Arena's Death of a Salesman, Shakespeare Theatre Company's The Heir Apparent), Laurence O'Dwyer as Burrus (Arena's Trouble in Mind, Helen Hayes Award winner for Arena's The Fantasticks) and John C. Vennema as Seneca (Arena's A Time to Kill). Additional casting for supplemental actors will be announced at a later date.

As Rome collapses beneath Nero's outrageous narcissism, a forgotten playwright tries to restore order through the art of theater in this "gloriously funny" (New York Times) farce. Amid the chaos of crime, lust and politics, convincing the world's most famous debaucher to choose virtue over vice proves to be a Herculean task. Amy Freed's wild romp questions whether well-crafted drama and intellect are any match for decadence and good old-fashioned bloodshed.

TICKETS: Tickets for You, Nero are $55-$85, subject to change and based on availability, plus applicable fees. Tickets may be purchased online at www.arenastage.org, by phone at 202-488-3300 or at the Sales Office at 1101 Sixth St., SW, D.C.