When Robert Schenkkan was in Denver last season for the world premiere of his rock musical ‘The 12,’ we asked his thoughts on his hit Broadway drama, ‘All the Way,’ which will be performed by the DCPA Theatre Company from Jan. 29-Feb. 28.

The DCPA Theatre Company this morning announced full casting for its upcoming production of Robert Schenkkan’s Tony-Award winning play All The Way, which will be directed by Anthony Powell (Lord of the Flies) and presented Jan. 29-Feb. 28 in the Stage Theatre.

The political drama will feature a cast of Theatre Company veterans and actors making their Denver Center debuts. C. David Johnson, who starred for eight years on the dramatic TV series Street Legal in his native Canada, will play President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Terence Archie, who played John in The 12, will play Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The large cast includes 18 actors who have performed with the DCPA Theatre Company over the past three seasons. 

All the Way vividly portrays one of the most controversial, ambitious and ruthless figures of the 20th century — President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Set in the pivotal year between John F. Kennedy’s assassination and Johnson’s re-election, LBJ hurls himself at the Civil Rights Act, determined to rebuild the country into The Great Society by any means necessary.

“While this incredible period of tragedy and change in American history took place 50 years ago, the subject matter is eerily relevant to our nation today,” said Producing Artistic Director Kent Thompson, “It’s no coincidence that we’ve chosen to present this
play heading into the 2016 national election.”

Written by Schenkkan, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of The Kentucky Cycle, All the Way garnered the 2014 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Play in its Broadway debut.

When Schenkkan was in Denver last season for the world premiere of his rock musical The 12, co-written by Neil Berg and presented by the DCPA Theatre Company, the DCPA NewsCenter asked him for his thoughts on the relationship between LBJ and MLK. He said it was a complicated one.

“It began in mutual suspicion and mistrust and grew to be a very successful political collaboration,” Schenkkan said. “From 1964 and into 1965, they worked very well together, if not always easily. But then again, LBJ never worked easily with anybody.

“Both men I think had an unreasonable expectation of what the other man’s powers and abilities were in terms of being able to control events on the ground. King, I think, expected LBJ to have more sway in Congress than LBJ did, and LBJ expected King to have more power on the street than King did.

“That having been said, they succeeded together. I think you have to credit them both with these two extraordinary bills – the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. And LBJ’s executive efforts on behalf of integration I think are very, very clear.”

Schenkkan has been commissioned to write a future play for the DCPA Theatre Company through the Steinberg Commission in American Playwriting, named for administrator (and DCPA Trustree) Jim Steinberg.

All the Way: Cast list
(listed alphabetically)

• Adeoye (Lookingglass Alice) will understudy various roles.
• Terence Archie (The 12) as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Jordan Barbour (The 12) as Rev. Ralph Albernathy.
• Steve Brady (DCPA debut) as J. Edgar Hoover/Sen. Robert Byrd.
• Todd Cerveris (DCPA debut) as Gov. George Wallace/Walter Reuther.
• Laurence Curry (Jackie and Me, Just Like Us) as James Harrison/Stokely Carmichael.
• Paul DeBoy (DCPA debut) as Robert McNamara/Sen. James Eastland.
• Diana Dresser (The Giver, Jackie and Me) will understudy various roles.
• Sam Gregory (A Christmas Carol, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) as Stanley Levison/Seymore Trammell/Rep. John McCormack.
• Mike Hartman (Benediction, Death of a Salesman) as Rep. Howard “Judge” Smith/Sen. Everett Dirkesen.
• C. David Johnson (DCPA debut) as President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
• Tracey Conyer Lee (DCPA debut) as Coretta Scott King/Fannie Lou Hamer.
• Cajardo Lindsey (Just Like Us) as Bob Moses/David Dennis.
• Geoffrey Kent (As You Like It, Lord of the Flies) as Deke Deloach/Andrew Goodman.
• Kathleen McCall (Tribes, Benediction) as Lady Bird Johnson/Katherine Graham/Rep. Katherine St. George.
• James Newcomb (Benediction) as Sen. Hubert Humphry/Sen. Strom Thurmond.
• Jonathan Earl Peck (The Most Deserving) as Roy Wilkins/Aaron Henry.
• Philip Pleasants (A Christmas Carol, As You Like It, King Lear) as Senator Richard Russell/Rep. Emanuel Celler.
• Jeffrey Roark (A Christmas Carol) as Walter Jenkins/Rep. William Colmer.
• Jessica Robblee (DCPA Cabaret’s Drag Machine, OFF-Center’s Lord of the Butterflies) as Lureen Wallace/Muriel Humphrey.
• Josh Robinson (Picnic) will understudy various roles.
• Erik Sandvold (Death of a Salesman, When We Are Married) will understudy various roles.
• Charles E. Wallace (DCPA debut) as Roy Wilkins/Aaron Henry/Ensemble).
• Erin Willis (A Christmas Carol, The 12) ensemble and will understudy various roles.

The creative team includes Robert Mark Morgan (Scenic Designer), David Kay Mickelsen (Costume Designer), Charles R. Macleod (Lighting Designer), Curtis Craig (Sound Designer), Charlie I. Miller (Projection Designer), Douglas Langworthy (Dramaturg) and Jack Greenman (Voice and Dialect).

All the Way: Ticket information