May 28–June 22, 2025

KING JAMES

CELEBRATION OF FRIENDSHIP AND FANDOM

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Overview
Cast
Creative Team

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Limited remaining!

By Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Rob Ruggiero
May 28 - June 22, 2025

"One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years" - TheaterMania

Shawn and Matt couldn’t be more different, but they quickly bond over a shared love of basketball during LeBron James’s rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. As the team’s fortunes ebb and flow over many years, so does their turbulent relationship as their lives move in different directions. A slam-dunk buddy comedy exploring unexpected friendships, grief and loss, and the joys of rooting for the home team, King James is familiar story for anyone with a best friend, unwavering loyalty, and big dreams.

Presented in partnership with TheaterWorks Hartford and Barrington Stage Company.

Thank you to our sponsors:
The 2024-2025 Season is sponsored by Linda J. Ravdin and Don Shapero.

Online Program

Additional content about King James, including dramaturgy and program notes, can be found in our ONLINE PROGRAM.

"Clever and vivid"

-The Washington Post

"KING JAMES scores big...laugh-out-loud [and] entertaining"

-Stage and Cinema

"A rich portrait of a friendship...comic yet touching"

-Washington City Paper

"Warm-hearted"

-DC Theater Arts

"Deeply moving, eminently resonant, and most certainly unforgettable...I just cannot say enough about this production"

-Maryland Theatre Guide

King James runs approximately 2 hours including one intermission.

Masks are required at the following performances: June 17, June 21 (matinee). Learn more.

EVENTS & DISCUSSIONS: View pre-show and post-show discussions here.

Pride Night: June 5 at 7:30pm

Audio-Described Performance: June 7 (matinee)
Open-Captioned Performances: June 8, June 14 (matinee)

Learn more about accessibility at Round House here.

Learn more about our special discounts here and our Free Play program for students here.

CAST

Blake Morris

Shawn

Gregory Perri

Matt

Blake Morris

Shawn

Blake Morris (Shawn) is a Brooklyn-based storyteller from the South Side of Chicago. His Off-Broadway credits include Ain’t No Mo’ (Public Theater). Regional credits include King James (George Street); Toni Stone (Huntington); The Hot Wing King (Studio Theatre); 48 Hours in Harlem (The National Black Theater), Byhalia, and Mississippi (The Kennedy Center); King Hedley II (Two River Theater); On the Grounds of Belonging (Long Wharf Theatre); and Kings of Harlem (Kelly Strayhorn Theater). TV credits include POSE, Jessica Jones, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Law & Order: SVU, The Good Fight, FBI, and Blue Bloods. Blake has an MFA in Acting from UC Irvine.

Gregory Perri

Matt

Gregory Perri (Matt) is thrilled to make his Round House Theatre debut in King James. Having just transferred this production from TheaterWorks Hartford, he also served as the understudy for Matt in MTC’s off-Broadway production of King James. DC credits include Smart People at Arena Stage. Other select NY credits include Good People for MTC (u/s - Broadway); Idea Of Me at the Cherry Lane Theater; and A Loss of Roses for the Peccadillo Theater Company. Select regional credits include The Whipping Man at Syracuse Stage; Macbeth and The Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare on the Sound; and The Dog in the Dressing Room at the Schoolhouse Theater. Select TV credits include The Other Two, New Amsterdam, FBI: Most Wanted, The Jack and Triumph Show, and The Good Wife. Select film credits include Not Fade Away, The Wolf of Wall Street, All is Bright, Bastards of Young, and Thinking with Richard. MFA: Rutgers University.

CREATIVE TEAM

Rajiv Joseph

Rob Ruggiero

Luke Cantarella

Danielle Preston

John Lasiter

Kevin Lee Alexander

Naysan Mojgani

Sarah Cooney

Rebecca Talisman

Production Stage Manager

Rajiv Joseph

Playwright

Rajiv Joseph (Playwright) was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama for his play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. He has twice won the Obie Award for Best New American Play, first in 2016 with Guards at the Taj (also a 2016 Lortel Winner for Best Play) and in 2018 with Describe the Night. Other plays include Dakar 2000, King James, Letters of Suresh, Gruesome Playground Injuries, and Animals Out of Paper. He has been an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago since 2018, and he served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal.

Rob Ruggiero

Director

Rob Ruggiero (Director) Broadway: High (starring Kathleen Turner) and Looped (starring Valerie Harper). Off-Broadway, Rob conceived and directed Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations), and regionally he conceived and directed Ella, a musical about Ella Fitzgerald, which saw sold-out runs in 24 regional theaters and was produced as a National Tour. His work has been seen at regional theaters around the country, including many award-winning productions at The Muny, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and Goodspeed Musicals. He is the Artistic Director at TheaterWorks Hartford, where he has been affiliated for over 30 years and directed over 65 productions, including recent productions of Fever Dreams, Fun Home, The Legend of Georgia McBride, and Christmas on the Rocks, which he also conceived. He is excited to be directing here at Round House.

Luke Cantarella

Scenic Designer

Luke Cantarella (Scenic Designer) is thrilled to be making his Round House debut as the scenic designer for King James, which started its run at TheaterWorks Hartford, where he has designed over 25 productions. In the region, he has designed productions for Peabody Opera, Theater J, and Wolftrap. Cantarella has designed scenery and video for over 150 productions around the country and internationally including projects at the American Repertory Theater, Goodspeed Musicals, the MUNY, Westport Country Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cleveland Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Yale Repertory Theater, Berkshire Theater Festival, Asolo Repertory Theater, People’s Light, and many others. Recent opera credits include the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon & Jerry Dye's Women with Eyes Closed at Pittsburgh Opera, the world premiere of Kristin Kuster and Mark Campbell's A Thousand Acres for Des Moines Metro Opera, and the world premiere of Laura Kaminsky & Kimberly Reed's Hometown to the World for Sante Fe Opera. He has designed film and television projects for HBO, Netflix, Amazon Studios, Sony Pictures Television, and others. He is the chair of Film and Screen Studies at Pace University in New York City. www.lukecantarella.com

Danielle Preston

Costume Designer

Danielle Preston (Costume Design) is a Washington, DC-based costume designer working in theatre. Recent designs include projects at Round House Theatre, TheaterWorks Hartford, Olney Theatre Center, Barrington Stage Company, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Signature Theatre, Children's Theatre Company, Berkshire Theater Group, and Theater J. Danielle holds a M.F.A. in Costume Design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Danielle received the 2022 OPERA America Tobin Director-Designer Prize, the 2015 Kenan Costume Fellow for the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, and the 2013 A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute Fellowship in Costume Design.

John Lasiter

Lighting Designer

John Lasiter (Lighting Designer) Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, Arizona Repertory Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, Dallas Theater Center, Florida Stage, George Street Playhouse, Geva Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, The Guthrie Theater, Hartford Stage Company, Long Wharf Theater, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, The Muny, New Mexico Repertory Theatre, Pioneer Theater Company, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public Theater, South Coast Repertory, Syracuse Stage, Theaterworks Harford, Virginia Stage Company and Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Off-Broadway: Alarm Dog Repertory Company and Blue Light Theater Company. Numerous dance companies and regional opera productions.

Kevin Lee Alexander

Sound Designer

Kevin Lee Alexander (Sound Designer) is thrilled to return to King James, originally produced at TheatreWorks Hartford and now remounted at Round House Theatre. His recent regional credits include Senior Class and Long Way Down at Olney Theatre Center; Head Over Heels, Once on This Island, and Desperate Measures at Constellation Theatre; Bright Star at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma; Hula Hoopin’ Queen with Imagination Stage/Childsplay Theatre; Hair and Oliver at New Repertory Theatre; and Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds and Diary of a Wimpy Kid at First Stage Milwaukee. In addition to his theatrical work, Kevin is a Billboard #1–charting recording and mixing engineer with credits on Jesus! (feat. Le’Andria Johnson) and Nobody But God by Faith City Music. He holds an M.S. in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University and a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland. Kevin is a proud member of IATSE Local USA 829.

Naysan Mojgani

Dramaturg

Naysan Mojgani (Dramaturg) is the Artistic & Dramaturgical Advisor at Round House, serving as a member of the artistic team and guiding the new work program. As a theatre scholar, director, and dramaturg, Naysan has worked on new and classic work with theatres around the country, including Arena Stage (where he served as Literary Manager), La Jolla Playhouse, MOXIE, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Theatre Squared, Malashock Dance, and Signature Theatre, and has taught at UC San Diego and George Mason University. Naysan holds a PhD in Theatre & Drama from UC San Diego, and a BA from Carleton College.

Sarah Cooney

Casting Director

Sarah Cooney (Casting Director) is Round House Theatre’s Casting Director & Associate Producer. In the DC area, Sarah has cast for The Kennedy Center’s Broadway Center Stage series, Signature Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, and Rep Stage. As a Casting Director with NYC’s Binder Casting, Sarah cast for The Lion King Broadway and National Touring productions and the Encores! series at New York City Center. Other Regional casting credits include Barrington Stage, Hartford Stage, TheaterWorks Hartford, Seattle Rep, Drury Lane Theatre, Weston Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, ACT of Connecticut, and others. Film and TV casting credits include Crashing (HBO), The Big Sick (Apatow Productions), Kevin Can Wait (CBS), and Clipped (HGTV). Sarah taught at West Virginia University, and is a New York University alum.

Rebecca Talisman

Production Stage Manager

Rebecca Talisman (Production Stage Manager) could not be more delighted to make their Round House debut! Williamstown Theatre Festival: Paris, ACTORS! (dir. Jack O’Brien), The Pillowman (dir. Lila Neugebauer), and Three Sisters; The Second City: The Revolution Will Be Improvised!; 1st Stage: columbinus, Hero's Welcome, and How the Light Gets In; Adventure Theatre MTC: Blueberries for Sal; Kennedy Center: Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie Starring Indigo Blume (tour), Look Both Ways (tour), and Super Cello!; Mosaic Theater Company: The Vagrant Trilogy, Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, Paper Dolls, and Queens Girl in Africa; Olney Theatre: Fiddler on the Roof and Frozen; Rorschach Theatre: Sing to Me Now; Shakespeare Theatre Company: Leopoldstadt; Theater J: Becoming Dr. Ruth, Hester Street, The Jewish Queen Lear, Love Sick, Occupant, Talley’s Folly, The Pianist of Willesden Lane, and The Wanderers; UrbanArias: Glory Denied, The Juliet Letters, and Why I Live at the P.O.; Washington National Opera: Il Trovatore. She/They

KING JAMES

Online Program

CAST

CREATIVE TEAM

Production Photos

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