Three-time Tony nominee Celia Keenan-Bolger will star in the world premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s The Oldest Boy at Lincoln Center. Under the direction of Rebecca Taichman, the off-Broadway play will begin previews on October 9 prior to a November 3 opening at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.
Additional cast members include Ernest Abuba, Joel de la Fuente, Tsering Dorjee, Takemi Kitamura, James Saito, Jon Norman Schneider and Nami Yamamoto.
Keenan-Bolger recently earned her third Tony nomination for her performance in The Glass Menagerie. She garnered additional nods for Peter and the Starcatcher and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She also appeared on Broadway in Les Miserables. Abuba has appeared on Broadway in Pacific Overtures, Loose Ends, Zoya’s Apartment and Shimada. De la Fuente’s stage credits include Hold These Truths and Round and Round. Dorjee has appeared on screen in Himalaya. Kitamura’s theater credits include Gekiryu and The Red Shadow. Saito has appeared on Broadway in shows including Flower Drum Song, Golden Child and The King and I and in films including Life of Pi and Pearl Harbor. Schneider's stage credits include The Architecture of Becoming and House of No More. Yamamoto has appeared in numerous dance performances, including Headless Wolf and the last word was PAPIREPOSE.
In The Oldest Boy, Tenzin, the toddler son of an American woman (Keenan-Bolger) and a Tibetan man (de la Fuente), is recognized as the reincarnation of a high Buddhist teacher. Differing cultures contend with competing ideas of faith and love when two monks seek permission to take Tenzin to a monastery in India to begin his training as a spiritual master. His parents must decide whether to send their young son away or keep him home.