Odds & Ends: School Girls Standout Mirirai Sithole Cast in World Premiere at Playwrights Horizons & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed today.

School Girls Standout Mirirai Sithole Cast in World Premiere at Playwrights Horizons
Casting is set for the upcoming world premiere production of Tori Sampson's If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka, set to arrive at off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons next month. Leah C. Gardiner will direct the production, featuring choreography by Raja Feather Kelly, scheduled to run from February 15 through March 31. Leading the cast is Mirirai Sithole (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play), along with Rotimi Agbabiaka, Maechi Aharanwa, Jason Bowen, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, Ian Duff, Níkẹ Uche Kadri and Phumzile Sitole. The play is set in the village of Affreakah-Amirrorkah, where no one questions that Akim (Kadri) is the one true, perfect beauty—not even her jealous classmates. But they'll be damned before they let her be the leading lady in this story. The creative team will include Louisa Thompson (scenic design), Dede M. Ayite (costume design), Matt Frey (lighting design) and Ian Scot (original music and sound design).

Tony Winner Maryann Plunkett Set for The O'Casey Cycle at Irish Rep
Off-Broadway's Irish Repertory Theatre has announced full casting for The O'Casey Cycle, a trio of works by playwright Sean O'Casey, set to be performed in rep beginning later this month. The plays, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly, Neil Pepe and Charlotte Moore, respectively, will run from January 30 through May 25. The repertory cast will include Tony winner Maryann Plunkett (A Man for All Seasons), along with Una Clancy, Terry Donnelly, Rory Duffy, Meg Hennessy, John Keating, Robert Langdon Lloyd, Ed Malone, Michael Mellamphy, James Russell and Harry Smith. The O'Casey Cycle will feature scenic design by Charlie Corcoran, costume design by Linda Fisher and David Toser, lighting design by Michael Gottlieb and sound design by Ryan Rumery and M. Florian Staab.

Margo Seibert to Lend Her Voice to One-Night Concert at Virginia's Signature Theatre
Power-voiced Broadway star Margo Seibert has signed on to perform a one-night solo concert at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA on January 20 at 7:00pm. A veteran of Signature's The Boy Detective Fails, Seibert has been seen on Broadway in Rocky and In Transit and off-Broadway in Tamar of the River and The Thanksgiving Play. Seibert will be joined by special guest Tracy Lynn Olivera (Ragtime) in the concert that will explore life's in-betweens through an electric mix of original songs, reimagined Broadway classics and music from the '70s and '80s.