Broadway Actors Join Dual-Language ‘Hamlet’ With Iranian-Born Dane

Broadway names Sherie Rene Scott and Micah Stock and “The Blacklist” cast member Amir Arison have signed on to join Arian Moayed in the upcoming Off Broadway production of “Hamlet,” a dual-language staging incorporating both English and Farsi and set in Persia a century ago.

The production from Off Broadway troupe Waterwell, of which Moayed (“The Humans”) is co-artistic director, was affected earlier this year by President Trump’s travel visa ban, with one cast member, Yale-educated Iranian Mohammad Aghebatian, travelling at the time and uncertain whether he would be readmitted to the U.S. The production will also incorporate music written by and performed live by prominent Iranian singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo.

Moayed, a 2011 Tony nominee for “Benghal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” will play Hamlet, with Gertrude portrayed by Scott, whose credits include “Aida,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “Everyday Rapture” on Broadway and Off Broadway’s “Whorl Inside a Loop” (which she also co-wrote). Stock, who first attracted notice in the 2014 revival of “It’s Only a Play,” will play Horatio in a cast that will also include Arison from NBC’s “Blacklist.”

Tom Ridgely, who is co-artistic director of Waterwell with Moayed, will direct “Hamlet,” set for a run at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in downtown Manhattan. The production begins previews May 10 ahead of a May 21 opening, and runs through June 3.

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