Playwrights Horizons Announces Casting For Michael R. Jackson And Anna K. Jacobs’s TEETH

Watch out! The cast of Teeth, a new musical with book and music by Anna K. Jacobs, book and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson was announced today. 

Performances of Teeth will take place on the Mainstage at Playwrights Horizons, February 21st - March 31st, 2024. The production opens officially on Tuesday, March 12th, 2024. 

Teeth features Alyse Alan Louis (Broadway: Amelie; Off-Broadway: White Girl in Danger) in the central role of Dawn O’Keefe, Courtney Bassett (Broadway: Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812; Off Broadway: Titanique) as Promise Keeper Girl Becky, Phoenix Best (Broadway: Dear Evan Hansen, The Color Purple) as Promise Keeper Girl Fiona, Will Connolly (Broadway: Once; Off-Broadway: After the Blast) as Brad O’Keefe, Jason Gotay (TV: “Gossip Girl,” Peter Pan Live!) as Tobey/Truthseeker, Jenna Rose Husli (Off-Broadway: A Tiny Bit of Sky) as Promise Keeper Girl Trisha, Jared Loftin (Gigantic, A.D. 16) as Ryan/Truthseeker, Lexi Rhoades (Off-Broadway: Sugar, Sistas: The Musical) as Promise Keeper Girl Rachael, Wren Rivera (Broadway: Jagged Little Pill; Regional: Bye Bye Birdie) as Promise Keeper Girl Stephanie, Helen J Shen (Regional: Mamma Mia!, The Wedding Singer) as Promise Keeper Girl Keke.

Teeth will also feature choreography by Raja Feather Kelly, and this world premiere production will be directed by Sarah Benson.

The Teeth creative team includes Adam Rigg (Scenic Design), Enver Chakartash (Costume Designer), Jane Cox and Stacey Derosier (Lighting Designers), Kris Kukul (Orchestrations), Jeremy Chernick (Special Effects Designer), Palmer Hefferan (Sound Designer), Julie McBride (Music Supervisor), Kristy Norter (Music Contractor), Crista Marie Jackson (Intimacy Director), Robert Westley (Fight Director), Taylor Williams, CSA (Casting), and Alaine Alldaffer, CSA (Casting). Stage management: Amanda Spooner (Production Stage Manager) and Thomas Dieter (Stage Manager).

Based on the 2007 cult classic comedy horror film of the same name and presented by special arrangement with Mark Gordon Pictures and Cody Lassen, Teeth is a sharp tale of revenge and transformation that tears through a culture of shame and repressed desire one delightfully unhinged song at a time.

Teeth follows Dawn O’Keefe (Alyse Alan Louis), an evangelical Christian teen struggling to be an exemplar of purity amongst her community of fellow Promise Keeper Girls. Her stepbrother, Brad (Will Connolly)—alienated by his repressive upbringing in the community led by his fanatical Pastor father and intrigued by the online camaraderie of the Truthseeker men’s support group—is haunted by an indelible incident from his and Dawn’s past. As Dawn’s desires become tested and twisted by the men in her life, she discovers a deadly secret not even she understands: when men violate her, her body bites back—literally. Crackling with irrepressible desire and ancient rage, Teeth is a dark comedy conjuring the legend of one girl whose sexual curse may also be her salvation.

Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael R. Jackson, whom Time Magazine included in its “100 Most Influential People of 2022,” returns to Playwrights Horizons with Jonathan Larson Award-winning composer and lyricist Anna K. Jacobs with this fierce, rapturous, and savagely entertaining new horror-musical.

“When I saw the film, I was struck by the religious themes in it and their resonance with my personal story with sexuality, and the way those two things clash. I was really taken by the way Mitchell Lichtenstein wedded that theme to the horror genre. I knew immediately I was not the composer for this project — I sensed it needed a different musical sensibility and approach than my own.” says Jackson. 

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