Relative dysfunction is at play in ‘Immediate Family’

BLUMENTHAL PERFORMING ARTS

A scene from “Immediate Family,” a play written by “Hamilton” alumnus Paul Oakley Stovall and directed by Phylicia Rashad, debuts July 29 at Blumenthal Arts.

Family dysfunction with a comedic twist is on its way to Charlotte.

The stage production of “Immediate Family” – a combination of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” and “Modern Family” – debuts July 29 at Blumenthal Arts as part of the 2024-25 PNC Broadway Lights series. For tickets and information, go to blumethalarts.org.

The comedy, written by “Hamilton’s” Paul Oakley Stovall, will be directed for the third time by Tony Award–winning actress and director Phylicia Rashad, who is best known for her TV role of Claire Huxtable in “The Cosby Show.” The play is about the Bryant family and its introduction to the middle son’s boyfriend, which opens the subjects of race, sexual identity, and religion.

“This play has been a part of me for many years now and I'm ecstatic to have it take another step forward in Charlotte, at Blumenthal Arts especially which, in many ways, is becoming a new artistic home,” Stovall said last year. “Continuing to work on it with Phylicia Rashad still on board as director is, to my mind, the only way to go. She understands me and she understands what’s at the root of the story. The characters in this play are all trying to hold their heads just a little higher, to find themselves and their place in the family; and Phylicia brings discipline, dignity, and determination to everything she does." 

The cast features Christina Sajous (Evy), Elijah Jones (Jesse), Freddie Fulton (Tony), Andy Mientus (Kristian), and Kai Almeda Heath (Nina). Britney Coleman (Ronnie) returns to Charlotte after a starring role as Bobbie in the Broadway national tour of “Company.” 

Rashad made her Broadway directorial debut with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose,” which won the 2025 Tony for Best Play, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. Among her other directing credits are “Our Lady of 121st Street,” “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Fences and “A Raisin in the Sun.” 

Rashad also produced the 2024 Tony nominated Broadway revival of Ossie Davis’s “Purlie Victorious.” 

Stovall’s work has been part of Charlotte theater in the past from the national tour of “Hamilton” and the concert “Love Rules” last year. Stovall also coproduced “A Strange Loop,” the 2022 Tony Award Best Musical winner and episodes of TV series “Shameless,” “Empire,” and “Chicago Fire.”

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