Casting Announcement for CABARET

LAW AND ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME SERIES REGULAR, AINSLEY SEIGER, TO LEAD VIRGINIA THEATRE FESTIVAL PRODUCTION OF CABARET

CAST TO ALSO INCLUDE REGIONAL THEATRE STANDOUT DAVID MATTAR MERTEN AND BROADWAY VETERAN JANET DICKINSON

Cabaret To Open July 7 at Culbreth Theatre

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – April 13, 2023 – The Virginia Theatre Festival has made its first casting announcement for its upcoming 2023 season-opening production of Cabaret. Ainsley Seiger leads the cast as Sally Bowles. Seiger returns to the Virginia Theatre Festival stage after having been seen in 2018 productions of A Chorus Line and The Cocoanuts. Seiger is a graduate of UNCSA and became a series regular on NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime in early 2021, playing Detective Jet Slootmaekers.

Joining Seiger as the Emcee is David Mattar Merten. David will graduate this year from Brown University/Trinity Rep. with an MFA in Acting. Credits include: Prior in Angels In America: Part 1; Blue in Beirut; Play House; The Henriad; The Winter’s Tale; and The Skriker. David was also seen in The Inheritance and Fairview at Trinity Rep. Before Brown, he was seen in the hit Off-Broadway play Afterglow.

Broadway veteran, Janet Dickinson, joins the cast as Fraulein Schneider. Dickinson’s Broadway credits include Anastasia; How the Grinch Stole Christmas!; and Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical. She has also appeared in national tours of Anastasia; Billy Elliot: The Musical; and 9 to 5.

Set to open on July 7 at Culbreth Theatre, Cabaret will be directed and choreographed by Matthew Steffens, who returns to VTF and to his alma mater, UVA, fresh from the Broadway and touring smash hit revival of Into the Woods.

The award-winning musical features a book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and is based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood.

The Virginia Theatre Festival is a program of the University of Virginia and is supported by the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the Arts, UVA Department of Drama, and UVA Arts.

The Virginia Theatre Festival’s 2023 Membership Program offers patrons a chance to support VTF, while also gaining access to purchase tickets in advance of public sales. For more information on ways to support the upcoming VTF season, visit virginiatheatrefestival.org/support.

Individual tickets for Cabaret and the full VTF 2023 season will go on sale to the public on June 6. Volunteer opportunities are also available this summer, and more information can be found here. To learn more about the Virginia Theatre Festival and its upcoming 2023 season, visit virginiatheatrefestival.org.