Every day is opening night.

Press Contacts:
Rick Miramontez / Marie Bshara / Kendall Edwards / Morgan Zysman / Bailey Everett
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212 695 7400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

LINCOLN CENTER THEATER
ANNOUNCES COMPLETE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM FOR
THE WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION OF
“CREATION STORIES AND
ALL THE IMPORTANT IMPORTANTS”
A NEW PLAY
AT LCT3’S CLAIRE TOW THEATER
WRITTEN BY MFONISO UDOFIA
DIRECTED BY TAMILLA WOODARD
AS REHEARSALS COMMENCE TODAY  

STARRING
SAVANNAH COMMODORE
DONNETTA LAVINIA GRAYS
ABIGAIL ONWUNALI
JUSTYCE TAYLOR 

PREVIEWS BEGIN TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
OPENING NIGHT SET FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1

HEADSHOTS CAN BE FOUND HERE

Rehearsal photos by Laurel Hinton available HERE.

New York, NY (August 18, 2026) – Lincoln Center Theater announced today the complete cast and creative team for the world premiere production of the new play creation stories and all the important importants, which was recently presented as part of the 2026 Reading Series at Lincoln Center Theater, as rehearsals commence today. Written by Nigerian American playwright Mfoniso Udofia (“13 Reasons Why,” “A League of Their Own,” “Lessons in Chemistry”), the production begins performances on Tuesday, September 15 with an official opening night set for Thursday, October 1 at LCT3’s Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65^th Street) for six weeks only.

Directed by Tamilla Woodard, creation stories and all the important importants will star Savannah Commodore as ‘The Little Girl,’ Donnetta Lavinia Grays as ‘Alexa/Mr. Cornell,’ and Abigail Onwunali as ‘The Grown Woman/The Raffia,’ with Justyce Taylor rounding out the cast as understudy.

To download cast headshots, please click here.
To download rehearsal photos (credit to Laurel Hinton), please click here.

The creative team for the play includes Jason Ardizzone-West (Scenic Design), Sarafina Bush (Costume Design), Alan C. Edwards (Lighting Design), Bailey Trierweiler & UptownWorks (Sound Design), Katherine Freer (Projection Design), Adesola Osakalumi (Movement Director), and The Telsey Office (Casting). Siena Yusi serves as the Stage Manager.

Tickets are on sale now at the Lincoln Center Theater box office (150 W. 65^th Street), by phone (212-239-6200), or online at LCT.org.

Women give life. And life asks so much in return.
Nigerian playwright Mfoniso Udofia (“13 Reasons Why,” “A League of Their Own,” “Lessons in Chemistry”) makes her LCT3 debut with the world premiere of creation stories and all the important importants, an intimate, mythic new play from one of the boldest new voices in contemporary theater, with direction by Tamilla Woodard.

Centering on a midlife Black woman pulled between her many selves—child, future daughter, artist, possible mother—the play pulses with longing as its heroine races against the clock and the limits of her own body. Moving across time and space, from ancestor to AI, from dream cycle to IVF cycle, through music and ritual, Udofia weaves her own surprising folktale on the cost of creation and the impossible work of becoming.

creation stories and all the important importants is supported by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

BIOGRAPHIES

Savannah Commodore (The Little Girl) recently completed her Broadway debut in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. She also performed a featured solo in Broadway Celebrates Juneteenth, appeared as a featured child dancer in NBC’s A Motown Christmas, and performed a lead role in The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker with the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. As a scholarship student at Debbie Allen Middle School, Savannah trains in acting, voice, and dance and has also studied at the School of American Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet. She is grateful to her family, teachers, mentors, and everyone who has supported her artistic journey.

Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Alexa/Mr. Cornell). Broadway acting credits include The Skin of Our Teeth, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), and Well. Off-Broadway: The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire (Vineyard Theatre); Where We Stand (WP Theater/Baltimore Centerstage); Men on Boats (Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb); O, Earth (The Foundry Theatre); In the Footprint (The Civilians- as an Associate Artist); and Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (Primary Stages). Film: The Life List, The Book of Henry, Wild Canaries, The English Teacher, and The Wrestler. TV: Recurring roles on “New Amsterdam,” “Happy,” “Rubicon,” “Mercy,” and “Law and Order: SVU.” And guest starring roles on “High Maintenance,” “The Night Of,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Blacklist,” “A Gifted Man,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: CI,” and “The Sopranos.”

Abigail Onwunali (The Grown Woman/The Raffia) (she/her) is thrilled to be making her LCT3 debut. She was last seen as Martha Pentecost in the 2026 Broadway revival of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Barrymore), directed by Debbie Allen. Other Broadway: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (MTC). Off-Broadway: King Lear (La MaMa). Regional: The Grove and Sojourners (Huntington). She is a two-time Elliot Norton Award nominee and won for her performance as Adiaha in The Grove by Mfoniso Udofia, in a year she was also nominated against herself. A recipient of the Princess Grace Award, Abigail has developed new work through the New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellowship, Page 73 Productions Writers Group, and the La MaMa Morgan Jenness Experiments in Playwriting Fellowship. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and is a graduate of the Lena Waithe Hillman Grad Mentorship Program. Proudly rooted in Houston and Nigeria, Abigail creates theater that celebrates the beauty, resilience, and spiritual richness of Black life.

Justyce Taylor (Understudy for The Little Girl) is a New York-based actress who is excited to join the cast of creation stories. She previously worked on Descendants Jr. (Jay) and High School Musical Jr. (Ripper). When she isn’t on stage, she spends her free time singing and participating in regional pageants. She is so eager to share her talents with the audience!

Mfoniso Udofia (Playwright) is a first-generation Nigerian American playwright, screenwriter, and producer. This LCT3 production marks her New York return. Her nine-play Ufot Family Cycle—an epic spanning generations across Nigeria and the United States—is receiving an unprecedented two-year production across Greater Boston, spearheaded by the Huntington and involving more than 35 partners. Plays from the Cycle have been presented at New York Theatre Workshop, The Playwrights Realm, A.C.T., ArtsEmerson, Front Porch Arts Collective, and Round House Theatre. As a writer-producer, her credits include “Things Fall Apart,” “Lessons in Chemistry,” “Pachinko,” “Little America,” “A League of Their Own,” and “13 Reasons Why.” Honors include the Steinberg, Horton Foote, Elliot Norton, Helen Merrill, and McKnight awards.

Tamilla Woodard (Director) is a resident director at Yale Repertory Theater, Chair of the Acting Program at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and the co-founder of the site specific international partnership, PopUP Theatrics. This past season: The Monsters, Berkeley Rep and La Jolla Playhouse; Zora Neale Hurston’s world premier musical SPUNK at Yale Rep; and Donnetta Lavinia Grays’ The House I Live In.

Tamilla has directed at theaters across the country including at Alliance Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theater, The Folger Theater, The Guthrie,  La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Rep, WP Theater, Classical Theater of Harlem and Clubbed Thumb, and presented work internationally at theaters and festival around the world. She is represented in film and by the concert film Weightless by The Kilbanes. Tamilla is a proud board member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

Jason Ardizzone-West (Scenic Design) is an award-winning set and production designer whose work spans live theater, television/film, concerts, dance, architecture, and more. Recent and notable projects include: Lady Gaga, Mayhem Ball (tour/festivals), Redwood (Broadway), XG: The Core (Global Tour), Jon Batiste: The Big Money Tour, Jesus Christ Superstar (Hollywood Bowl & NBC – Emmy award, ADG nomination), Blood/Love (Off-Broadway), House of McQueen (Off-Broadway), Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (UK), Hikaru Utada: Science Fiction (Asia Tour, Amazon Prime special), Phish: New Year’s Eve ’22, ’23, ‘25 (MSG), The Swamp Dwellers, Wedding Band (Theatre For A New Audience – Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Audelco nominations), Dua Lipa: Radical Optimism (tour), The Grove, Sojourners, and The Bluest Eye (Huntington, Elliot Norton nominations), shadow/land (The Public Theater – Lucille Lortel nomination). NYU MFA ‘12 @jasonardizzonewest www.jawstudiony.com

Sarafina Bush (Costume Design). Broadway: The Outsiders, The Who’s Tommy, How to Dance in Ohio, For Colored Girls… (Tony Award Nominee), Pass Over. Off-Broadway: Indian Princesses (Atlantic), Shit. Meet. Fan. (MCC), Oliver! (City Center Encores), Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (The New Group), Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Obie Award: Playwrights Horizons), Broadway Bounty Hunter (Greenwich House). Regional: Elephant Shoes (Two River Theater), A Wrinkle in Time (Arena Stage), The Ballad of Johnny & June (La Jolla), The Preacher’s Wife (Alliance Theatre), Peter Pan (Tour),  Life After (CAA Ed Mirvish, Goodman Theatre). Education: BA, Adelphi University.

Alan C. Edwards (Lighting Design). West End: Harry Clarke. Off-Broadway: My Joy Is Heavy (NYTW); An American Daughter (La Femme); Monte Cristo (York); Fires in The Mirror [Lortel Nom.], Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 (Signature NYC); Harry Clarke [Lortel Award] (Vineyard); Kill Move Paradise [Drama Desk nom] (NBT); Twelfth Night, Memnon (CTH). Regional: Beautiful (Asolo Rep); Gatsby: An American Myth [Norton Award] (A.R.T.); Appropriate (Old Globe); Fences (The Alley); How Shakespeare Saved My Life (Berkeley Rep/Folger/Red Bull). Dance: In The Same Tongue (Dianne McIntyre); Chasing Magic (Ayodele Casel); Lifted (Christopher Rudd) for American Ballet Theatre. www.alancedwards.com

Bailey Trierweiler & UptownWorks (Sound Design). UptownWorks is a collaborative design team specializing in theater, film, podcasts, installations and other media. UptownWorks has worked with Primary Stages, Boston Court Pasadena, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Roundhouse Theatre, Goodman Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Indianapolis Repertory Theater, Geva Theater, NYTW, The Lortel, Ensemble Studio Theater, DCPA, Berkshire Theatre Group, Miami New Drama, Hartford Stage, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, INTAR, WP Theater, Barrington Stage, National Black Theatre, Classic Stage Company, Studio and Signature Theatres DC. This design was led by Bailey Trierweiler (btsounddesign.com) with Daniela Hart (uptownworksnyc.com) and Noel Nichols (noelnicholsdesign.com).

Katherine Freer (Projection Design) is a multimedia artist, creative technologist, filmmaker, and educator whose artistic practice lives at the intersection of story, technology, and civic engagement. Recent Credits Include: Declaration (Lincoln Center), Peculiar Patriot (New York Theatre Workshop), Reconstructing (Under the Radar), Diary of a Tap Dancer (American Repertory Theater), and We Are Your Robots (Theatre for a New Audience). She is a member of Wingspace Theatrical Design, United Scenic Artists Local USA 829, and All My Relations Collective. Katherine is the Head of the Integrated Media at the UT Austin and Associate Director of Texas Immersive Institute.

Adesola Osakalumi (Movement Director). Choreography: Skeleton Crew (Broadway MTC); MONSTERS (Berkeley Repertory Theater & La Jolla Playhouse), AKINOLA (Guggenheim Museum), Sweetwater (National Black Theater), The Wash (New Federal Theater), Cullud Wattah, Coal Country, Othello (Public Theater); Leroy & Lucy (Steppenwolf Theater), The Grove (Huntington Theater), Syncing Ink (Victoria Theater); runboyrun, Eyewitness Blues (NYTW); Good Grief (Vineyard); Jam on the Groove (City Center & Minetta Lane); School of Rock (2003 film). Awards: Bessie Recipient; Drama Desk Nominee. I’m thrilled to make my LCT3 debut and continue in the storytelling journey with Mfoniso. www.adesola.com

ABOUT LINCOLN CENTER THEATER

LCT’s mission is to bring exceptional theater to life. Building on a legacy of artistic excellence, LCT strives to expand what is possible: to make the magic of theater more palpable, empowering visionary artists and extending the invitation for the community to join in celebrating the power of live performance. To see that mission to fruition in a new era at the New York institution, commencing with the 2025-2026 season, Lear deBessonet assumed the role of Kewsong Lee Artistic Director, alongside Managing Director Mike Schleifer, Executive Producer Bartlett Sher, Stacey and Eric Mindich Producer Nicole Kastrinos, and Helen Gurley Brown LCT3 Artistic Director and Producer Maria Manuela Goyanes.

Established in 1985 by Board Chair Hon. John V. Lindsay, Director Gregory Mosher, and Executive Producer Bernard Gersten, and led for 33 years by André Bishop, LCT is one of the leading nonprofit theaters in the country, producing an annual season of plays and musicals that have been seen by millions around the globe. It is one of 11 autonomous constituents of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Each year, the three theaters that make up LCT welcome nearly 400,000 audience members to its home on the Lincoln Center campus.

Over the last 40 years, LCT and its outstanding productions have received many of the highest accolades, including 91 Tony Awards, 101 Drama Desk Awards, 84 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 36 Obies, 13 NY Drama Critics Circle Awards, and one Pulitzer Prize, as well as two finalists.

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