THE HUNTINGTON ANNOUNCES THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM OF TONY-NOMINATED JEZ BUTTERWORTH’S EPIC THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Gabrielle Jaques, Associate Director of Publicity
617-273-1520
PHOTOS available for download here
Members of the press, RSVP here
THE HUNTINGTON ANNOUNCES THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM OF TONY-NOMINATED JEZ BUTTERWORTH’S EPIC THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA
Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco helms the first American production of this acclaimed family drama centering music, memory, and generational healing
(BOSTON) – The Huntington announces the cast and creative team of The Hills of California, a ferocious and heartwarming drama by Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth and directed by Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco (The Light in the Piazza, The Triumph of Love). The Hills of California is produced in association with Berkley Repertory Theatre and runs at The Huntington from Friday, September 12 – Sunday, October 12, 2025 at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115).
Internationally renowned Olivier and Tony Award–winning playwright Jez Butterworth (The Ferryman, Jerusalem) weaves the compelling, tender, and savagely funny tale of the four adult Webb sisters’ homecoming to the seaside guest house in Blackpool where they grew up. As girls, their fierce and ambitious mother Veronica trained them for a singing career à la The Andrews Sisters. Now adults, the sisters must reconsider the choices their mother made, the nostalgic call of youthful harmonies, and the unbreakable bonds of family. Critically acclaimed on Broadway and the West End, The Hills of California will be seen in a new production at The Huntington, directed by Loretta Greco (The Triumph of Love, Prayer for the French Republic).
“I adore this stunning, truly sublime play from one of our greatest living writers, and I love the ferocity of Veronica Webb, who sees the road to transcendence for her four daughters through the power of performing a song,” says Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco. “As the eldest of five sisters, this intense, mysterious, and hilarious homecoming resonates deeply for me, when the complicated past converses fluidly and passionately with the present. I’m thrilled to create a new production of this big-minded West End and Broadway hit for Boston!”
Called “relentlessly entertaining” by The New York Times and “a dream of a Broadway drama” by Variety, The Hills of California premiered on the West End in the Harold Pinter Theatre in 2023 and was nominated for two Olivier Awards, including Best New Play. In 2024, The Hills of California began performances on Broadway and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Play.
This production at The Huntington and Berkeley Rep marks the first original American mounting of the play. With the past literally speaking to and colliding with the present, Butterworth’s latest epic is funny, searing, and full of music and catharsis — it is an unforgettable invitation to consider how we reckon with the past while forging our own future.
“There is something at the heart of this play about the idea of really, really wanting to be special. And the folly of that,” says playwright Jez Butterworth. “You can live through what we call ‘the 60s’ and completely miss out on being a hippie or a punk, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t live. You don’t have to be special to be worth remembering.”
The cast of The Hills of California includes:
Allison Jean White as Veronica, a single mother with big dreams for her daughters’ futures. Credits include: Man and Boy on Broadway, Party Face and The Shaughraun Off Broadway, and the national tour of The 39 Steps.
Amanda Kristin Nichols as Gloria, the quick-tempered second eldest of the Webb girls. Credits include: Three Sisters Off Broadway, Advice and Bad Books at Florida Studio Theatre, and Noises Off at Bucks County Playhouse.
Aimee Doherty as Ruby, the second youngest of the Webb girls, and Mrs. Smith, a lodger. Credits include: Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George at The Huntington and Hello Dolly! and Into the Woods at Lyric Stage.
Karen Killeen as Jillian, the youngest of the four Webb sisters and Veronica’s primary caregiver. Credits include: The Dead and 1904 Off Broadway, Pride and Prejudice at Chautauqua Theatre Company, and Dr Ride’s American Beach House at Yale Cabaret.
Kate Fitzgerald as Young Joan, the eldest of the four Webb sisters. Credits include: The Light in the Piazza at The Huntington, The Crucible at Bay Street Theatre, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at Lyric Stage, and Peter Pan at North Shore Music Theatre.
Meghan Carey as Young Gloria, the second eldest of the Webb girls. Credits include: Pinocchio at Commonwealth Lyric Theater, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Prague Shakespeare Company, and Something Rotten at Boston Conservatory.
Chloé Kolbenheyer as Young Ruby, the second youngest of the Webb girls. Credits include: Disco Fever: The Music of the Bee Gees Off Broadway, Who’d Love Lucy? at Tank NYC, and Bug at Witchhunt Theatre Company.
Nicole Mulready as Young Jillian, the youngest of the four Webb sisters. Credits include: Frank & Bean The Musical! at The WBUR Festival Kidstage, Troilus and Cressida at Prague Shakespeare Company, and I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire at Boston Conservatory.
Kyle Cameron as Dennis, Ruby’s husband, and Jack Larkin, a silver-tongued lodger and connection-maker for the Webb sisters. Credits include: Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp., By the Water, and Chains Off Broadway, Anna Karenina at the Denver Center, and The Hard Problem at Studio Theatre.
Jack Greenberg as Tony, Gloria and Bill’s son, Mr. Halliwell, a lodger, and Mr. Smith, a lodger. Credits include: John Proctor is the Villain at The Huntington, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Newsies at Reagle Music Theatre, and Romeo and Juliet at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company CSC2.
Patrice Jean-Baptiste as Penny, Veronica’s hospice nurse, and Biddy, a maid. Credits include: The Grove at The Huntington, Her Portmanteau at Central Square Theatre, and Trouble in Mind and Broke-ology at Lyric Stage.
Mike Masters as Bill, Gloria’s husband, and Joe Fogg, a lodger and accompanist for the Webb Sisters. Credits include: Sump’n Like Wings and An Evening at the Carlyle Off Broadway, Catch Me If You Can at The REV, and The Foreigner at Flat Rock Playhouse.
Lewis D. Wheeler as Mr Potts, a piano tuner, and Luther St. John, an American musical act producer. Credits include: The Triumph of Love and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at The Huntington, No Man’s Land at ART, and Pass Over at SpeakEasy Stage.
Understudies include: Annika Bolton, Lila Grace English, Bridgette Hayes, Zachary Kautter, and Yewande Odetoyinbo.
The creative team for The Hills of California includes scenic design by Andrew Boyce (The Light in the Piazza at The Huntington) and Se Hyun Oh (Once Upon A Korean Time at Ma-Yi Theatre/La Mama Theatre), costume design by Jennifer von Mayrhauser (Disgraced on Broadway), lighting design by Russell H. Champa (We All Fall Down at The Huntington), sound design and original music by David Van Tieghem (Burn This on Broadway), the wig, hair, and makeup design is by J. Jared Janas (The Light in the Piazza at The Huntington). The music director is Daniel Rodriguez, the choreographer is Misha Shields, the fight and intimacy coordinator is Jesse Hinson, the voice and dialect coach is Ashleigh Reide, and the dramaturg is Kyle Frisina. The production stage manager is Kevin Schlagle and the stage manager is Ashley Pitchford. NY Casting is by Janet Foster.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Jez Butterworth (Playwright) was born in London, in 1969 and studied English at St. John’s College, Cambridge. His first play, Mojo (Royal Court Theatre, 1995), won seven major awards, including the Olivier Award for Best Comedy. Other plays include The Night Heron (2002), The Winterling (2006), Parlour Song (2008), Jerusalem (2009), The River (2012), and The Ferryman (2017). Jerusalem transferred from the Royal Court to the West End, breaking box office records for a new play. It won Best Play at the Evening Standard Awards 2010, The UK Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play 2010, before travelling to Broadway where it won Best Foreign Play at the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards 2011. It received six Tony nominations, winning two, including Best Actor for Mark Rylance. The River transferred to Broadway in 2014, starring Hugh Jackman. His sixth play for the Royal Court, The Ferryman, directed by Sam Mendes, was extended during its transfer to the West End. It received 15 five-star reviews in the UK daily press and won Best Play and Best Director at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2017, the Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and 3 Olivier Awards for Best Play, Best Director and Best Actress in 2018. In 2018 The Ferryman transferred to Broadway and was nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning four including Best Play 2019. His latest play, The Hills of California, began its West End run in February 2024. Directed by Sam Mendes, it stars Laura Donnelly, Leanne Best, Ophelia Lovibond and Helena Wilson. Jez’s screenwriting credits include Fair Game (2010) directed by Doug Liman and starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts; Get On Up (2014) directed by Tate Taylor and starring Chadwick Boseman and Octavia Spencer; Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) directed by Doug Liman and starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt; Black Mass (2015) directed by Scott Cooper and starring Johnny Depp and Dakota Johnson; Spectre (2015) directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig and Naomie Harris; Ford v Ferrari (2019) directed by James Mangold and starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale; Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) directed by James Mangold and starring Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. For TV Jez has created and written the comedy series “Mammals” for Amazon Studios starring James Corden, Sally Hawkins, Melia Kreiling and Colin Morgan. Jez also created the historical fantasy drama Britannia, which was the first co-production between Sky and Amazon Prime. It stars David Morrissey, Zoe Wanamaker and Mackenzie Crook and ran for three seasons. Jez also adapted The Agency alongside his brother, John-Henry Butterworth. In 2007, Jez won the E.M Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2019 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Loretta Greco (Director) is The Huntington’s Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director. Her extensive national directing credits include The Light in the Piazza, The Triumph of Love, Prayer for the French Republic, and Taylor Mac’s world premiere of Joy and Pandemic for The Huntington, the premieres of runboyrun and A Park in Our House at New York Theatre Workshop, The Story, Lackawanna Blues, and Two Sisters and a Piano at The Public Theater, Sweat, The Realistic Joneses, Speed-the-Plow, and Blackbird at American Conservatory Theater, and productions for California Shakespeare, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Long Wharf, La Jolla Playhouse, and Williamstown Theatre Festival, among others. She is a champion of groundbreaking artists and has longstanding working relationships with esteemed playwrights such as Taylor Mac, Mfoniso Udofia, Lloyd Suh, Barbara Hammond, Luis Alfaro, Octavio Solis, Linda McLean, and Sam Shepard, with whom she worked closely on a five-year Bay Area-wide legacy series and directed the critically acclaimed revivals of Buried Child and Fool for Love. Prior to The Huntington, she was the artistic director at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre for 12 years, as well as producing artistic director of New York’s WP Theater and associate director and staff producer of the McCarter Theatre. She is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect and the recipient of Bay Area Critic’s Association Awards, a Drama League fellowship, the Princess Grace Award, a Sundance/Luma Director’s fellowship, and the 2018 Zelda Fichandler Award.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION FOR THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA
WHEN
Performances: September 12 – October 12, 2025
Evenings: Tues – Thurs at 7pm; Fri and Sat at 7:30pm
Matinees: Select Wed, Sat, and Sun at 2pm
Days and times vary; see complete schedule above.
Press Opening: Wednesday, September 17 at 7pm (RSVP here)
WHERE
The Huntington Theatre
264 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115
TICKETS
Tickets start at $29. Season ticket packages and FlexPasses are also now on sale:
- online at huntingtontheatre.org
- by phone at 617-266-0800;
- or in person at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave) or Calderwood Pavilion (527 Tremont Street)
Select discounts apply:
- $25 student tickets (valid ID required)
- $30 military tickets (valid ID required)
- $40 “HYPE” tickets (Huntington Young Patron Events) for patrons 40 years-old and younger (valid ID required)
- Limited number of Pay-What-You-Wish tickets (not available online, please call or visit the box office to inquire using the contact info above)
The Huntington asks that any patron experiencing illness stay home and contact ticketing services for more information about exchanges.
ACCESS PERFORMANCES FOR THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA
Tickets are $20 for each patron and their guests. To reserve tickets please email access@huntingtontheatre.org, call ticketing services at 617-266-0800, or visit in person at the Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston or the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont St, Boston.
Accessible performances are supported in part by the Liberty Mutual Foundation.
ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE: Friday, October 3 at 7:30pm. The Huntington offers American Sign Language interpretation at designated performances for patrons who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE: Saturday, October 4 at 2pm. The Huntington offers audio description for patrons who are blind or low-vision at designated performances. Please visit huntingtontheatre.org/visit/accessibility for information.
OPEN CAPTIONED PERFORMANCE: Tuesday, October 7 at 7pm. The Huntington offers open captioning at designated performances for any patron who benefits from having the text of spoken dialogue visible in time with the play.
Large Print and Braille Programs will also be available for patrons at performances.
THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA SPECIAL EVENTS
“Stage & Screen” Postcards from the Edge at Coolidge Corner: Monday, September 15 at 7pm
The Huntington and Coolidge Corner continue their “Stage & Screen” collaboration with an event on Monday, September 15 at Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. After a 7pm showing of a 1990 comedy-drama, based on Carrie Fisher’s semi-autobiographical novel centering mother-daughter dynamics starring Merryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine, Postcards from the Edge (directed by Mike Nichols), guests connected The Huntington’s production of The Hills of California will host a post-screening discussion.
Tickets to the Stage & Screen film and post-screening discussion can be purchased here: coolidge.org/programs/stage-screen
Actors Forum: Thursday, September 25 at 7pm
The Huntington hosts a moderated, post-show discussion with members of the cast after the 7pm performance on Thursday, September 25 at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave). Hear actors from The Hills of California reflect on their roles and nuances of each character.
Humanities Forum: Sunday, September 28 at 2pm
The Huntington hosts a post-show discussion after the 2pm matinee performance on Sunday, September 28 at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave).
Student Matinee performance: Friday, October 3 at 10am
The Huntington Education Department hosts a student matinee of The Hills of California on Friday, October 3 at 10am at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave). Student tickets are $20 each, chaperones attend at no cost, and one chaperone is required for every 15 students.
To reserve your school group and learn more information, please email Manager of Education Operations Bec Lowe at education@huntingtontheatre.org.
Actors Forum: Wednesday, October 8 at 2pm
The Huntington hosts a moderated, post-show discussion with members of the cast after the 2pm matinee performance on Wednesday, October 8 at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave). Hear actors from The Hills of California reflect on their roles and nuances of each character.
MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA
Any members of the media who are interested in speaking with the artists of The Hills of California, please contact Associate Director of Publicity Gabrielle Jaques at gjaques@huntingtontheatre.org or 617-273-1520.
Press night for critics is Wednesday, September 17 at 7pm. Please RSVP here for press night or other available performances.
Production photos will be available for download online, and b-roll footage can be requested.
PHOTOS available for download here
ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON
Celebrating over 40 years of outstanding theatre, The Huntington is Boston’s theatrical commons and leading professional theatre company. On our stages and throughout our city, we share enduring and untold stories that spark the imagination of audiences and artists and amplify the wide range of voices in our community.
Under the leadership of Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director Loretta Greco and Executive Director Christopher Mannelli, The Huntington is committed to welcoming broad and diverse audiences, provides life-changing opportunities for students through its robust education and community programs, is a national leader in the development of playwrights and new plays, and serves the local arts community through our operation of The Huntington Calderwood/BCA.
The Huntington reopened the historic Huntington Theatre in fall of 2022 after its transformational renovation, and is currently in phase two of the project; the renovation and building project of this storied venue with a bold vision for the future will allow us to innovatively expand our services to audiences, artists, and the community for generations to come. For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.
ABOUT BERKELEY REP
Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to an international leader in innovative theatre. Known for its ambition, relevance, and excellence, as well as its adventurous audience, the nonprofit has provided a welcoming home for emerging and established artists since 1968. Over 6 million people have enjoyed more than 500 shows at Berkeley Rep, including 87 world premieres. Berkeley Rep shows have gone on to win eight Tony Awards, nine Obie Awards, 11 Drama Desk Awards, a Grammy Award, a Pulitzer Prize, and many other honors. In recognition of its place on the national stage, Berkeley Rep received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. Through its annual seven-play season, together with up to four special event presentations, Berkeley Rep invites audiences to enjoy an eclectic range of theatrical experiences featuring diverse artistic voices, themes, and perspectives. To formalize, enhance, and expand the processes by which Berkeley Rep makes theatre, The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work was launched in 2012. Serving some 20,000 people a year, Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre ensures broad access to dynamic arts educational activities, especially for Bay Area youth, and provides immersive training for current and future theatre makers. In 2021, Berkeley Rep launched In Dialogue, a program that places its theatre-making skills and resources in service of the community. Using storytelling as an anchor, In Dialogue is developing long-term collaborations with local, socially centered organizations, as well as educating and activating our audiences around organizations whose work aligns with the themes of our productions. Berkeley Rep’s bustling facilities—which include the 600-seat Roda Theatre, 400-seat Peet’s Theatre, Medak Center, and a spacious campus in West Berkeley—are helping revitalize a renowned city. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org.
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