As Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp often says, one of the objectives of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre is to tell a variety of stories.  Following the holiday frolic that was Elf, next on stage is Matthew Lopez’s award-winning play The Whipping Man.

An extraordinary tale of loyalty, deceit and deliverance, The Whipping Man opened off-Broadway in 2011 to critical acclaim, winning the 2011 John Gassner New Play Award from the NY Outer Critics Circle and becoming one of the most produced plays in the country.

On Passover, 1865, the Civil War has just ended and the annual celebration of freedom from bondage is being observed in Jewish homes across the country. One of these homes sits in ruins. As Jewish confederate officer Caleb DeLeon returns from the war, badly wounded, to find his family missing and only two former slaves remaining, Simon and John, the two men are forced to care for him.

As Caleb, Simon and John wait for the family’s return, they wrestle with their shared past as master and slave, digging up long-buried family secrets as well as new ones. With Passover upon them, the three men unite to celebrate the holiday, even as they struggle to comprehend their new relationships at a crossroads of personal and national history and to come to terms with the sordid legacies of slavery and war that threaten each of their future freedoms.

Ryan Barry, who was featured in last season’s Clybourne Park returns to the Rep joined by Michael A. Shepperd and Damian Thompson.  The production is directed by Rep vet Gilbert McCauley (Gee’s Bend, Looking Over the President’s Shoulder, The Piano Lesson, A Soldier’s Play, Fences, Frost/Nixon).  Other members of the creative team are set designer Mike Nichols, costume designer Yslan Hicks, lighting designer Dan Kimble, sound designer Allan Branson and props designer Lynda J. Kwallek.

The production opens Friday, January 23 and runs through Sunday, February 8.