Lindsay Mendez is preparing for a wicked role…

The Latina actress has landed the lead role of Elphaba in the Broadway company of Wicked.

Mendez, who earned a Drama Desk nod for her performance in Dogfight recently, will assume the role beginning on May 28, 2013.

She’ll take over the role from Willemijn Verkaik, who will play her final performance on May 26.

Mendez has previously worked with both the composer and director of Wicked, having appeared in the 2011 Broadway revival of Stephen Schwartz‘s Godspell, and, more recently in the Off-Broadway musical, Dogfight, staged by Wicked director Joe Mantello.

Wicked opened at the Gershwin Theatre on October 30, 2003 and is currently selling tickets through January 5, 2014.

Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

Mendez’s credits include the Broadway revival of Grease in 2007, Everyday Rapture and The Marvelous Wonderettes.