Tag Archives: Samantha Marie Ware

Season Three of Lindsay Mendez’s Courtroom Drama “All Rise” to Premiere in June on OWN

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Lindsay Mendez will be OWNing the summer…

Oprah Winfrey Network announced that courtroom drama series All Rise, featuring the 39-year-old half-Mexican American actress, singer and Broadway star, will return for a third season on Tuesday, June 7 at 8:00 pm ET/PT on OWN.

The All Rise season three all-star cast includes Simone Missick as ‘Judge Lola Carmichael,’ Wilson Bethel as Judge Carmichael’s best friend, Deputy District Attorney ‘Mark Callan,’ Jessica Camacho as public defender ‘Emily Lopez,’ J. Alex Brinson as bailiff-turned-public defender ‘Luke Watkins,’ Ruthie Ann Miles as Lola’s J.A. ‘Sherri Kansky,’ Mendez as court reporter ‘Sara Castillo,’ Lindsey Gort as defense attorney ‘Amy Quinn’ and Marg Helgenberger as ‘Judge Lisa Benner.’

Recurring cast also includes Samantha Marie Ware as law clerk Vanessa “Ness” Johnson, Paul McCrane as Judge Jonas Laski, and Suzanne Cryer as Deputy District Attorney Maggie Palmer.

All Rise is a courthouse drama that follows the chaotic, hopeful, and sometimes absurd lives of its judges, prosecutors, and public defenders, as they work with bailiffs, clerks, and police to get justice for the people of Los Angeles amidst a flawed legal system. Among them is ‘Judge Lola Carmichael’ (Missick), a highly regarded and impressive former deputy district attorney who has shown she doesn’t intend to sit back on the bench, but instead leans in, pushing the boundaries and challenging the expectations of what a judge can be.

Season three of the show picks up six months after the events of the sophomore finale and will bring about new beginnings for these judges, prosecutors and public defenders. We return on election night as Judge Carmichael (Missick) awaits the results of her campaign; Emily (Camacho) returns from Puerto Rico with renewed drive and purpose about her career and Luke (Brinson) continues to shake things up through his work in the public defender’s office.

Star Wilson Bethel will make his directorial debut on an upcoming episode of the show slated to air this summer. Bethel joins fellow actor McCrane (Judge Laski) in stepping behind the lens, as McCrane will again direct an episode following the previous four he helmed in prior seasons. Bethel and McCrane join the directorial lineup including showrunner and executive Dee Harris-Lawrence, executive producer Michael M. Robin, Marie Jamora (Queen Sugar), Lionel Coleman (NCIS: New Orleans), Rob Greenlea (Madam Secretary), Neema Barnette (Black Lightning), Mo McCrae (All Rise) and David Harp (All Rise). This season, Adrian Younge (Luke Cage) joins as Composer and Natalie Montgomery returns as the Music Supervisor.

All Rise is produced by Warner Bros. Television. The series was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at both the 2021 NAACP Image Awards and the Black Reel Awards for Television in 2020.

The first two seasons of All Rise are available to stream on HBO Max and Hulu.

Cervantes to Star in the Chicago Production of “Hamilton”

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Miguel Cervantes is helping bring Broadway’s hottest musical to the Windy City.

The Latino actor has landed the lead role of Alexander Hamilton for the upcoming Chicago production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton.

Miguel Cervantes

Cervantes previously appeared on Broadway in If/Then, American Idiot and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Karen Olivo, a Tony winner for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story and an original castmember of Miranda’s breakout musical, In the Heights, will play Anjelica Schuyler. The role of King George III will be played by stage veteran Alexander Gemignani, who starred as Jean Valjean in the 2009 revival of Les Miserables and has also appeared on Broadway in Violet, Assassins, Sunday in the Park with George and Sweeney Todd.

The Chicago staging of Hamilton will feature former American Idol contestant Ari Asfar as Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, Chris Lee as Lafayette and Jefferson, Joseph Morales as Cervantes’ alternate, Jose Ramos as John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton, Wallace Smith as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison, and Samantha Marie Ware as Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds. Both Lee and Morales are alumni of the In the Heights national tour.

Casting for the joint lead role of Aaron Burr in Chicago has not yet been announced.

Performances of Hamilton begin Sept. 27 at Chicago’s PrivateBank Theatre, marking the first production of the show beyond New York.

A separate touring production kicks off next March in San Francisco, while a London production will also begin in 2017.

Hamilton has been the biggest smash to hit Broadway in decades, winning 11 Tony Awards and selling out for months in advance. The show’s cumulative box office since it began performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on July 13 last year has hit $88 million.