Dana Smith Croll, Comic Veteran Marilyn Sokol In 'Raging Skillet'

Marilyn Sokol, whose career with theater, TV and film and comedy goes back to the late '60s, will co-star in the world premiere of Jacques Lamarre's "The Raging Skillet" at Hartford's TheaterWorks.

The Emmy, Obie and Bistro-winning Sokol joins the cast Dana Smith Croll who plays the single monikered Chef Rossi whose memoir the comedy-with-food- preparation is based. Also in the cast is George Salazar as DJ Skillet. (The previously announced Mary Testa left the show for a Broadway engagement.)

The play runs July 20 to Aug. 27. The play is described: "When Rossi’s mother discovers the microwave, home cooked meals become a thing of the past. What starts as Rossi’s rebellion against her Orthodox Jewish mom ends with her becoming New York’s #1 punk-rock caterer."

Sokol began her professional career in 1966 as a belly dancer in the national production of Man of La Mancha. She won an Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress in 1972 for her performance in a Chelsea Theater Center production of :The Beggar's Opera." In 2012-2013 she starred in the off-Broadway production "Old Jews Telling Jokes." She currently portrays Agnes Vertrulli on the popular web series "Submissions Only." Films include "The Producers,"Foul Play,": "The Goodbye Girl," :The Front" and "Can't Stop the Music."

Among her Broadway shows include "The Great God Brown," and "Conversations with My Father" and in. regional theater she toured in "Schlemeil the First." She was a regular on TV's "Sesame Street" from 1972 to 1992.

Lamarre's previous works at TheaterWorks is the world premiere of the hit play "I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti" and the Charlie Brown segment of the perennial; "Christmas on the Rocks."

www.theaterworkshartford.org.