Tony Award-nominee Vanessa Williams will take part in a U.K. industry reading of Right Before I Go, a suicide awareness play written by Stan Zimmerman, on March 2 at Soho Theatre. Williams will be joined by Matt Henry, her current co-star in The Devil Wears Prada in the West End. The reading will be directed by Abigail Morris.
Right Before I Go premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2015 and is constructed from real suicide notes written by war veterans, bullied youth, celebrities, and others. The play builds toward a message of hope and encourages conversation around suicide prevention and mental health awareness. A 2025 Off-Broadway run at The Tank featured a rotating cast that included Wendie Malick, Patrick Page, Maulik Pancholy, Pepppermint, Danny Pintauro, Emily Kuroda, Hill Harper, Pooya Mohseni, Nik Dodani, Ward Horton, Juliana Joel, and Christine Taylor. As with the Off-Broadway engagement, Zimmerman will perform as the Narrator in the London reading.
The performance will be followed by a talkback with a local mental health professional.
In a statement, Zimmerman said, “I am honored to share the stage with these two theatre titans. It’s especially heartening considering the epidemic that suicide has become. In 2024, over 7,000 people died by suicide in the U.K. We lose over 700,000 globally every year. This play hopes to provoke conversation, reduce the stigma and potentially save lives.”
Zimmerman’s television credits include The Golden Girls, Roseanne, and Gilmore Girls. He also served as executive producer of Rita Rocks and co-wrote the 1996 feature film A Very Brady Sequel. His directing work includes the recent Off-Broadway production Hyprov. His memoir, The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore, was released last year.
This reading of Right Before I Go is licensed by TRW Plays, which also represents Zimmerman’s Yes Virginia and Silver Foxes. For further information, inquiries may be directed to production coordinator Melanie Cantor at Melanie@MelanieCantor.com.
