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BANJIGIRL PRODUCTIONS AND REPRESENTED THEATRE COMPANY HAVE COME TOGETHER TO PRESENT THE WORLD PREMIERE OF AN ORIGINAL DRAMA THAT EXPLORES WHAT HAPPENS WHEN LONG HELD FAMILY SECRETS COME HOME TO ROOST.

'A MATTER OF 2NDS'
By Herb Donaldson
Directed by Ozzie Jones
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PRESS CONTACT:
Darnelle Radford, Producing Artistic Director
Represented Theatre Company
(215) 687-4512 or dradford@represented.org

OVERVIEW:
WHAT: A MATTER OF 2NDS
By Herb Donaldson
Directed by Ozzie Jones

WHEN: October 8 - 24, 2010
Thursdays - Saturdays @ 8 p.m.;
Sundays @ 2 p.m.

PRICE: Pay what you can - Preview Performances
       $25 Thursdays – Sundays
       $15 Seniors, students and groups of 10 or more
        **$12 Industry Night (date to TBA)

WHERE: Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5, 825 Walnut Street, Philadelphia

INFO / RESERVATIONS: Represented Theatre Company
Phone: (215) 687-4512
Online: www.represented.org

Philadelphia, PA – As part of their 2010/2011 Season, Represented Theatre Company has partnered with BanjiGirl Productions to present the world premiere of  "A Matter of 2NDs", which begins performances with a dress/tech on Friday, October 8, and has it's official Opening Night on Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 8 pm.

ABOUT THE PLAY
Carlos Fitzgerald is shot dead at a book-signing by an unknown assailant. His estranged wife and two sons must now dismantle his sordid legacy.

The following is from an interview with the Playwright.  This is his response to the question, why he wrote A MATTER OF 2NDS:October 10, 2010

I wrote Seconds at a time when i felt things around me were changing. my life as a young artist, my family, my friends - everything. I began to look at my life, but most specifically my family. Someone close to me had contracted the virus (as well as two friends I've known since I was 17) , and there were a lot of questions surrounding it. It should never have been HOW did they get it, but WHAT were we going to do next, to prolong life; to live. In reflecting on the situation, my mind went back to my experiences with this one particular person. I had not 'gone there' in quite sometime, and was surprised to realize that locked within me was a great deal of anger. I began to write these thoughts into my journal, and soon, i came to realize that the thoughts were overtaking me. Inwardly, i was accusing this person of many things, and i was no longer living close enough to them to have a sit down face to face, allowing them to fully respond to what it was that i felt. I had to look at these feelings objectively, so i put them in a script. It was a way for me to get things out, and, instead of hurting those around me with my pain, working those questions, disappointments, and lost hopes out onstage would be a more useful, helpful way of dealing with it and healing from it.
My hopes for the work is that someone in the world can see themselves in it, and that it will impact them enough to address their own situations. The play isn't necessarily about 'the virus'; it's about a family and how they respond to a particular tragedy; how they come together, or how they fall apart.

I think the play is important, because i feel the need to see black people onstage dealing with a real issue that doesn't by the end of the work turn itself into a fun free for all with old dance tunes in the background. I don't feel our lives should always be turned into a comedy for the sake of keeping the viewers in their seats. My hope is that it is not just a play that 'entertains', but that sticks to the bones of the viewer and is something that makes them think enough of it to carry it out of the theater with them and into the larger world; mainly, there community. 

BanjiGirl Productions w/Represented's A MATTER OF 2NDS, page 3

DATES & TICKETS
In conjunction with A MATTER OF 2NDS BanjiGirl & Represented will be promoting Talk Back Tuesdays and one Industry Discount Night during the run:

Industry Discount Night.  BanjiGirl & Represented will designate one night during the run as Industry Night (Date TBA), offering a discounted ticket price of $12.00 to all industry professionals.  Simply come to the box office at least 30 minutes prior to curtain on the designated night with proof of industry affiliation (ie: union card [Equity/SAG/IATSE, etc], playbill/program from your most recent show, etc) to receive discount.  Check www.represented.org for date and further details.

SHOW DATES, TIMES & TICKETS
BanjiGirl & Represented's production of A MATTER OF 2NDS runs for 15 performances, October 8 – 24, 2010, at Walnut Street Studio 5,
825 Street, Philadelphia, PA. There will one dress/tech pay-what-you-wish performance on October 8 at 7:00 pm.  Opening Night will be on Saturday, October 9 at 8:00 p.m. Performances for the rest of the run are Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

Individual tickets for A MATTER OF 2NDS are also on sale now. Preview performance is Pay-what-you-wish, Opening Night tickets are $30, regular performances Tuesday through Sunday are $25. Discount tickets of $15 are available for groups (of 10 or more), seniors (65 and older), and students (with valid I.D.)  Tickets may be purchased by calling Represented Theatre Company Box Office hotline at (215) 687-4512 or by visiting Represented’s website at www.represented.org and clicking the "Box Office" tab.

RELEVENT BIOGRAPHIES
HERB DONALDSON (Playwright) is an up and coming writer who, until recentely, was based in Bedford-Styvesant New York  Donaldson’s first play At A Time Like This was featured by NBC as part of their PSNBC Festival at HERE Theatre.  The play went on to the National Black Theatre Festival, and was later produced by Arcos Communications in June 2003 as part of its Downtown Urban Theatre Festival.  Another work – A Matter of Seconds – was workshoped at the Urban Pop Theatre Festival.  His short film Love Aquarium premiered July 2004 in Los Angeles, Ca., later in the Hampton International Film Festival, and in a Molnbo, Sweden film festival. Mr. Donaldson has worked as a marketing consultant for Walker International Communications Group. Specializing in audience development for the performing arts and cultivating long-term relationships between these institutions and underserved audiences. Clients included:  Hairspray (Broadway production), Gem of the Ocean (Broadway production, of which Mr. Donaldson personally designed the talkback series), Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, and others. He was Director of Interpretive Programming for Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, working with numerous performers, visual artists, writers, lecturers and client managers to develop performances, literary events and symposia for the institutions various event spaces, seating from 300 to 3000.  While there he created/co-produced Nobody Knows Our Name: The Renaissance Resurrected, a performance showcase based on James Baldwin’s book, “Nobody Knows My Name,” featuring dancers, musicians, writers, poets, filmmakers and historical segments. As Marketing Associate for the Public Theater/NYSF, he was responsible for the promotion of such shows as Everybody’s Ruby (Thulani Davis); Ride Down Mt. Morgan (Arthur Miller /New York Premiere); Lakawanna Blues (Rueben Santiago Hudson); The Wild Party (George C. Wolfe /Broadway production); Topdog/Underdog (Susan Lori-Parks, Public Theater and Broadway productions), and many more. As Marketing Associate for Joe’s Pub (The Public Theater) he was integral in the launch, marketing and promotion of numerous bands and artists when the Pub first opened, including: Me’chelle N’dgeocello, Roy Hargrove, Carley Simon, Mike Ladd, Sapphire, Amiri Baraka, Greg Tate’s Burnt Sugar, Tamar-kali, Ute Lemper, Gil Scott Heron, Ann Hampton Calloway, Comden and Green, Darlene Love, others.  As Marketing and Audience Development (Public Theater) he worked alongside the Public Theater’s Director of Community Affairs in the institution’s outreach to community and faith-based organizations. He created and managed institutional/vendor affiliations for street fairs, open houses and special performances. As of late, Mr. Donaldson’s play Brighterburn was chosen to launch the Fifth Annual Downtown Urban Theater Fest, at the Cherry Lane Theater.  This one-night staged read event received an opening introduction from Amiri Baraka as the Cherry Lane celebrated the 30th anniversary of Baraka’s play, The Dutchman.  In late 2008, Mr. Donaldson developed the ‘We ARE The People’ reading event for Roy Arias Studios, which featured readings of 16 new plays from underground writers, done in a three-day time period.

OZZIE JONES (Director) Barrymore award winner and former artistic director the Lincoln Center, Washington, DC.

KACI M. FANNIN (playing JESSICA/JESSIE) is a native of Houston, TX who, in addition to her work as an actor, is an
Independent filmmaker, hailing from the University of Texas @ Austin film school.  Kaci made her film acting debut as the female lead in the PBS production of My Own Television (MOTV) for the Fall TV Family Series and can be seen in Soulmates, directed by Duane Clark, The Associate, starring Whoopi Goldberg, God's Forgotten House, and most recently God's Country on Route 9, as well as a dozen more independent films.

Kaci relocated to New York from Los Angeles where she performed at prestigious venues such as The Lee Strausberg Theatre.  While in Hollywood, she also enjoyed success on television, in industrials and as voice-over talent commercially.  On the East Coast, Kaci has performed at The Cherry Lane, the Producer’s Club II, the Billie Holiday, Henry Street and Greenwhich Street theaters as well as regionally at the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, PA and the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca, NY, since arriving in New York in March of 2003.  She's had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Phylicia Rashad, Rueben Santiago-Hudson, Sherman Hemsley and Roscoe Orman, among others.

Ms. Fannin currently resides in Philadelphia where she's had the pleasure of perfoming at The Walnut Street Theatre, garnering rave reviews as Bo in Criminal Hearts, at InterAct Theatre Company as Cathy in Little Lamb and protraying up to 40 different characters in Seth Rozin's Black Gold, again to rave reviews.  Kaci has also performed with Brat Productions and has appeared on the stages of The Arden and Philadelphia Theatre Company.

As a producer, Kaci formed BanjiGirl Productions in 1994 while still in film school, producing two small documentaries and an animation project that received a Liberace completion grant.  Recently, she has served as Associate Producer on the documentary Drama Mamas! and Consulting Producer for the independent feature, Dreams at the end of a Rope, which is now in distribution.

BanjiGirl Productions is now embarking upon it's first theatrical venture with the production of the original play "A Matter of 2NDS".

GERARD JOSEPH (playing MALCOLM) is the 1st generation of his family born in the United States, to parents from the island of Dominica. After 10 years in Philadelphia, he returned to New York City this past September to further his career and training in acting. Since returning to New York, Gerard has starred in four productions including an Off-Broadway production of A Certain Audacity, as well as returns to Philadelphia to lead in productions of A Soldiers Play and Take Me Out - for which he received critical acclaim. He also starred in Terror Superhighway at the NYC International Fringe Festival in August. Gerard is currently training at the renowned Maggie Flanigan Studios in a 2-yr conservatory program, and was invited to work with The LAByrinth Theater Company at their 2010 Summer Intensive.

BASIL SCRIVENS (playing ADAM) first emerged in 1994 as the spoken-word front man for funk/jazz ensemble Systematiclly Speaking, while studying at the Art institute of Philadelphia. In addition to sharing the stage with some of Philadelphia's most talented musicians, Basil has also worked as a teaching artist in Philadelpha and New York.  In 1998 he developed his one-man show Skinpoppin'  and later went on to join the Negro Enembe Company.  Basil has had the priveledge of training with actors O.L. Duke & Charles Weldon and has worked continuously in theater, television and film.

DAMIEN J. WALLACE (playing DIMITRY STONE) is a North Carolina native living and working in the Philadelphia area.Some his Acting credits include; The Acting Studio’s production of Shakespeare’s Othello as Othello, August Wilson’s Fences (Troy Maxson) and Gem of the Ocean (Solly Two Kings) performed at the Ritz and Bushfire theatres respectively.  Damien has received extensive training in classical theatre and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Arcadia University.

The design team for A MATTER OF 2NDS includes Sound Design by MATT LORENZ. ROBIN STAMEY will serve as Stage Manager and OZZIE JONES as Dramaturg.

BanjiGirl Productions w/Represented's A MATTER OF 2NDS, page 5

ABOUT BANJIGIRL PRODUCTIONS
BanjiGirl Productions was formed by Kaci M. Fannin in 1994 while she was still in film school at University of Texas in Austin, Texas. The original intent of BanjiGirl was to produce independent film, developing and producing two small documentary films "Living with Aids is Hard. Dieing with it even Harder" and "Jesus Loves You Lillie Mae."   BanjiGirl also produced an animation project Funky Revolution, which was the recipient of the Liberace Grant in 1995.  Funky Revolution, conceived and initiated as cell animation, is currently being redeveloped using computer generated animation techniques.  A MATTER OF 2NDS is BanjiGirl Production's first theatrical venture.

ABOUT REPRESENTED THEATRE COMPANY AND REP RADIO
Founded by Producing Artistic Director, Darnelle Edwin Radford, established in 2004 to promote creativity through the creation and exposure of new vessels of artistic expression.

REP RADIO is the official podcast featuring performing artistic in the Greater Philadelphia area; breaking the fourth wall to give an inside look at the plays and the players. Since April 2009, the podcast has worked with the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia to feature over 100 theatrical productions and events in 2009 including the Barrymore Awards, SPARK Showcase and the Philadelphia Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival. For more information, visit www.represented.org or www.repradio.org or call (215) 687-4512.