Jordan Donica and Awa Sal Secka Join the Cast of RENT at the Kennedy Center

Additional casting has been revealed for the symphonic world premiere of RENT in Concert at the Kennedy Center, taking place next month. Jordan Donica will play Collins with Awa Sal Secka as Joanne.

As previously announced, the cast will also be led by Ali Stroker as Maureen, Myles Frost as Benny, Jimmie Herrod as Angel, Andrew Barth Feldman as Mark, Lorna Courtney as Mimi, and Alex Boniello as Roger. 

The National Symphony Orchestra, led by Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke, will present the symphonic world premiere of RENT in Concert, directed by Sammi Cannold, July 26-28, 2023. 

RENT is the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award®-winning musical written by Jonathan Larson, set in New York City's East Village in the 1990s. This newly created concert version will feature orchestrations by Sean O'Loughlin and an acclaimed cast, which will be announced with additional creative team members in the coming weeks. RENT in Concert is created and produced by AMP Worldwide.

About Jordan Donica

Jordan Donica is currently starring as Sir Lancelot in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Camelot, for which he received a Tony® nomination. He previously starred as Jordan Chase in the CW’s Charmed and guest-starred in the award-winning police procedural drama Blue Bloods. Donica originated the role of Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the 2018 Tony®–nominated Lincoln Center Theater production of My Fair Lady, and also starred as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the first Los Angeles and San Francisco companies of Hamilton. A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Donica made his debut starring as the leading man, Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, in the historic Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera, and played Rapunzel’s Prince in Into the Woods at Encores!.

In addition to his theater and TV work, Donica was featured at the Washington National Opera gala at the Kennedy Center, the Pasadena Symphony, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He also previously starred as Sir Lancelot in Lincoln Center Theater’s gala production of Camelot, opposite Lin Manuel Miranda. 

Donica is a 2016 graduate of Otterbein University, where he graduated cum laude with a bachelor of fine arts in musical theatre. Regional credits include: Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar (Weathervane Playhouse), Ensemble in South Pacific (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Featured Performer in The Greenshow (USF), Captain/Hennessy in Dames at Sea (Otterbein Summer Theatre), and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Noblesville Shakespeare in the Park, Indianapolis Mitty Most Impressive Actor award, 2013). Donica's film credits include Coda: An Independent Film by Abe Purvis. Donica also directed the 2015 Festival Play Little Prints, a new student work by playwright Anna Mulhall, as well as a gala performance of The Exonerated at Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions, featuring Harry Lennix and Katrina Lenk. He was featured at the American Songbook Hall of Fame celebration at the invitation of Michael Feinstein.  An ambassador for The Innocence Project, family is everything to Donica, because without the “Little Village” of women who raised him, he would not be where he is today. “Every day is a gift.”

About Awa Sal Secka

Credits include: New York: Goddess workshop (Zawadi); Grace workshop (Jackie). Regional: Goddess (Grio) at Berkeley REP. Signature: Gun and Powder (Flo); Blackbeard (Kali Maa); Jesus Christ Superstar (Simon); Broadway in the Park; Signature Vinyl. Ford’s: Into the Woods (Baker’s Wife); The Wiz (Glinda/Dorothy u/s). Round House: School Girls (Ama); Caroline, or Change (Dottie). Theater J: Intimate Apparel (Mayme); Gloria: A Life (Flo Kennedy). Kennedy Center: Me…Jane (Maisie); Chasing the Wind (Abby). Imagination: Cinderella (Cinderella); Charlie Brown (Lucy). Artscentric: L5Y (Cathy); AIDA (Aida); MEMPHIS (Felicia). Center Stage: Glorious World (Lady 3). ATMTC: James and the Giant Peach (Sponge). Studio: SILENCE! (Ardelia). OTC: Co-writer of The Joy That Carries You (2023 Winner of the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical); Dessa Rose Concert (Dessa); Children of Eden Concert (Eve); Avenue Q (Ensemble).