Matrix Theatre Presents WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT A PRESENTATION ABOUT THE HERERO OF NAMIBIA..., Beginning 6/8

When a group of actors gathers to give a presentation on a distant genocide, they realize that summaries are not enough. In their attempt to delve into history, they struggle with stereotype, fear and their own personal histories, uncovering the potential for brutality in all of us. Joseph Stern and The Matrix Theatre Company present the West Coast premiere of a brave, chilling and very funny new work by Jackie Sibblies Drury."We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South-West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915" opens on June 8.

Jillian Armenante directs Daniel Bess, Julanne Chidi Hill,Joe Holt, Phil LaMarr, Rebecca Mozo and John Sloan as a group of actors who attempt to dramatize the first genocide of the 20th century, only to lose control of their play and discover some startling hidden truths.

"I was inspired by my own inability to write something meaningful about the Herero-Namaqua Genocide," said the playwright, who learned about the extermination of the African tribe while researching race politics in Germany. "So I tried to write a play where the characters fail to do the same thing. I hope that they fail in a way that allows people who see the play to feel something, to be entertained and think at the same time, and to have really good conversations after the show."

"We are only producing one play a year now at the Matrix, so it needs to be special," explains Stern, a six-time Emmy/two-time Golden Globe-nominated producer (Law and Order, Cagney & Lacey, Judging Amy) who is also the founder/artistic director of the award-winning Matrix Theatre Company. After more than three decades of producing critically acclaimed, multiple award-winning work for the stage, Stern decided in 2009 to focus on material that explores race issues in contemporary society. That year, the Matrix presented Lydia Diamond's Stick Fly, offering black and white audiences the chance to see upper-middle class African American characters seldom seen in the theater, where work often focuses on working class or "ghetto" life. That was followed a year later by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Neighbors, an incisive study of the history of racism in America embodied by an interracial middle class couple, their bi-racial daughter and a family of black minstrels in blackface. Last season, the Matrix staged Arthur Miller's All My Sons with a non-traditional multicultural cast. All three productions received rave reviews as well as multiple nominations and awards.

We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... premiered at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, followed by a production at New York's Soho Rep in fall, 2012. Upcoming productions are scheduled to take place at Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington, DC; Company One in Boston; Available Light Theater Company in Columbus,OH; and Interact in Philadelphia. The Matrix production marks its premiere on the West Coast.

"Not too many people know about this moment in history, but I think it was the first uninterrupted, factory approach to organized ethnic cleansing," notes Armenante.

Set design for the Matrix Theatre production is by John Iacovelli; lighting design by Michael Gend; sound design is by John Zalewski; costume design is by Michele Dunn; properties design is by Chuck Olsen; the production stage manager is Gil Tordjman; and the managing director is Allain Rochel.

Jackie Sibblies Drury is a Brooklyn-based playwright whose work has been featured at PRELUDE.11, The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Victory Gardens 2010 Ignition Festival, American Theater Company's 10 x 10 Festival, and The Magic Theatre's Virgin Play Festival. Jackie received a 2012-13 Van Lier Fellowship at New Dramatists. She was a member of the 2011-12 Soho Rep Writer/Director lab, a 2010-12 New York Theater Workshop Emerging Artist of Color Fellow, and member of The Civilians' R&D Group. She is the dramaturg and contributing writer for Zero Cost House, a collaboration between Pig Iron Theatre Company and Japanese playwright Toshiki Okada. Jackie is a NYTW Usual Suspect and a MacDowell Colony fellow, and is on committees to organize classes for Pataphysics Playwriting Workshops and The Public School New York. She is a graduate oF Brown's MFA playwriting program, where she received the David Wickham Prize in Playwriting. Her play Social Creatures was commissioned by Trinity Repertory Theater Company in Providence RI, and will premiere there in 2013. Jackie is the inaugural recipient of the Jerome New York Fellowship for 2012-2014.

Jillian Armenante reunites with Joseph Stern with whom she worked for six seasons on the hit CBS series Judging Amy - he as Executive Producer and she in the role of Donna Kozlowski. For Circle X Theatre Company, Jillian produced and directed the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and Garland Award-wining world premiere of Love Loves A Pornographer by Jeff Goode; produced, directed and co-wrote (with Alice Dodd, music composed by Chris Jeffries) Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog (Ovation Award and L.A. Weekly Awards for World Premiere of a Musical); produced, directed and co-wrote (with Alice Dodd) Un Flagrante Gothico (Los Angeles Drama Critic Circle Awards for Writing, Directing and Production as well as the Ted Schmitt Award for "Most Outstanding Debut of a New Play," LA Weekly Awards for Playwriting and Comedy Ensemble, and Garland Awards for Production, Direction, Writing, Ensemble and Lead Actress Alice Dodd); and the world premiere Great Men of Science, Nos 21 & 22 (LA Ovation Award for Best Production in a small theater, and The LA Weekly Award for Best Production). As artistic director for Circle X from 1997-2000, she produced and/or directed award-winning world premieres by Karen Hartman, Paul Mullin, Glen Berger, Louis Broome and her own writing team of Armenante and Dodd.

Daniel Bess appeared Off Broadway in True History, Hologram Theory and Modern Apocalypse. Los Angeles audiences have seen him in Misalliance (SCR), Hedda Gabler (PRT); Margo Veil and Ivanov (Evidence Room), and in multiple productions with Antaeus Theater Company including Cousin Bette, King Lear, Pera Palas (Boston Court), Peace in Our Time, Mrs. Warren's Profession and many more.

Julanne Chidi Hill's theater credits include Athol Fugard's The Blue Iris (Fountain Theatre), the Ovation and LA Weekly Award-winningThe Women of Brewster Place (Celebration Theatre), Charlayne Woodard's Flight (Kirk Douglas Theatre), The Hills Above the Hood(Stage 52) for which she received an NAACP Theatre Award nomination, and shows at the Mark Taper Forum, Ivy Substation, Ebony Repertory Theatre, Stages Theatre Center, Towne Street Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Son of Semele and InnerCity Arts.

Joe Holt is known to L.A. audiences for his work with Antaeus, including The Malcontent and Macbeth. Other credits include 9 Circles, A Streetcar Named Desire, Harold Pinter's Celebration, Blue/Orange (Hartford TheatreWorks), Twelve Angry Men (Merrimack Repertory), and he was a member of The Bats at The Flea Theatre in New York

Phil LaMarr is best known as a cast member of Fox's Mad TV and as the guy who got his brains blown out in Pulp Fiction. His stage credits include Asylum (The Actors Gang), Make the Break (South Coast Repertory), The Fatty Arbuckle Spookhouse Revue (Sacred Fools) and "Cowboy Curtis" in The Pee-Wee Herman Show both on Broadway and in the Emmy-nominated HBO special. Phil was a member of the Groundlings, and he was profiled in TV Guide for his voice-over work on numerous animated series.

Rebecca Mozo has been seen on multiple stages in L.A. including Antaeus: Pera Palas, Tale of Charles Dickens (with LA Theatre Works), Cousin Bette, King Lear, Peace in Our Time. Mrs. Warren's Profession; Center Theatre Group: The Cherry Orchard opposite Annette Bening, Alfred Molina and Sarah Paulson; South Coast Repertory: Doubt, a parable, The Heiress, Emile (world premiere), AWrinkle In Time, In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play; the Colony Theatre: Trying (Ovation nomination), Educating Rita, The Savannah Disputation (Ovation nomination); and A Noise Within: Ghosts.

John Sloan has appeared on stages in Los Angeles, New York and around the country including the Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Soho Playhouse, LaMama Etc., the Mint Theatre Company, Denver Center Theatre Company and the Intiman Theatre. He is a co-artistic director of the Antaeus Company here in Los Angeles.

Joseph Stern has produced more than four dozen plays and over 300 episodes of television as well as numerous long form specials and films. His productions at the Matrix Theatre Company and other venues have garnered numerous awards including Ovations, L.A. Weekly, Drama-Logue, Backstage Garland, and a total of 43 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards - the largest number of LADCC Awards garnered by any intimate theater in Los Angeles. Stern is also the recipient of the LADCC's prestigious Margaret Harford award, the Drama-Logue Publisher/Critics Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement, and the first L.A. Ovation James A. Doolittle Award for Leadership in Los Angeles. He served as Executive Producer for the first three seasons of Law & Order, as well as producing the pilot, which earned him two of his six Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. His groundbreaking CBS special Other Mothers, about alternative lifestyles was honored with seven Emmy nominations and received three. Mr. Stern's feature film credits include Dad, which starred Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, and Olympia Dukakis. In 2004, Mr. Stern produced Our America for Showtime. It went on to receive four Emmy nominations and won the coveted Humanitas award.

We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... opens for press on June 8 and continues through August 11, with previews taking place May 30 through June 7. Performances are scheduled Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. All tickets are$30.00. The Matrix Theatre is located at 7657 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046 (west of Stanley Ave., between Fairfax and La Brea). For reservations and information, call 323-852-1445 or go to www.matrixtheatre.com.