Casting Complete for Signature's ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN

Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) is proud to announce casting for ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN, by Charles Fuller and directed by Stephen McKinley Henderson. ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN is the final production of Signature's 2008-09 season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company (NEC).

The cast of ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN will include Ron Canada (Wedding Crashers, Cinderella Man), Amari Cheatom (Lower Ninth, A Ballad of Sad Young Men), Rosalyn Coleman (Radio Golf, Seven Guitars, The Piano Lesson), Peter Jay Fernandez (Cyrano de Bergerac, Julius Caesar, Henry IV), Lynda Gravatt (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, King Hedley II), Tre Davis (Hamlet, The Toilet), Jamal Mallory-McCree (The Fabulous Miss Marie), Evan Parke (The Lion King) and Portia (The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Our Lady of 121st Street).

ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN begins performances on March 3 and continues through April 26 at The Peter Norton Space located at 555 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues). Opening Night is March 24th. Tickets are now on sale to the public at www.signaturetheatre.org. Box office opens today at 1:00 PM.

A random act of violence devastates Reuben Tate's family and scares their once caring community into silence. While young Zooman terrorizes the neighborhood, Reuben makes a dangerous appeal which may tear their world apart. This powerful drama by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Charles Fuller (A Solider's Play) depicts the horrifying aftermath of violence on a family and community.

The production features set design by Shaun Motley, costume design by Katherine Roth, lighting design by Matthew Frey and sound design by Robert Kaplowitz. Production Stage Manager is Chandra LaViolette. Casting is by Telsey + Company.

Signature Theatre is proud to be presenting the works of the historic NEC. The company has an extensive theatre training program and in its 40 year history has produced more than two hundred new plays. The NEC's distinguished alumni include writers such as Steve Carter, Lonne Elder, Charles Fuller, Leslie Lee and Samm-Art Williams, and actors Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Esther Rolle and Denzel Washington.

Signature's 2008-2009 season is an examination of a body of work from the historic Negro Ensemble Company's collective of writers, whose contributions have helped shape America's theatrical heritage. Ruben Santiago-Hudson will serve as Associate Artist for the season, which has also included Leslie Lee's THE FIRST BREEZE OF SUMMER, Samm-Art Williams' HOME and a staged reading of Douglas Turner Ward's DAY OF ABSENCE.

THE FIRST BREEZE OF SUMMER and HOME both earned glowing reviews and were extended by popular demand. THE FIRST BREEZE OF SUMMER went on to win nine AUDELCO Awards, including Best Dramatic Production.

Through The Signature Ticket Initiative, which seeks to make great theatre accessible to the broadest possible audience, all regularly-priced single tickets ($65) are underwritten and are available for $20 every performance for the entire season, during a show's initial run. The Signature Ticket Initiative continues through Signature's 20th Anniversary Season (2010-2011).

The Signature Ticket Initiative is made possible by the lead sponsorship of Time Warner Inc. Generous support for The Signature Ticket Initiative is provided by Margot Adams, in memory of Mason Adams.

Support for the Negro Ensemble Company Season is provided by American Express.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit signaturetheatre.org or call (212) 244-PLAY (7529).

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKETS

Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm,
Matinees Saturday & Sunday at 2pm
Added shows Wed March 18 at 2pm
No performances March 17 and 25

Ticketing: Internet: www.signaturetheatre.org, By Phone: (212) 244-PLAY (7529)

In Person: Box Office - 555 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues)

Charles Fuller (Playwright) was born in Philadelphia. He achieved critical notice in 1969 with The Village: A Party. He later wrote plays for the Henry Street Settlement theatre and the Negro Ensemble Company in New York. He won an Obie Award for Zooman and the Sign in 1980. His next work, A Soldier's Play, was a critical success, winning the 1982 Pulitzer Prize. He later adapted the script into the 1984 film A Soldier's Story. His screenplay was nominated in 1985 for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Writers Guild of America Award. It won an Edgar Award. Fuller had received grants from The State of New York, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has also written short fiction, screenplays and worked as a movie producer. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, East.

Stephen McKinley Henderson (Director) has worked throughout the United States, on and off Broadway, and in television and film. In 2006 and 2007 Mr. Henderson was cast in the Signature Theatre's celebrated productions of August Wilson's King Hedley II and Seven Guitars. In the 2004-2005 New York season, he was cast as Van Helsing in Dracula, The Musical at The Belasco Theater (dir. Des McAnuff) and off-Broadway as Pontius Pilate in the LAByrinth production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at The Public Theater (dir. Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Mr. Henderson made his New York directorial debut with ALI! by Geoffrey C. Ewing and Graydon Royce off-Broadway during the 1992 season, transferring from the John Houseman Studio to the Sheridan Square Theater. The production garnered two AUDELCO Awards and an Obie for Mr. Ewing's Outstanding Performance. In the summer of 1993, Mr. Henderson traveled to London to direct ALI! for the Mermaid Theater. It was also revived for the National Black Arts Festival in 1994 and the Olympic Arts Festival, Atlanta, 1996. Mr. Henderson directed The Meeting by Jeff Stetson for the St. Louis Black Repertory Theater. This production was presented at Kennedy Center as part of its 1993-94 Imagination Celebration in the Theater Lab. He has also directed productions of Benito Cereno by Robert Lowell, David Mamet's Oleanna and several short works by Chekhov, Thornton Wilder, and Amiri Baraka over the years in various professional and educational venues. Dr. Samuel Hay cites Mr. Henderson's work as an actor, director, and educator in his text, "African American Theater, A Critical Analysis", Cambridge University Press. Mr. Henderson is a Fox Foundation Fellow. He is tenured faculty and a former Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance for University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.

RON CANADA (Emmett Tate) is delighted to return to the stage on his native isle (Manhattan) for the first time in 29 years. His notable credits include: Theatre: heading major roles in Fences, Othello, Macbeth, The Tempest, As You Like It, Sizwe Banze is Dead, I'm Not Rappaport, The Boys Next Door, The Task and many more. Film: Wedding Crashers, Cinderella Man, Just Like Heaven, The Hunted, Lone Star, Home Alone II, National Treasure, Adventures in Babysitting. TV: Guest Starring and recurring roles in "Law & Order", "Boston Legal", "The West Wing", "Jack & Bobby", "One on One", "Hanging with Mr. Cooper", "Philly", "NYPD Blue", "LA Law". He also won an Emmy for work in his pre-acting days as a television news reporter in Washington, D.C.

AMARI CHEATOM (Zooman) is pleased to be making his Off-Broadway premiere at Signature Theatre Company. Theatre: The Lower Ninth; A Ballad of Sad Young Men; Origin Story (Sundance Theatre Festival); When January Feels like Summer (Sundance Theater Festival); The Toilet (New Federal Theatre); and Age of Grace. He is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School Drama Division where he played such roles as King Leontes (The Winters Tale), Bynum Walker (Joe Turner's Come and Gone), Edmund The Bastard (King Lear), Sean (Beau Willimon's War Story) and Banner (Bryan Tucker's St. James Infirmary).

Rosalyn Coleman (Rachel Tate) Broadway credits include: Radio Golf, Seven Guitars, The Piano Lesson, Mule Bone and The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant. Film: Frankie and Alice, Brooklyn's Finest, Indelible, Vanilla Sky, Our Song, Brown Sugar, Hook'd Up and Music of the Heart. Television: "Kidnapped", "DC", "Oz", "NYPD Blue", "NY Undercover", "Law and Order: SVU" and "Law and Order: Criminal Intent". In 2002, with her husband/partner Craig T. Williams, Rosalyn formed Red Wall Productions, a film production company. Rosalyn has created and directed film projects, including award-winning short films, industrials, promotional videos, educational videos, demo reels and the groundbreaking documentary, Black Sorority Project and A Moment in Time, August Wilson's 20th Century.

Peter Jay Fernandez (Donald Jackson) Broadway: Cyrano de Bergerac, Julius Caesar, Henry IV, Jelly's Last Jam, The Merchant of Venice. Off Broadway: Too Much Memory ( Fourth St. Theater), The Pain and The Itch (Playwrights Horizons), Thunder Knocking On The Door ( Minetta Lane), As You Like It, Coriolanus, The Winter's Tale, Henry VIII, Spell# 7 (Public), Widowers' Houses (Epic), Checkmates (New Federal), and more. Regional: Arena, Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, McCarter, Goodman, Old Globe, Seattle Rep, Williamstown, Alliance, Milwaukee Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse. Film/Television: Deception, Preaching To The Choir, Funny Valentines, "Fringe", "Law and Order", "Hack", "Cosby" and more.

LYNDA GRAVATT (Ash Boswell) Broadway: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 45 Seconds from Broadway, King Hedley II, Doubt. Off-Broadway: Dividing The Estate, King Hedley II (AUDELCO Award), Miss Witherspoon, Intimate Apparel (AUDELCO), Crowns (Helen Hayes Award, AUDELCO), If Memory Serves, The Old Settler (Theatre World Award). Regional: A Raisin in the Sun (Connecticut Critics Circle, Best Actress), The Member of the Wedding, Polk County, Intimate Apparel, A Night in Tunisia. TV: All "Law & Order" series, "One Life to Live," "As the World Turns," "Sex and the City." Film: All Fall Down, I Hate Valentine's Day with Nia Vardalos (upcoming). Proud Member of AEA.

EuGene Jones (Russell Adams) Off-Broadway: Mother Courage and Her Children. Film: Towelhead, College Road Trip, City Teacher, And Then Came Love, Misunderstood. Television: "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Without A Trace," "STELLA," "Shades of Brooklyn Vol. 1."

JAMAL MALLORY-McCREE (Victor Tate) New York Theatre: The Fabulous Miss Marie (Reading), Camp Logan (Selected Scenes), Subway Love & Other Train Tales, Edna the Otter. Rutgers Theatre Company: Scarecrow, The Winter's Tale, Stop Kiss, The Exonerated, Fearless.

Evan Parke (Reuben Tate) Broadway: The Lion King. Off-Broadway: Steve & Idi, American Passenger. Regional: Famous Orpheus (Geva), The Old Settler (Intiman), Skin of Our Teeth (Yale Rep), Happy End (Yale University Theatre). Film: Insanitarium, The Air I Breathe, All Roads Lead Home, King Kong, Planet of the Apes, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Replacements, The Cider House Rules. Television: ‘Without A Trace", "Fastlane", "Alias", "LA Dragnet", "Law & Order: Criminal Intent", "CSI:NY", "E-Ring", "Medium", "Jake In Progress", "Huff."

PORTIA (Grace Georges) Theatre: London production of The Member of the Wedding (The Young Vic.), McReele (Roundabout), The Treatment (The Culture Project), No Child... (TheaterWorks), Something You Did (Primary Stages), Frankie & Johnny (Hartford Stage Company), The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (Broadway), Our Lady of 121st St. (dir. Philip Seymour Hoffman), Merchant of Venice (dir. Peter Sellars). Films: The Greatest, The Messenger, The Untitled Nicole Holofcener Project, Synecdoche New York, Freedomland and World Trade Center. Television: "Ugly Betty," "Lipstick Jungle," "30 Rock," "Law & Order," "Law & Order CI," "Rescue Me," "Whoopie!". Portia is a member of AEA, the LAByrinth Theater Company, a graduate of Temple University, and a coach at Black Nexxus.

Photo Credit: Retna Ltd.

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