Debbi Morgan's THE MONKEY ON MY BACK! to Benefit Negro Ensemble Company, 9/23

The legendary, awarding winning Negro Ensemble Company celebrates 45 years of excellence with the benefit production The Monkey on My Back! (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan) on the Irene Diamond Stage at The Perishing Square Theater, 480 West 42nd Street, New York. Debbi Morgan, best known for her 30 year tenure in the role of Angie Hubbard in the daytime soap opera "All My Children," writes and stars in this hard hitting dramedy. "We are ecstatic to have our friend Debbi at the NEC." exclaims Charles Weldon, NEC Artistic Director. "We have watched her meteoric rise to stardom and this dynamite production is as equally stellar."

The Monkey on My Back!...is a deeply personal memoir chronicling famed TV and film actress Debbi Morgan's journey through a legacy of fear and abuse, which spanned three generations of women, beginning with Debbi's grandmother, her mother, and Debbi herself. Told with intense emotion, pain, candor and bit of humor, Debbi takes her audience on a captivating ride of what it took to finally break the generational cycle she'd been born into.

The creative team for The Monkey on My Back! (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan) includes Patrice Davidson (Scenic Designer and Technical Coordinator), Kimberlyn Crawford (Lighting and Projection Designer) and Bill Johnson (Stage Management). The Monkey on My Back! (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan) is produced by the Negro Ensemble Company, Inc in cooperation with Dam Entertainment. 7th Stage Productions serves as Associate Producer. Marketing Services are provided by NYC Marketing Concierge.

The Monkey on My Back! (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan) will perform Monday, September 23, 20013 at 8:00 PM at Irene Diamond Stage at The Perishing Square Theater (480 West 42nd Street, New York 10036).

Tickets for The Monkey on My Back! (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan) are $75 for General Admission and $125 for VIP and post show reception. Tickets may be purchased at ticketcentral.com.

Please visit www.necinc.org for more information.

CAST:

Debbi Morgan began her acting career at the tender age of fifteen on the stage of her Bronx, NY catholic high school. After high school, Debbi joined the "Players Workshop" and the "New Federal Theater Company" in the east village taking evening acting classes, while attending Manhattan Community College, and later Herbert H. Lehman College in the Bronx.

Debbi decided to forego her last year of college to pursue her "star" in Hollywood. Two weeks after arriving in Tinsel Town Debbi auditioned for renowned television producer Norman Lear and won a guest role on the black television hit "Good Times." From there she went on to appearances in a host of TV commercials, other series guest spots, and then the role of a lifetime in Alex Haley's "Roots, The Next Generations".

After residing in Los Angeles for almost five years co-starring in mini-series, guest starring on various episodics, and doing television commercials, Debbi won the role that would endear her to fans for probably the rest of her acting career, the hugely popular daytime series, "All My Children" playing the role originally of "Angie Baxter", and later "Angie Hubbard". All My Children brought Debbi into the living rooms of homes across the country alongside the "love of Angie's life, Jesse Hubbard". It was in 1989, after a second Emmy nomination, that Debbi won the daytime Emmy Award for best supporting actress, making her the first and only, thus far, African American Actress to ever garner the prestigious trophy.

Debbi's film credits began to pour in as she was seen playing opposite the Samuel L. Jackson "Eve's Bayou," opposite Denzel Washington in the film biopic "The Hurricane," as well as "Love & Basketball" and "Coach Carter." On television she had recurring roles as an evil witch and formidable foe on the huge hit "Charmed", and as a pot-smoking, jail bird, and commonly loose sexpot on "Soul Food" for which she won an NAACP award. She also landed her first leading role in a television series on Lifetime's "For The People" opposite Lea Thompson.

Debbi Morgan has come full circle where once again she is back on the show and playing the role that first earned her the most fan recognition ever, "Angie Hubbard" on the daytime drama, "All My Children". And 2009 turned out to be a year of applause and honors when Debbi snatched up a NAACP Award for the second time, this time for 'Best Actress' on "All My Children", the prestigious "Gracie Award", which recognizes the contributions made by women in television, and a third daytime "Emmy Award" nomination, this time for leading actress on "AMC".

"All My Children" finally came to an end after 41 years on the air. This ended the reign of Debbi Morgan's beloved character, "Angie ". But never too idle, Debbi then stepped into a new pair of shoes on the number one daytime drama, "The Young & The Restless" portraying. She was delighted to stretch her acting chops in a role that couldn't be further away from "earth mother Angie". Debbi brought much heart and creativity to this new role, but her tenure on Y & R was short lived. Because of the huge out cry of fans "All My Children" made a historical jump to be produced as a web series, and Debbi Morgan has once again excited viewers by bringing back the beloved character of "Angie Hubbard". Because of the huge success and the number one rating on both Hulu and Itunes, Oprah Winfrey's Own Network has also began airing the first forty shows of the new online "All My Children" throughout the summer.

It's been a long journey, but Morgan will be looking forward to the release of her personal memoir, "The Monkey on My Back!" which she began writing more than seven years ago. And the actress's Production Company, Dam Entertainment is working in conjunction with Goldline Productions to bring to reality TV "All About The Benjamin's", a family's arduous buT Loving and heartfelt journey in dealing with two young adult sons, one with Autism, and the other with Asperger's syndrome.

Celebrating 45 seasons, the mission of the Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. (NEC) is to provide African-American, African and Caribbean professional artists with an opportunity to learn, to work, to grow and to be nurtured in the performing arts. The overall mission of the NEC is to present Live Theatre performances by and about black people to a culturally diverse audience that is often underserved by the theatrical community.

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