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 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 Awards, 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 Checkov, 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 Banji is Dead, I'm not Rappaport, The Boys Next Door, The Task and many more. Film: The 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.
W. TRÉ DAVIS (Russell Adams) New York: Hamlet (NYSF), Lower Ninth (Flea Theater, e-z u/s), and The Toilet (New Federal Theater). Regional: Henry VI Blood & Roses, Twelfth Night, Henry IV Pt 1 (Shakespeare Theater New Jersey), Julius Caesar, The Tempest, (Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis), and Henry IV (St. Louis Rep). Originally from Texas; Graduate of Webster Conservatory.
 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, Longwharf, 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.
 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), 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.
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