QUEENS THEATRE PRESENTS “CHICKEN AND BISCUITS” PLAY STARTING FEB. 28

Screenshot_2020-02-19 Chicken and Biscuits Queens Theatre

[Queens Theatre\Chicken and Biscuits]
In CHICKEN & BISCUITS, Baneatta and Beverly attempt to put their sisterly differences aside to bury their father, Bernard. All is well at the funeral . . . until it’s revealed that Bernard had not just two daughters, but three.
Photo: Queens Theatre

Queens Theatre is proud to announce, in arrangement with EclayRossie Productions, Blue Vista 725, Akous Entertainment and The Directors Company, the New York premiere of CHICKEN & BISCUITS, a new comedy by Douglas Lyons (Beautiful, OCM) and directed by Zhailon Levingston (Tina…associate director).

CHICKEN & BISCUITS will begin performances on Friday, February 28, 2020 at Queens Theatre (14 United Nations Avenue South in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park) for a limited run through Sunday, March 22. The Press Opening is Friday, March 6 at 8 PM.

In CHICKEN & BISCUITS, Baneatta and Beverly attempt to put their sisterly differences aside to bury their father, Bernard. All is well at the funeral . . . until it’s revealed that Bernard had not just two daughters, but three. Wig pins loosen, as truths emerge, leaving this African-American family to confront their skeletons head on; naturally with lots of love, shade, and prayer along the way.

Originally written in residence at The Directors Company, CHICKEN & BISCUITS’ development includes The Front Porch Readings Series, Queens Theatre’s 2019 New American Voices Series, and Frank Silvera’s Workshop at The Billie Holiday Theatre.

The cast of CHICKEN & BISCUITS features Alana Raquel Bowers (What to Send Up When It Goes Down) as Simone, Brendan Ellis (Stupid F**king Bird) as Logan, Jennifer Fouche (Chicago National Tour) as Baneatta, Ashanti J’Aria (Disaster!) as Brianna, Robert G. McKay (“When They See Us”) as Reginald, Ebony Marshall-Oliver (Ain’t No Mo) as Beverly, Aigner Mizzelle (Betty & The Belrays) as La’trice, and Josh Adam Ramos (Brideshead Obliterated) as Kenny.

CHICKEN & BISCUITS has set design by Nate Berton, costume design by Heather McDevitt Barton, lighting design by Adam Honoré, sound design by Christopher Darbassi, and properties design by Josh Simonds. The casting is by Robin Carus Casting. Rachel Denise April is the Production Stage Manager, and Jay Rogers serves as the General Manager.

The following is the performance schedule for CHICKEN & BISCUITS:

Friday, Feb. 28 at 8 pm Saturday, Feb. 29 at 2 pm Saturday, Feb. 29 at 8 pm Sunday, March 1 at 3 pm Friday, March 6 at 8 pm (Opening Night) Saturday, March 7 at 6 pm Sunday, March 8 at 5 pm Monday, March 9 at 7:30 pm Friday, March 13 at 8 pm Saturday, March 14 at 2 pm Saturday, March 14 at 8 pm Sunday, March 15 at 3 pm.

Tickets for CHICKEN & BISCUITS are $25 ($20 QT Members, discounts for seniors/students) and are available at queenstheatre.org or by phone at (718) 760-0064. Tickets are available now at http://queenstheatre.org/chicken-and-biscuits. Follow queenstheatrenyc on Facebook, @QueensTheatre on Twitter and queenstheatre on Instagram.

BIOGRAPHIES

ALANA RAQUEL BOWERS (Simone). Baltimore-born, New York-based actor, dancer, and singer who was recently seen in the UTR festival at The Public Theater and the East Coast tour of What To Send Up When It Goes Down. Off-Broadway credits include Aleshea Harris’s What To Send Up When It Goes Down (The Movement Theatre Company). Other NYC credits include SCRAPS (The Flea Theater) and Girls Will Be Girls (New York International Fringe Festival). Film credits include Moving Violation (co-starring Milana Vayntrub) and Safe Spaces (with Justin Long). TV credits include: “FBI: Most Wanted Episode 2.” Alana received her training from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts’ New Studio on Broadway. Member AEA. @alanaraquelbowers

BRENDAN ELLIS (Logan) Previous theatre credits include Stupid F**king Bird (Art of Warr), Great Expectations, Comedy of Errors, Sweeney Todd, The Seagull. Film/TV: “Almost Family,” “Alternatino with Arturo Castro,” “Nirvana.” Training: NYU Tisch. Brendanellisonline.com

JENNIFER FOUCHÉ (Baneatta) Jennifer Fouché is an ensemble member of New York’s critically acclaimed Amoralists Theatre Company and a former member of the Flea Theatre’s resident ensemble, The Bats. Some credits include: Chicago (Broadway National Tour), Sistas The Musical (Original Off B’Way Cast), Babes In Toyland (Lincoln Center) Half Me Half You (Original Off West End Cast), Hamlet (Shakespeare in Bryant Park), Fly More Than You Fall (World Premiere, Noorda PAC), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Syracuse Stage), Rock Of Ages (Palace Theatre) Television: “Wu Tang: An American Saga,” “Jessica Jones,” “Quantico,” “Pinkalicious and Peteriffic,” “SMASH,” “The Mysteries of Laura,” “Person of Interest.” Film: “Crown Heights,” “Judy’s Child,” “White Pickett Fence.” Member AEA. www.jenniferfouche.com @jkfouche

ASHANTI J’ARIA (Brianna) is thrilled to rejoin the Chicken and Biscuits family after having done the very first reading of the piece. She spent the summer in Europe singing backgrounds for Grammy winner Gloria Gaynor and enjoying the film festival circuit with her award-winning short film Echoes in Silence (The Los Angeles Film Award for Best Thriller 2019). Select credits – Stephen Schwartz original cast, The Secret Silk (Princess Cruises). Broadway: Saturday Night Fever. Off-Broadway: Disaster, The Last Smoker in America. Regional: Little Shop of Horrors, Beehive, Caroline Or Change. Look for her on CW’s “Katy Keene” and “FBI: Most Wanted” on CBS this year. Member AEA.

EBONY MARSHALL-OLIVER (Beverly) Queens Theatre debut!! Off-Broadway; Ain’t No Mo (Public Theater), Seusssical (Sour Kangaroo-TWUSA); Regional; Sister Act (Deloris- EverBlue Arts), Raisin (Lena Younger -APAC), Dreamgirls (Dallas Theater Center), Memphis(Felicia-Theatre3), Color Purple(Celie), Charlayne Woodard’s Pretty Fire Trilogy (Jubilee Theatre). Member AEA.

ROBERT G. MCKAY (Reginald) is a film and stage actor based in New York City, who has trained with Wynn Handman and Aleta Chappelle among others has been seen recently in such films as “Oceans 8” and on TV in such shows as “God Friended Me,” “Blue Bloods” and the Amazon Prime soap series “Asunder.” Love participating in staged readings when not in class and now looking forward to being a part of the ensemble of the renowned play Chicken and Biscuits being performed at Queens Theatre in the role of Reginald Mabry. Member AEA.

AIGNER MIZZELLE (La’trice) is a recent graduate from NYU Tisch’s Playwrights Horizons Theater School with a BFA in Drama. She is a NJ/NYC-based theatre and movement artist, activist, actor, writer, choreographer, singer, and teaching artist. Recently, she had the pleasure of being an assistant director for nicHi Douglas in the Under The Radar Festival at The Public. She has also performed with César Alvarez on a NOISE workshop presented at The Public. As for her own creation-in-progress, she is workshopping an exploration on the abandonment of the American Black Woman in a piece titled The Beginning of Gold presented at Playwrights Horizons Theater School in 2018.

JOSH ADAM RAMOS (Kenny) is a Brooklyn-based actor and producer. Favorite stage credits: Brideshead Obliterated (Dixon Place), Oklahomo: The Adventures of Dave and Gary (NYMF), The Waypoint (Berkshire Fringe & MASS MoCA), Chautauqua! (Under the Radar Festival at The Public), 30 Minute Musicals Roulette (Edinburgh Fringe), and Rachel Bloom’s Sing Out, Louise! (Upright Citizens Brigade Theater NY & LA). Podcasts: “The Parsnip Ship,” “DTC Radio,” “Apparitions”. Web series: “The Weekend Detectives,” “Chain Reactions.” Producer: Keelay Gipson’s The Lost in 2014 and 2015, and concerts at 54 Below and The Duplex. 2016 Public Artist-In-Residence, NYC Cultural Affairs. Currently: Associate Producer, All For One Theater. Member AEA. @joshadamramos

DOUGLAS LYONS (Playwright) Douglas Lyons is an actor, writer, director, composer and playwright. Broadway: Beautiful (Original Cast), The Book of Mormon. Tours: Rent, Dreamgirls and The Book of Mormon 1st’ National. Writing: Polkadots (Off Broadway Alliance Winner – Best Family Show, Atlantic Theater Company). Five Points (world premiere, Theatre Latte Da), Beau (Adirondack Theatre Festival). Commissions: ’64 (The 5th Ave). Upcoming 2020 productions: Chicken and Biscuits (Queens Theatre), The Moon and The Sea (Adirondack Theatre Festival). Douglas is currently developing Five Points with Hamilton’s Andy Blankenbuehler. With composing partner Ethan Pakchar his lyrics have played Lincoln Center, The Old Globe, Goodspeed Musicals, Seattle Rep, Joe’s Pub, NAMT and more. @DouglasSings.

ZHAILON LEVINGSTON (Director) is a Louisiana raised director. He co-founded #WORDSONWHITE, an arts and activism campaign and is an artist in resident for Columbia Law School. He recently directed Neptune at Dixon Place and the Brooklyn Museum, and The Years That Went Wrong by David Zheng at MCC. Other credits include The Exonerated at Columbia Law School and “Chariot part 2” at SoHo Rep for The Movement Theatre Company. He is the associate director of Primer for a Failed Super Power with Tony nominee Rachel Chavkin and Runaways at The Public with Sam Pinkleton. He was associate director for the Genesis plays at the 14th street Y! He directed Mother of Pearl at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center and Chicken and Biscuits at Queens Theatre. Zhailon is currently the US Associate Director of Tina The Tina Turner Musical.

BLUE VISTA 725 (Co-Producer) With over two decades of live entertainment experience specializing in media, marketing and promotions, Blue Vista 725 has been promoting theatrical productions for decades including concerts and special events. Dozens of Broadway/Off-Broadway clients and 1,000s of advertising campaigns for entertainment and leisure productions. Sample marketing/promotional clients include: Party Face, My Parsifal Conductor, Home for the Holidays, Shear Madness (NY, Boston, D.C.), Soul Doctor, Leap of Faith and more. More info at bluevista725.com and @bluevista725.

ECLAYROSSIE PRODUCTIONS (Co-Producer) is an investing/Producing Duo with such Broadway shows as: Ain’t Too Proud, Hadestown and When it Happens To You. Elliott Cornelious has a 20-year Broadway acting career and Pamela Ross is also an actress & an entrepreneur from Vegas. Both met on The Lion King National Tour where their producing dreams began.

LEAH MICHALOS/AKOUS ENTERTAINMENT LLC (Executive Producer) Akous Entertainment/Michalos Theatrical Management led by Leah Michalos has over 15 years in general management and producing experience in New York theater and beyond. Select credits include: Lyons & Pakchar’s Beau, Renee Taylor’s My Life on a Diet (Lortel and Outer Critics Circle noms), Terms of Endearment with Molly Ringwald, Oedipus: Sex with Mum was Blinding at BAM Fisher, Butler, Murder in the First with Chad Kimball, as well as over 200 readings and/or workshops. Leah is also the producer of the Greek America Foundation’s biannual GABBY Awards, with shows held at Carnegie Hall, El Capitan (LA) and Ellis Island. michalostheatricalmgmt.com

THE DIRECTORS COMPANY (Not-For Profit) (Producer: Leah Michalos, Producing Director; Michael Parva, Artistic Director) An award-winning, not-for-profit theatre company with a mission to develop and produce groundbreaking new plays and musicals. Among the works TDC has developed and produced: Irena’s Vow, by Dan Gordon, starring Tovah Feldshuh, directed by Michael Parva, which received an extended Off- Broadway run before transferring to the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway, where it was honored with an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding New Broadway Play. Other recent Off-Broadway productions include the New York premiere of Terms of Endearment with Molly Ringwald, the world premieres of The Violin by Dan McCormick, The Road to Damascus by Tom Dulack, On a Stool at the End of the Bar by Robert Callely, and Almost Home by Walter Anderson, Jericho and Poetic License by Jack Canfora, and Murder in the First by Dan Gordon, directed by Michael Parva. Additional major productions developed or produced by TDC: Bat Boy: The Musical, with music by Larson Award-winner Laurence O’Keefe (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best New Musical); The Milliner by Suzanne Glass; The Passion of Frida Kahlo, featuring Tony Award-winning actress Priscilla Lopez; Kilt by Jonathan Wilson (GLAAD Media Award nomination); AVOW by award-winning playwright Bill C. Davis; Tony Phelan and Joan Rater’s Good Will, which was optioned for a major motion picture; Bad Girls, adapted by award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates from her own short story; The Ballad of Little Jo (Richard Rodgers Award and a Kleban Award for Sarah Schlesinger’s libretto); Drifting Elegant by Stephen Belber (first ever Development Grant awarded by The Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays); and Once Upon a Time in New Jersey, a Richard Rodgers and Kleban Lyricist Award- winning musical by Susan DiLallo and Stephen Weiner. directorscompany.org

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