Photo Flash: First Look at Matrix Theatre's WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT..., Opening Tonight

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 today, June 8. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

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.

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.

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.

We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... opens for press on June 8 and continues through August 11. Performances are scheduled Thursdays, Fridaysand 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, Calif. (west of Stanley Ave., between Fairfax and La Brea). For reservations and information, call 323-852-1445 or go to www.matrixtheatre.com.

Photo Credit: Jillian Armenante