EBONY REPERTORY THEATRE PRESENTS THE LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF JEFF STETSON’S “FRATERNITY” DIRECTED BY HENRY MILLER

PREVIEW PERFORMANCES BEGIN OCTOBER 3, 2012
WITH THE OFFICIAL PRESS OPENING ON OCTOBER 5, 2012
AT THE NATE HOLDEN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Ebony Repertory Theatre (ERT - Founder/Producer Wren T. Brown), now in its fifth year, announced today, that they will present the Los Angeles Premiere of FRATERNITY by internationally acclaimed, award-winning playwright/screenwriter Jeff Stetson (Keep the Faith and And the Men
Shall Also Gather).  Henry Miller (James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner) is set to direct
this riveting award-winning political drama.  FRATERNITY will play October 3 – 28,
2012, with the official press opening on Friday, October 5 at the Nate Holden Performing
Arts Center (4718 W. Washington Blvd.) in Los Angeles.  

“I have been greatly fortunate to have a personal and professional relationship with Jeff
Stetson for over twenty-five years. The opportunity for Ebony Repertory Theatre to
produce the Los Angeles premiere of FRATERNITY, brings me particular satisfaction.
Not only is Jeff a brilliant writer, in my opinion, he is a man of great integrity,
courage, intelligence, passion, and loyalty,” said Wren T. Brown, Ebony Repertory
Theatre, Founder/Producer.  “In addition, having a director helming our production with
the kind of artistry, history and dimension possessed by Henry Miller, causes me to move
most excitedly to our first day of rehearsal.”

Three weeks after Dr. King’s seminal “I Have A Dream” speech, a bomb destroyed an
Alabama church, murdering four young girls and shattering the dream that had inspired
so many.  Set in a private club in 1987, Jeff Stetson’s FRATERNITY explores the
journeys of seven successful black community leaders whose lives were forever affected
by that tragedy. It examines what happens to those who seek power, privilege and
inclusion, while abandoning the sacrifices that made their success possible.
Page 2 - Ebony Repertory Theatre Presents the Los Angeles Premiere of
Jeff Stetson’s FRATERNITY

Playwright Jeff Stetson is an internationally acclaimed award-winning playwright and
screenwriter for film and television. His stage plays include: Keep the Faith, a musical on
the life and times of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (commissioned through a hundred-
thousand dollar grant by the PEW Foundation and Theater Communications Group);
Fathers and Other Strangers (recipient of Columbia College’s Theodore Ward Award);
And the Men Shall Also Gather,  (developed at the O’Neill National Conference under
the direction of Lloyd Richards); To Play a Black Man (nominated for four Image
Awards); Love You Better, (commissioned by the Kennedy Center); The Apology,
(commissioned by Bill Cosby); and The Meeting, which has been produced in all fifty-
states and more than a dozen countries including South Africa, the Netherlands, Canada,
the Virgin Islands, Nigeria, Scotland, United Kingdom, Brazil and Austria.  It received
eight N.A.A.C.P. Image Awards, including best play and best writer, a Louis B. Mayer
Award and an Ohio State Achievement Award. He adapted the play for P.B.S. and
American Playhouse where it received an Emmy award for technical achievement. (A
full bio is available upon request.)
Director Henry Miller has staged more than 30 Off-Off Broadway and regional theatre
productions, including his own Christmas Eve Companion Plays.  Among his directorial
contributions to the African American canon of drama are James Baldwin’s The Amen
Corner; Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun; Philip Hayes Dean’s Sty of the Blind
Pig and Every Night When the Sun Goes Down; Richard Wesley’s The Mighty Gents, and
Richard Wright’s Daddy Goodness.  His musical directing ventures include Kurt Weill
and Maxwell Anderson’s Lost in the Stars for the Opera Ebony Company, and George
Gershwin and DuBose Heyward’s opera Porgy and Bess for the Indianapolis Opera and
the Opera Company of Philadelphia.  (A full bio is available upon request.)

Casting and the design team for Ebony Repertory Theatre’s production of
FRATERNITY will be announced at a later date.

FRATERNITY originally opened at the Whole Theater (Olympia Dukakis, Producing
Artistic Director) in Montclair, New Jersey in 1989.   The world premiere was directed
by Clinton Turner Davis.

Ebony Repertory Theatre, now in its fifth year, is the resident company and operator of
the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, which is located at 4718 West Washington
Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90016.  FRATERNITY plays October 3 – 28, 2012, with
the official press opening on Friday, October 5.  The performance schedule is Thursday
and Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. 
Early Bird Special tickets are on sale now and are $45.00 for Premium, $40.00 for
Orchestra and $30.00 for Mezzanine if purchased by September 7, 2012. All tickets for
preview performances are $30.00. Regular price tickets take effect September 8, 2012
and range from $35 - $55. Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, July 17, 2012 and are
available through the theatre box office at 323-964-9766 or online at www.ebonyrep.org. 
Groups of 10 or more are available at 323-964-9592 or by email at
groups@ebonyrep.org.

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