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Russell Jordan on February 26, 2016 performed in a reading of Rachel Mary Cox’s BRUISED AND CONFUSED, one of the new works presented at La Mama Experimental Theater Club as part of its La MaMa Umbria International Playwrights Readings showcase. BRUISED AND CONFUSED examines the lives of partners Naima (Chandra Thomas) and Jules (Hannah Beck) and the stress placed on their already strained relationship, when their long-time friend Malik (Edward O’Blenis) is shot and killed by a police officer. The situation is further complicated when they learn Jules’ cousin is the officer who fired the fatal shot. Enter Jules’s former partner (and one-time participant in a sexual tryst with Jules and Naima), Jerome (Russell Jordan), who has appeared on the scene to seek justice for Malik, but stirring up old feelings with Naima in the process. Lindsay Perry, Chuck Blasius, Pierce Forsythe, Olia Toporovsky, Lawryn LaCroix, and Matthew Mark Meyer round out the ensemble, with Dana Boll reading stage directions.  Top: Playwright Rachel Mary Cox (l.) in advance of rehearsal of the reading her play BRUISED AND CONFUSED. Bottom: The cast at La Mama just after the reading. Russell days earlier performed at La Mama in LANGSTON HUGHES IN HARLEM as part of their “Poetry Electric” series.
2/23/2016
Russell Jordan celebrates Black History Month with performances of "Langston Hughes in Harlem" at York College and La Mama
Russell performed on the York College Theatre stage for Black History Month 2016 as part of the ensemble of LANGSTON HUGHES IN HARLEM, his first performance at York since earning his bachelor’s degree from institution in 2001.
LANGSTON HUGHES IN HARLEM, directed by Tom Marion with music by Neal Kirkwood and Harry Mann, featured Jordan, along with York College alums Phil John, Shakeerah Fredericks, and Solomon Peck, with Danielle Aziza, Noel Boone, and Adrian Kiser rounding out the cast. The show also played at La Mama as part of their "Poetry Electric" series. 
The cast of LANGSTON HUGHES IN HARLEM (clock wise from left):
Peck, Fredericks, Kiser, Jordan, Aziza, John, and Boone.  O'Brien and Jordan at THE NETHER LAND tech rehearsal. Russell Jordan on February 21, 2016 made his Urban Stages debut in a staged reading of P.C. Allan’s THE NETHER LAND, one of six new works presented collectively as THE PRESIDENT PLAYS, an event launching the “Urban Stages New Pages” new play development program, helmed by Bara Swain. Under the direction of Joan Kane, Russell Jordan and Dara O’Brien tell THE NETHER LAND story, in which we discover O’Brien’s affluent “She” in the lobby of a fancy midtown Manhattan hotel disturbed by the knowledge her husband is in one of its rooms having an affair. She encounters Jordan’s “He,” a dutiful, busy hotel concierge, and engages him in a series of conversations that ultimately inform how she chooses to handle her current situation. Regarding Jordan’s performance, playwright P.C. Allan wrote “[he was] a beautiful blend of pathos and poignancy.” This is not the first time Jordan worked with Joan Kane and Bara Swain. During Swain’s time at Abingdon Theatre Company (where she was part of their Benefit Challenge Series production team), Jordan was directed by Kane in Melissa Skirboll’s SHOW AND TELL TANGO.
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