Russell Jordan makes "poignant" debut at Urban Stages

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.”

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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.