Mud Row
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PREMIERE
By Dominique Morisseau
Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg
Low-priced Previews May 18 - May 20, 2022
Two generations of sisters navigate class, race, love and family on “Mud Row,” an area in the East End of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Elsie hopes to move up in the world by marrying into “the talented tenth,” while her sister Frances joins the fight for Civil Rights. Decades later, estranged sisters Regine and Toshi are forced to reckon with their shared heritage and each other, when Regine inherits granny Elsie’s house. Tony Award nominee Dominique Morisseau deftly shifts between past and present to paint a living portrait of family legacy.
“Morisseau gives exquisite voice to four women occupying the same four walls — and by doing so, an entire community sings.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Digital Program
Cast
Andréa AgostoAndréa Agosto
Elsie(she/they) Andréa is thrilled to be making their Cygnet debut! Agosto is an award winning filmmaker (Kansas City Film Fest) and actor (International Model & Talent Association). Their credits include: A Kind of Weather, Bull in a China Shop, Cardboard Piano, Homos, or Everyone in America(Diversionary), Dance Nation (MOXIE), The Magic in This Soul (Blindspot Collective), Avenue Q (Ocean Beach Playhouse), You Can’t Take it With You (Lamb’s Players), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike(FUSION), and Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (The Coterie). For more information, please visit: www.andreaagosto.com
Rachel CognataRachel Cognata
ToshiRachel Cognata is thrilled to be making her Cygnet debut. Her recent credits include: VOICE – Isolated Incidents (Broadway Podcast Network/Rattlestick Playwrights), Echoes (Huntington Theatre) STAGE – Gloria: A Life (American Repertory Theatre), Hype Man (2018 Elliot Norton Award winner), Hype Man On Demand 2021 (virtual stream), Greater Good, and Really (Company One Theatre); Cardboard Piano (New Repertory Theatre); The Book Club Play (Boston Playwrights Theatre). A graduate of both the Boston Arts Academy and Tufts University, Rachel is from and currently resides in the Boston area.
Leo EbanksLeo Ebanks
TyriekLeo is ecstatic to be making his Cygnet debut in Mud Row. Recent credits include Adult Ensemble in Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Old Globe Theatre). HUD in HAIR (Old Globe Theatre). TonTon Julian in Once on this Island (Moonlight Amphitheater). Benedick in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (SDSU). Billy in Carrie, The Musical (Onstage playhouse), and Georg in Spring Awakening (Grossmont College). Instagram: @itsjust_Leooo.
Andréa Agosto
(she/they) Andréa is thrilled to be making their Cygnet debut! Agosto is an award winning filmmaker (Kansas City Film Fest) and actor (International Model & Talent Association). Their credits include: A Kind of Weather, Bull in a China Shop, Cardboard Piano, Homos, or Everyone in America(Diversionary), Dance Nation (MOXIE), The Magic in This Soul (Blindspot Collective), Avenue Q (Ocean Beach Playhouse), You Can’t Take it With You (Lamb’s Players), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike(FUSION), and Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (The Coterie). For more information, please visit: www.andreaagosto.com
Rachel Cognata
Rachel Cognata is thrilled to be making her Cygnet debut. Her recent credits include: VOICE – Isolated Incidents (Broadway Podcast Network/Rattlestick Playwrights), Echoes (Huntington Theatre) STAGE – Gloria: A Life (American Repertory Theatre), Hype Man (2018 Elliot Norton Award winner), Hype Man On Demand 2021 (virtual stream), Greater Good, and Really (Company One Theatre); Cardboard Piano (New Repertory Theatre); The Book Club Play (Boston Playwrights Theatre). A graduate of both the Boston Arts Academy and Tufts University, Rachel is from and currently resides in the Boston area.
Leo Ebanks
Leo is ecstatic to be making his Cygnet debut in Mud Row. Recent credits include Adult Ensemble in Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Old Globe Theatre). HUD in HAIR (Old Globe Theatre). TonTon Julian in Once on this Island (Moonlight Amphitheater). Benedick in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (SDSU). Billy in Carrie, The Musical (Onstage playhouse), and Georg in Spring Awakening (Grossmont College). Instagram: @itsjust_Leooo.
Marti GobelMarti Gobel
RegineMarti is a nationally recognized actor, director and teaching artist. Upon graduating from UW-Whitewater in 2008 with a degree in Performance Theatre and Philosophy (with an emphasis in Religious Studies) she went on to have a rich career in theater and television and film. A fierce believer in the power of the theater to change minds and hearts, Ms. Gobel continues to speak publicly about the need for diversity in the arts. Ms. Gobel is a proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. She is thrilled to make her Cygnet Theatre debut.
Joy Yvonne JonesJoy Yvonne Jones
FrancesJoy Yvonne Jones is originally from Houston, Texas where she attended The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on to study at the University of Minnesota in the Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training Program. Joy was awarded a San Diego Critic Circle Craig Noel Award for her performance of Saartjie Baartman in Voyeurs de Venus at Moxie Theatre. Her most recent credits include Cherise Howard in Flex at The Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville and a plethora of zoom readings during everyones stay at home. Joy is one of the founding members and President of the San Diego Black Artist Collective. She is a creative hurricane working on the revolution at the speed of inspiration with her baby boy Leo James on her hip.
Rondrell McCormickRondrell McCormick
DavinAt CYGNET: Debut. REGIONAL THEATER: Mark Twain’s River Of Song (TheatreWorks); As You Like It (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival); Between Riverside & Crazy, Night of the Living Dead (San Jose Stage); Graveyard Shift (San Francisco Playhouse); Bella: An American Tall Tale (Playwrights Horizons/Sundance Lab); Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Center REP); All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare & Company); A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater); Seven Guitars (Triad Stage). TRAINING: B.F.A. – NC A&T State University; M.F.A. – American Conservatory Theater.
Marti Gobel
Marti is a nationally recognized actor, director and teaching artist. Upon graduating from UW-Whitewater in 2008 with a degree in Performance Theatre and Philosophy (with an emphasis in Religious Studies) she went on to have a rich career in theater and television and film. A fierce believer in the power of the theater to change minds and hearts, Ms. Gobel continues to speak publicly about the need for diversity in the arts. Ms. Gobel is a proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. She is thrilled to make her Cygnet Theatre debut.
Joy Yvonne Jones
Joy Yvonne Jones is originally from Houston, Texas where she attended The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on to study at the University of Minnesota in the Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training Program. Joy was awarded a San Diego Critic Circle Craig Noel Award for her performance of Saartjie Baartman in Voyeurs de Venus at Moxie Theatre. Her most recent credits include Cherise Howard in Flex at The Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville and a plethora of zoom readings during everyones stay at home. Joy is one of the founding members and President of the San Diego Black Artist Collective. She is a creative hurricane working on the revolution at the speed of inspiration with her baby boy Leo James on her hip.
Rondrell McCormick
At CYGNET: Debut. REGIONAL THEATER: Mark Twain’s River Of Song (TheatreWorks); As You Like It (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival); Between Riverside & Crazy, Night of the Living Dead (San Jose Stage); Graveyard Shift (San Francisco Playhouse); Bella: An American Tall Tale (Playwrights Horizons/Sundance Lab); Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Center REP); All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare & Company); A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater); Seven Guitars (Triad Stage). TRAINING: B.F.A. – NC A&T State University; M.F.A. – American Conservatory Theater.
May 2022