2013 National Black Theatre Festival : ICED OUT SHACKLED and CHAINED: STILL LOOKING for the NORTH STAR Features the Incredible Actor, Bianca Laverne Jones

Bianca LaVerne Jones is a native of Cary, North Carolina. She attended Farmington Woods Elementary, Briarcliff Elementary, West Cary Middle, Apex High, Athens Drive High and North Carolina School of the Arts (Diploma). She went on the SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory and Yale School of Drama.

Bianca LaVerne Jones is the daughter of Herman LeVern Jones of Garner, North Carolina. Herman LeVern Jones is one of the architects of the National Black Theater Festival in 1989 who was special assistant to the producer, the late Larry Leon Hamlin. She has been coined the “National Black Theater Festival baby” as one of the first youth to attend the festival in 1989. In 1997 she was in BLUES, in 1999 in RUNAWAYS and in 2011 she appeared at the festival as a participant in the film portion of NBTF in her BET and CENTRIC lead role in BURNED. She returns in 2013 in a lead role in Iced Out Shackled and Chained. Bianca will be seen as the lead in the Pulitzer prize winning playwright Charles Fuller’s new play ONE NIGHT directed by Clinton Turner Davis at the Cherry Lane Theater produced by the Rattlestick Theater in New York City in the fall of 2013.

Iced Out SHACKLED and CHAINED: STILL LOOKING for the NORTH STAR (ICED-OUT)

Timely Piece That Sheds Light On African-American History and its impact on the modern world Performing August 1-3, 2013 (Wake Forest University) Thursday 8pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 3pm & 8pm at the National Black Theatre Festival Atlanta, GA – July 26, 2013

“Iced Out” is being co-produced with National Black Theater and Blackberry Productions. Blackberry Productions’ ICED OUT SHACKLED and CHAINED: STILL LOOKING for the NORTH STAR (ICED OUT), written by Kisha Spence and Mo Beasley, is a bold and cutting edge multi-media piece that shows how the legacy of slavery still impacts all of us today.

The two actresses, Bianca Laverne Jones and Stephanie Berry, morph from one character to another, portraying characters from slavery and Jim Crow era. The piece is woven with traditional movement and hiphop (choreographed by Dyane Harvey) and music linking the past and the present. Through laughter, tears, music and dance, two actors morph through 20 characters exploring the roots of racism, illiteracy, poverty, self-hatred and love. Weaving the past with the present, the play offers a contemporary twist to those issues that have haunted our communities for decades. It is an important and timely theatrical experience that inspires hope and needs to be seen by all. Your support can help make that happen.

Following a premiere run at Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre in Harlem this past fall, ICED OUT, was selected to be performed as a Main Stage production at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina this summer, 2013.

Blackberry Productions and the National Black Theatre Company have joined forces to take this production to the world’s largest festival of black theater. Our goal is to bring the best possible show we can and to invest in its future. Attracting over 65.000 people during its week-long event, The National Black Theatre Festival can give ICED OUT major visibility and help launch future productions.

Bianca Credits

Bianca LaVerne Jones. TV/FILM: BURNED (BET, Centric), NYC, 2-2 (CBS), Men In Love, What Would You Do? (ABC). WEB SERIES: Hard Times, Shitty Fab Life, 12 STEPS TO RECOVERY. OFF BROADWAY; Ruby Place Nest on the Ground (Signature), McReele (Roundabout), MacBeth (Classical Theatre of Harlem/Germany, Lillian Theater (LA)), Trojan Women (Classical Theatre of Harlem, AUDELCO nomination), Virgin of the Vieux Carre (Primary Stages) REGIONAL; Iced Out Shackled and Chained (National Black Theater), Marcus or the Secret of Sweet (Studio Theater, DC), Jacob’s House (Access Theatre), Illmatic (Black River), Iken’s Perversion (two character play with Oscar Winner F. Murray Abraham), A Civil War Christmas (LongWharf, original cast), MacBeth (Lillian Theater with Harry Lennix), ThreePenny Opera (Williamstown Theatre Festival, with Jesse L. Martin and Betty Buckley), Breath Boom, Madea/MacBeth/Cindarella (Yale Rep), Blues, Runaways (National Black Theater Festival), Relativity, Othello, King Headley II (St. Louis Black Repertory). Bianca has been seen in New Black Fest, Harlem 9’s 48 Hour Project, Host of Honoring Excellence in Black Theater: A Night with Woodie King Jr., Hear It Out!, Fire This Time Festival and a host of staged readings in NYC. She is a new member of the STANDARD Collective Artist Group.

Bianca LaVern Jones Information

http://www.biancalavernejones.com/uploaded/about/28/pdf/PA_BiancaLaJo_Resume_.pdf

Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre Company is in Harlem on 5th Avenue and 125th Street in NYC