Matthew Francis - Playwright/Performer

Matthew Francis’ one-man play about the struggle to reconcile faith and sexuality, The Gospel According to Matthew, was first workshopped at the Virginia Tech New Play Festival in Blacksburg, Virginia, and received its world premier at the New York International Fringe Festival in August of 2007. His acting work includes: (at the American Repertory Theater) Cleomenes in The Winter’s Tale, George in Scott Zigler’s production of All My Sons, and Boodkin in Yuri Yeremin’s Ivanov. Other credits include: the international tour of Julie Taymor’s The King Stag, a leading role in Holes Before Bedtime, a rock musical, and involvement in the development of Gone Missing by The Civilians.

He is a graduate of Stanford University, where he developed a one-man show under the tutelage of Anna Deavere Smith entitled She Just Stopped Breathing, which concerns the loss of his mother at age 13. He was subsequently awarded a Golden Grant from Stanford to create a one-person docudrama about twins and Twinsburg, Ohio (he is an identical twin himself). For House Arrest, Ms. Smith’s docudrama exploring the relationship between the press and the presidency, Mr. Francis traveled with Ms. Smith through the South to conduct interviews about black church burnings and with the Christian Right at the Republican National Convention and is featured in her books, Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics and Letters to a Young Artist. He was also Ms. Smith’s first teaching apprentice at New York University.

He has worked and taught in theaters and institutions across the country including: Arena Stage, the A.D. Players, the American Repertory Theater, and the Institute for the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University. A classically trained singer, Mr. Francis studied at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, France. He also holds an M.F.A. in acting from the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University/Moscow Art Theater School.

David Drake - Director

David Drake is a New York-based actor, writer and director. His most recent work as a director includes the solo shows of Sherie Rene Scott at the Zipper last spring and Taylor Mac in the 2007 Under-the-Radar Festival at the Public and at London's Soho Theatre. (The latter is now on an extensive international tour.) David's production of 2 Boys in a Bed on a Cold Winter's Night is currently enjoying a summer run at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco. Other directing projects include developing Edmund White's Terre Haute at the Sundance Theater Lab, Anne Bobby's That Woman: Rebecca West Remembers at Manhattan Theatre Source, as well as staging new plays at NY's Theatre for the New City, Rattlestick Theatre, NY Fringe Festival, and regionally at Provincetown Rep, Baltimore Theatre Project and Out North Contemporary Art House in Anchorage. On stage, David is most widely known as the playwright/performer of one of the longest-running solo shows in New York theater history, The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, for which he won an Obie Award. His latest autobiographical monologue, Son of Drakula, premiered at Dance Theater Workshop, where he was an artist-in-residence in 2002-03, and was praised by The New York Times as "A dazzling, inventive...terrific new one-man show" before making its European debut in Zagreb, Croatia. Among his numerous movie appearances (including his critically acclaimed work in the performance film of Larry Kramer), David co-stars in Roland Tec's upcoming feature We Pedal Uphill.

Katie Riegel - Producer

Katie Riegel has worked as a theater journalist and web producer for Broadway.com since 2002, where she has written over 75 celebrity features and has played a major role in two site redesigns, giving creative input on content, usability standards and design.  She also oversees the company's email strategy and helped to bring to life Broadway.com's revolutionary Word of Mouth section, in addition to executing several show-specific internet marketing campaigns and the company's ticketing partnership with The New York Times. She recently produced a reading of Isaac Oliver's new play, Eddie Goshen is Dead. Katie formerly worked as an assistant to Broadway producers Barry and Fran Weissler and holds a B.A. in Journalism and Dramatic Literature & Theater History from New York University.

Aysan Celik - Acting Coach, Associate Producer

Aysan is honored to be a part of Matthew’s creative team.  For the past several years she has worked as a performer, teacher, assistant producer, and musician with Theater Mitu.  She has coached actors in the apprentice program at Actors Theater of Louisville, taught performance workshops at high schools and colleges around the country with The Acting Company, and directed ATL apprentice Jane Lee in her solo 22 Years of Desire. 

Her credits as a performer include: Off-Broadway - The Black Eyed (NYTW), Faust (CSC/Target Margin), Pericles (Culture Project/Red Bull), Turn of the Screw, Murder By Poe, Richard III (Acting Company); Off-Off Broadway - Araihsak (Mitu), Canard, Canard, Goose? (Civilians), Attempts On Her Life (SoHo Rep), and The Belle’s Stratagem (Prospect); Regional - 9 Parts of Desire (Actors Theater of Louisville), Dhammashok (Mitu/Taper/Sundance), 1001 (O’Neill), Antigone (American Repertory Theater), Paris Commune (Civilians/La Jolla Playhouse), and Diary of a Young Girl, a solo performance at the American Repertory Theater and at the dedication of the Anne Frank Center for Human Rights (Carr Foundation).

Aysan trained at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and the ART Institute at Harvard.  She’s a Civilian, a member of LightBox and a co-founder of Mitu. This fall she will perform in LightBox’s The Food Project at 3LD, and will soon be seen in the indie comedy feature Capers (2008).

Monte Francis - Dramaturg

In addition to being Matthew's twin brother, Monte is a journalist and writer who has covered several high-profile murder trials. He has received two Emmy Awards for his television news reports and several awards for his news writing from the Associated Press.

Download the program from the 2007 Fringe Festival production of The Gospel According to Matthew.

Jim Augustine

The original workshop production of The Gospel According to Matthew was in February of 2006 at Virginia Tech University directed by Jim Augustine as part of the New Play Festival. For more information on this production, download the program .