Matthew Francis is a 2000 graduate of the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University. His one-man play, The Gospel According to Matthew, which chronicles his struggle with faith and sexuality from within Christian fundamentalism, will receive its world premiere at The New York International Fringe Festival this August, having received critical acclaim in workshop form at Virginia Tech and in subsequent readings at Manhattan Theatre Club and New York Theatre Workshop. His acting work at the American Repertory Theater and A.R.T. Institute includes 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.
Mr. Francis 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. He 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 Theatre, 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.
For more information about The Gospel According to Matthew, please feel free to contact Matthew through his website at www.matthewfrancis.net.
