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Woodie King, Jr.
Woodie King Jr. (born July 27, 1937) is an American director and producer of stage and screen, as well as the founding director of the New Federal Theatre in New York City. Early life and education King was born in Baldwin Springs, Alabama. He graduated high school in 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, United States, and worked at the Ford Motor Company there for three years. He then worked for the City of Detroit as a draftsman. In 1970, he founded the New Federal Theatre. He earned a B.A. in Self-Determined Studies, with a focus on Theatre and Black Studies, at Lehman College in 1996, and an M.F.A. at Brooklyn College in 1999. Film and stage direction King has a long list of credits in film and stage direction and production, including the following: Co-produced plays *''For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf'' by Ntozake Shange *''What the Wine Sellers Buy'' *''Reggae'' *''The Taking of Miss Janie'', which earned the Drama Critics Circle Award ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
74th Tony Awards
The 74th Tony Awards were held on September 26, 2021, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2019–20 season. After being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the ceremony was held at the Winter Garden Theatre and was broadcast in two separate parts on CBS and Paramount+. Audra McDonald and Leslie Odom Jr. served as hosts. The musical ''Jagged Little Pill'' led the nominations with 15, while the play with the most nominations was '' Slave Play'', with 12. At the ceremony, ''Moulin Rouge!'' won ten awards, including Best Musical, becoming the production with the most wins of the season. The Old Vic production of '' A Christmas Carol'' won five awards, and '' The Inheritance'' won four, including Best Play. At 90 years old, Lois Smith became the oldest performer to win a Tony Award for acting, receiving the award for Featured Actress in a Play. Background Originally scheduled to be held on June 7, 2020, at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
August Wilson
August Wilson ( Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of ten plays, collectively called ' (or ''The Century Cycle'')'','' which chronicle the experiences and heritage of the African-American community in the 20th century. Plays in the series include ''Fences'' (1987) and ''The Piano Lesson'' (1990), both of which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as '' Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'' (1984) and ''Joe Turner's Come and Gone'' (1988). In 2006, Wilson was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. His works delve into the African-American experience as well as examinations of the human condition. Other themes range from the systemic and historical exploitation of African Americans, as well as race relations, identity, migration, and racial discrimination. Viola Davis said that Wilson's writing "captures our humor, our vuln ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Theater Hall Of Fame
The American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the organization's Executive Committee. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new ''Theater Hall of Fame'' would be located in the Uris Theatre (then under construction, now the Gershwin). James M. Nederlander and Gerard Oestreicher, who leased the theater, donated the space for the Hall of Fame; Arnold Weissberger was another founder. Blackwell noted that the names of the first honorees would "be embossed in bronze-gold lettering on the theater's entrance walls flanking its grand staircase and escalator." The first group of inductees was announced in October 1972. Eligible inductees come from disciplines including actors, playwrights, songwriters, designers, directors, and producers who have had a career in American theater for at least twenty-five years and at least five major production credits on Broadway. Selections are made each year by voting members of the T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Robeson Award
An award bestowed by the Paul Robeson Citation Award Committee of the Actors' Equity Association. Recipients * 1974: Paul Robeson * 1975: Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee * 1976: Lillian Hellman * 1977: Pete Seeger * 1978: Sam Jaffe * 1979: Harry Belafonte * 1980: Alice Childress * 1981: Studs Terkel * 1982: Ed Asner * 1983: John Henry Faulk * 1984: Lena Horne * 1985: Arthur Mitchell * 1986: Vinie Burrows * 1987: Joe Papp * 1988: Jacques d'Amboise * 1989: Bill Ross & Dr. Margaret Burroughs * 1990: Maya Angelou * 1991: Gordon Parks * 1992: Art D'Lugoff * 1993: Katherine Dunham * 1994: Lloyd Richards * 1995: Gil Noble * 1996: George C. Wolfe * 1997: Athol Fugard * 1998: Leonard de Paul * 1999: Loften Mitchell * 2000: Rosetta LeNoire * 2001: Brock Peters * 2002: Gertrude Jeannette * 2003: Woodie King Jr. * 2004: Judith Jamison * 2005: Carl Harms * 2006: Bill Cosby rescinded * 2007: Mercedes Ellington * 2008: Sidney Poitier * 2009: Micki Grant * 2010: Charles Randolph-Wri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the American Theatre Wing. As the Tony Awards cover Broadway productions, the Obie Awards cover off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions. Background The Obie Awards were initiated by Edwin (Ed) Fancher, publisher of ''The Village Voice,'' who handled the financing and business side of the project. They were first given in 1956 under the direction of theater critic Jerry Tallmer. Initially, only off-Broadway productions were eligible; in 1964, off-off-Broadway productions were made eligible. The first Obie Awards ceremony was held at Helen Gee's cafe.Aletti, Vince"Helen Gee 1919–2004" ''Village Voice'' (New York City), 12 October 2004, accessed on 21 November 2013 With the exception of the Lifetime Achievement and Best New American ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AUDELCO
AUDELCO, the Audience Development Committee, Inc., was established in 1973 by Vivian Robinson to honor excellence in African American theatre in New York City. AUDELCO presents the Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards (also known as Viv awards) annually. The awards were created to promote "recognition, understanding, and awareness of the arts in the African-American community." The AUDELCO awards recognize the following Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway: *Productions by African-American companies *Productions written and/or directed by African-Americans *African-American actors in productions Description AUDELCO has an office in Harlem, and the current president is Jacqueline Jeffries. The board of directors includes: Tony Peterson (2nd Vice-President), Ralph Carter (3rd Vice-President), Linda Armstrong (secretary), and Cherine Anderson, A. Curtis Farrow, Bambi Jones, Donna M. Mills, Mary Seymour, Dale Ricardo Shields, Terrence Spivey, and Mary B. Davis as the Chair Em ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NAACP Image Award
The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to other awards, like the Oscars and the Grammys, the over 40 categories of the Image Awards are voted on by the award organization's members (in this case, NAACP members). Honorary awards (similar to the Academy Honorary Award) have also been included, such as the President's Award, the Chairman's Award, the Entertainer of the Year, and the Hall of Fame Award. History The award ceremony was first organized and presented on August 13, 1967, by activists Maggie Hathaway, Sammy Davis Jr. and Willis Edwards, all three of whom were leaders of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP branch. While it was first taped for television by NBC (which broadcast the awards from 1987 to 1994 in January, on weeks when ''Saturday Night Live'' wasn't ai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Jefferson Award
The Joseph Jefferson Award, more commonly known informally as the Jeff Award, is given for theatre arts produced in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are named in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson, a 19th-century American theater star who, as a child, was a player in Chicago's first theater company. Two types of awards are given: "Equity" (annual judging season August 1st to July 31st) for work done under an Actors' Equity Association contract, and "Non-Equity" (annual judging season April 1st to March 31st) for non-union work. Award recipients are determined by a secret ballot. Award categories In 2018, the committee merged the actor and actress performance categories, eliminating gender from consideration. Two awards are now awarded from each of the new performance categories, ensemble awards remain singular: Equity Awards Performance categories * Outstanding Performer in a Principal Role in a Play * Outstanding Performer in a Supporting Role in a Play * Outstan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ntozake Shange
Ntozake Shange ( ; FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018. October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018) was an American playwright and poet. As a Black feminist, she addressed issues relating to and Black power in much of her work. She is best known for her Obie Award-winning play, '' [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When The Rainbow Is Enuf
''for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf'' is Ntozake Shange's first work and most acclaimed theater piece, which premiered in 1976. It consists of a series of poetic monologues to be accompanied by dance movements and music, a form Shange coined as the choreopoem. ''for colored girls...'' tells the stories of seven women who have suffered oppression in a racist and sexist society. As a choreopoem, the piece is a series of 20 separate poems choreographed to music that weaves interconnected stories of love, empowerment, struggle and loss into a complex representation of sisterhood. The cast consists of seven nameless African-American women only identified by the colors they are assigned. They are the lady in red, lady in orange, lady in yellow, lady in green, lady in blue, lady in brown, and lady in purple. Subjects from rape, abandonment, abortion and domestic violence are tackled. Shange originally wrote the monologues as separate poems in 197 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Piano Lesson
''The Piano Lesson'' is a 1987 play by American playwright August Wilson. It is the fourth play in Wilson's ''The Pittsburgh Cycle''. Wilson began writing this play by playing with the various answers regarding the possibility of "acquir nga sense of self-worth by denying one's past".Bryer, Jackson R.; Hartig Mary C. ''Conversations with August Wilson'', p.25. ''The Piano Lesson'' received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A Romare Bearden painting, ''The Piano Lesson'', inspired Wilson to write a play featuring a strong female character to confront African-American history, paralleling Troy in earlier '' Fences''. However, on finishing his play, Wilson found the ending to stray from the empowered female character as well as from the question regarding self-worth. What ''The Piano Lesson'' finally seems to ask is: "What do you do with your legacy, and how do you best put it to use?" Set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression, ''The Piano Lesson'' foll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pittsburgh Public Theater
Pittsburgh Public Theater, or The Public for short, is a professional theater company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After the retirement of longtime Producing Artistic Director Ted Pappas, The Public began the 2018–2019 season with a new leadership team: Artistic Director Marya Sea Kaminski and Managing Director Lou Castelli. Pittsburgh Public Theater annually produces a six-play subscription series that mixes classics, works from Broadway, and musicals. Pittsburgh Public Theater has been in continuous operation since 1975, first on Pittsburgh's North Side and since 1999 in the O'Reilly Theater, in the heart of Downtown's Cultural District. The Public has produced several new theatrical works. In addition to the world premiere of August Wilson's ''King Hedley II'', another of his masterworks, '' Jitney'', received its professional premiere at Pittsburgh Public Theater. The pre-Broadway run of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn's ''By Jeeves'' was staged at The Publi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
