Israel Hicks News

Ebony Repertory Theatre (ERT), Founder/Producer Wren T. Brown, announced today, that Phylicia Rashad is set to make her Los Angeles directorial debut with its production of Lorraine Hansberry's classic play A RAISIN IN THE SUN.

Ebony Repertory Theatre (ERT), Founder/Producer Wren T. Brown, announced today, that Phylicia Rashad is set to make her Los Angeles directorial debut with its production of Lorraine Hansberry's classic play A RAISIN IN THE SUN. ERT is proud to return this groundbreaking play to Los Angeles for its first fully-staged production in over twenty years. Preview performances begin on March 23, 2011, with the official press opening on March 25, 2011 at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (4718 W. Washington Blvd.) in Los Angeles. Single tickets go on sale November 1, 2010.

Israel Hicks, the Denver Center Theatre Company director, died Saturday in New York of prostate cancer. He was 66.

Juilliard's Drama Division presents a series of fully-staged productions during the 2010-2011 season featuring students in their fourth and final year of acting training at Juilliard.

New York's SteppingStone Theatre Company presents the world premiere of REFLECTIONS OF A HEART - a new play written and directed by Christopher G. Roberts, based on the true story of Isaac Woodard, Jr., at one time the most highly decorated African-American WWII veteran whose 1946 beating and subsequent blinding by police, hours after being discharged from the US Army, ignited a heated civil rights battle in South Carolina and around the nation - with previews beginning June 11, prior to its official press opening June 17, at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan.

New York's SteppingStone Theatre Company presents the world premiere of REFLECTIONS OF A HEART - a new play written and directed by Christopher G. Roberts, based on the true story of Isaac Woodard, Jr., at one time the most highly decorated African-American WWII veteran whose 1946 beating and subsequent blinding by police, hours after being discharged from the US Army, ignited a heated civil rights battle in South Carolina and around the nation - with previews beginning June 11, prior to its official press opening June 17, at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan.

New York's SteppingStone Theatre Company presents the world premiere of REFLECTIONS OF A HEART - a new play written and directed by Christopher G. Roberts, based on the true story of Isaac Woodard, Jr., at one time the most highly decorated African-American WWII veteran whose 1946 beating and subsequent blinding by police, hours after being discharged from the US Army, ignited a heated civil rights battle in South Carolina and around the nation - with previews beginning June 11, prior to its official press opening June 17, at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan.

New York's SteppingStone Theatre Company presents the world premiere of REFLECTIONS OF A HEART - a new play written and directed by Christopher G. Roberts, based on the true story of Isaac Woodard, Jr., at one time the most highly decorated African-American WWII veteran whose 1946 beating and subsequent blinding by police, hours after being discharged from the US Army, ignited a heated civil rights battle in South Carolina and around the nation - with previews beginning June 11, prior to its official press opening June 17, at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan.

New York's SteppingStone Theatre Company presents the world premiere of REFLECTIONS OF A HEART - a new play written and directed by Christopher G. Roberts, based on the true story of Isaac Woodard, Jr., at one time the most highly decorated African-American WWII veteran whose 1946 beating and subsequent blinding by police, hours after being discharged from the US Army, ignited a heated civil rights battle in South Carolina and around the nation - with previews beginning June 11, prior to its official press opening June 17, at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan.

New York's SteppingStone Theatre Company presents the world premiere of REFLECTIONS OF A HEART - a new play written and directed by Christopher G. Roberts, based on the true story of Isaac Woodard, Jr., at one time the most highly decorated African-American WWII veteran whose 1946 beating and subsequent blinding by police, hours after being discharged from the US Army, ignited a heated civil rights battle in South Carolina and around the nation - with previews beginning June 11, prior to its official press opening June 17, at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan.

New York's SteppingStone Theatre Company presents the world premiere of REFLECTIONS OF A HEART - a new play written and directed by Christopher G. Roberts, based on the true story of Isaac Woodard, Jr., at one time the most highly decorated African-American WWII veteran whose 1946 beating and subsequent blinding by police, hours after being discharged from the US Army, ignited a heated civil rights battle in South Carolina and around the nation - with previews beginning June 11, prior to its official press opening June 17, at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan.

Pasadena Playhouse announced today that LAUGHING MATTERS, a world premiere musical featuring a book and lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart (author of the international best-selling novel 'Beaches'), music by Mike Stoller (Smokey Joe's Café) and Artie Butler (Feelin' Alright by Joe Cocker), and directed by Leonard Foglia (Broadway's Thurgood starring Laurence Fishburne), will be the final production of the 2009 Season.

The Denver Center Theatre Company opens the 2009 2010 Season with two classic dramas - one with special relevancy to the nation's current economic crisis in David Mamet's adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance by Harley Granville-Barker and one celebrating the bruised but undaunted search for the American dream in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.

Cell Short Takes is sponsoring the Eyes on L.A.: Hat Stories Contest, which ties in with the current run of Regina Taylor?s award-winning production of Crowns at Pasadena Playhouse. Cell Short Takes is looking for favorite hat stories from Los Angeles County residents over the age of 18, who are legal residents of the United States or D.C. Contestants are to submit their Eyes on L.A.: Hat Stories in cell short takes format by mail, postmarked for receipt by Friday, August 14, 2009. Cell phone short takes are films shot entirely on cell phones lasting between 5 and 10 minutes in length. Short takes will be viewed and voted on by your peers and the Cell Short Takes online community.

Cell Short Takes is sponsoring the Eyes on L.A.: Hat Stories Contest, which ties in with the current run of Regina Taylor?s award-winning production of Crowns at Pasadena Playhouse. Cell Short Takes is looking for favorite hat stories from Los Angeles County residents over the age of 18, who are legal residents of the United States or D.C. Contestants are to submit their Eyes on L.A.: Hat Stories in cell short takes format by mail, postmarked for receipt by Friday, August 14, 2009. Cell phone short takes are films shot entirely on cell phones lasting between 5 and 10 minutes in length. Short takes will be viewed and voted on by your peers and the Cell Short Takes online community.

Crowns written by Regina Taylor directed by Israel Hicks Pasadena Playhouse through August 16

Group sales tickets (15 or more) and subscriptions including CROWNS go on sale Saturday, May 9 for the Pasadena Playhouse run of the acclaimed musical. In celebration of the on-sale, Pasadena Playhouse is hosting an afternoon of festivities. Prior to the sneak-peek presentation, there will be FREE live jazz hosted by The Instrumental Women Project, entertainment and food provided by Gelson's Supermarkets in the Courtyard.

The Ebony Repertory Theatre is proud to announce casting for the Los Angeles premiere of CROWNS, adapted by Regina Taylor from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry. Debuting as a co-production with Pasadena Playhouse, the show will star Emmy® nominee Paula Kelly, Suzzanne Douglas, Dawnn Lewis, Ann Weldon, Sharon Catherine Blanks, Angela Wildflower Polk and Clinton Derricks-Carroll, with direction by Ebony Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Israel Hicks.

The cast sat down and talked with me about the play, education, African American attendance at the theater and more. Read on...

Pasadena Playhouse announced today that LAUGHING MATTERS, a world premiere musical featuring a book and lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart (author of the international best-selling novel 'Beaches'), music by Mike Stoller (Smokey Joe's Café) and Artie Butler (Feelin' Alright by Joe Cocker), and directed by Leonard Foglia (Broadway's Thurgood starring Laurence Fishburne), will be the final production of the 2009 Season.