Lorraine Hansberry News

As announced earlier this evening, A Raisin in the Sun's Kenny Leon has won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play. BroadwayWorld's own Richard Ridge was in the press room to catch up with the winner on what the award means to him - hear what Leon had to say below! As announced earlier this evening, A Raisin in the Sun's Kenny Leon has won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play. BroadwayWorld's own Richard Ridge was in the press room to catch up with the winner on what the award means to him - hear what Leon had to say below!

As part of BroadwayWorld's expansive coverage of the 68th Annual Tony Awards, we are providing the full text of all of the Tony Award acceptance speeches; from the emotional to the bizarre, and everything in between. Keep up with all of the winners' speeches on our continuously updated list.

A RAISIN IN THE SUN has won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Set on Chicago's South Side, A Raisin in the Sun revolved around the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family: son Walter Lee (Denzel Washington), his wife Ruth (Sophie Okonedo), his sister Beneatha (Anika Noni Rose), his son Travis (Bryce Clyde Jenkins) and matriarch Lena, called Mama (LaTanya Richardson Jackson).

Sophie Okonedo has won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for A RAISIN IN THE SUN. This is Sophie Okonedo's first Tony nomination and her Broadway debut. She starred as Cressida in the National Theatre's Troilus and Cressida (1999). Okonedo was nominated for an Academy Award for Hotel Rwanda in 2004 and a Golden Globe for Tsunami: The Aftermath in 2006.

A Raisin in the Sun's Kenny Leon has won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play. Kenny Leon's Broadway credits include August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean (five Tony nominations) and the Tony Award-winning revival of A Raisin in the Sun, both featuring Phylicia Rashad; for the latter, he earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play. Other directing credits include the Off-Broadway hit Emergence-See featuring Daniel Beaty, Blues for an Alabama Sky, and From the Mississippi Delta (Huntington Theatre).

On Friday's 'Katie,' Tony-nominated actress Anika Noni Rose stops by to talk about her career and shares behind-the-scenes stories of working with the cast of 'A Raisin In The Sun.'

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, beloved as one of the world's most popular dance companies, will return to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts with four different programs for a 15-performance engagement at the David H. Koch Theater June 11 - 22, 2014.

It is about sex, but mostly because that is where love starts. The effect is orgasm, of course, but it is also the breaking down of walls. As the barriers finally fall, the mood turns lyrical, and the action ends with a kind of latter-day echo of the wedding dance that would often finish a Shakespeare comedy.

Skyrocketing rents. Loss of diversity. Evictions, Google Glass wearing nouveau riche, The War on the Poor. What is The City coming to? The Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe (SFMT) opens its 55th season with RIPPLE EFFECT, a musical comedic tale of intersecting lives and cultures that reflect the familiar neighborhood tensions that are polarizing San Franciscans today.

On Friday night, May 30, Mayor Bill De Blasio and his wife First Lady Chirlane McCray saw A Raisin in the Sun and headed backstage at intermission to take photos with the company. Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is currently playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street). Scroll down for a look at the couple with the cast!

Look, we get it, whether due to budget or geography, you didn't see every show of the Broadway season, but that doesn't mean you can't be fully up-to-date for this Sunday's Tony Awards. To help get you prepared for the theatre's biggest night, BroadwayWorld has put together the ultimate Tonys Crash Course. We've outlined all of the shows nominated in the Best Play and Best Revival of a Play categories, and provided you 'study materials' as only BWW can, by mining our one-of-a-kind archives.

The Public Theater previously announced TALKING ABOUT RACE: SCIENCE, POLITICS, ART 1959-1970-2014, a two-night Public Forum event this weekend, today, May 30 and Saturday, May 31 at 7:00 p.m. in The Public's Anspacher Theater. Presented with Anna Deavere Smith Works at The Aspen Institute, The American Museum of Natural History and with in-kind support from the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at New York University, these two exciting evenings will combine performances of provocative historic conversations about race with an unscripted modern sequel.

Yesterday Julianne Moore hosted an afternoon tea in honor of Tony nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson, currently starring as Lena Younger in A RAISIN IN THE SUN. Held at Lady Mendl's at the Inn at Irving Place, an impressive group of women from theatre, film and television, including LaTanya's fellow Tony nominated costars Sophie Okonedo and Anika Noni Rose, gathered to salute LaTanya. Although she was unable to attend, First Lady Michelle Obama did send a note which was read aloud by Julianne Moore after Ms. Moore made a toast to LaTanya. Samuel L. Jackson and Bart Freundlich crashed the party to enjoy the afternoon with their wives.

Now in its 3rd year, Talawa Theatre Company's acclaimed new-writing festival, TALAWA FIRSTS will return between 11 and 27 June. Talawa Studios -- the company's dedicated performance space in Old Street -- will become a hub of activity for three weeks, showcasing and developing the best in Black British writing.

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the next Roundabout Underground production Little Children Dream of God, a new play by Jeff Augustin, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The cast and creative team will be announced shortly. Jeff Augustin is Roundabout's Playwright-in-Residence, generously supported by The Tow Foundation.

Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET) is proud to announce its 2014-2015 Mainstage season. MET's seventeenth mainstage season will run from September of 2014 through June of 2015 and will feature a classic Shakespeare comedy, a German masterpiece, a World Premiere original, and contemporary crowd pleasers. Season subscriptions are on sale now at a special early bird rate. MET Artistic Director Tad Janes shared his excitement about all the plays, 'This season brings such great plays to the MET! Two very exciting newer plays, Clybourne Park and Good People, both have a great sense of humor, but also have a real depth of message. The Arsonists is a very funny, bordering on absurd, comedy, and we feature two excellent timeless pieces with The Elephant Man and Twelfth Night. Next season also brings a new MET created piece, brought to us by MET Mainstage writing alumni Reiner Prochaska.'

California Shakespeare Theater begins its 2014 season with one of the true trailblazing works in the American theater, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Patricia McGregor. A Raisin in the Sun plays at the Bruns Amphitheater from tonight, May 21 through June 15.

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, which is currently playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street), just released a 68-page digital souvenir book in honor of Hansberry's birthday, May 19. Click here to download the special souvenir book now!

The 2014 winners of the Lilly Awards, honoring women of distinction in American theater, were announced today by the Lilly Awards Foundation. The winners will be celebrated at the 5th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony set for Monday, June 2, 2014 beginning at 5 p.m. at Playwrights Horizons (416 W 42nd Street, NYC).