Phylicia Rashad News

The world premiere of The Tallest Tree in the Forest, a new work about the life of African-American performer and activist Paul Robeson, written and performed by Daniel Beaty and directed by Moises Kaufman, opens tonight, September 6 at Kansas City Repertory Theatre.

TimeLine Theatre Company begins its 2013-14 season with the award-winning play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Ron OJ Parson, now through November 17, 2013 at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave, Chicago. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The world premiere of The Tallest Tree in the Forest, a new work about the life of African-American performer and activist Paul Robeson, written and performed by Daniel Beaty and directed by Moises Kaufman, opens Friday, September 6 at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. The show runs through September 28 at the Rep's downtown theatre Copaken Stage, 13th and Walnut Streets.

Esteemed stage and screen star and noted August Wilson proponent/performer Phylicia Rashad stages a revival of Wilson's acclaimed drama JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE tonight as part of a live webcast series presenting the ten 20th century cycle plays by the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, following successful presentations of MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM and FENCES last month.

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater (DRDT), which creates world-class dance inspired by the African Diaspora in a community dedicated to nurturing artists, supporting human relationships and sharing common values through engaging in dance, kicks off Generations, a five-year multigenerational repertory project premiering November 1 at 8 p.m. at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park in Chicago.

Please join us on Sunday, September 15, 2013 for a free special commemoration of the very day 50 years ago when four little girls, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were killed when their church was bombed by white supremacists in Birmingham, Alabama. The play lets the four girls tell us about the hopes and dreams they carried for their lives before they were tragically cut down. It is as uplifting as it is moving.

In THE OLD SETTLER, Two women test the bonds of sisterhood in a bittersweet comedy set during the Harlem Renaissance. JVO Productions in association with InterACT Theatre Company presents The Old Settler by John Henry Redwood, opening tonight, Sept. 1 at the Pico Playhouse in West Los Angeles. Check out a new promo for the production, featuring interviews with the actors, below!

Kansas City Repertory Theatre will kick off its 2013-14 season with the world premiere of The Tallest Tree in the Forest, a new work about the life of African-American performer and activist Paul Robeson, written and performed by Daniel Beaty and directed by Moises Kaufman. The show runs tonight, August 30-September 28 at the Rep's downtown theatre Copaken Stage, 13th and Walnut Streets. The Tallest Tree in the Forest is a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse.

John Travolta, Jamie Foxx, Sharon Stone, Jake Gyllenhaal and Will Smith will be among the guests appearing during the first week of THE QUEEN LATIFAH SHOW.

TVLine is reporting that Broadway and BUNHEADS star Sutton Foster will be joining PSYCH's season 8 finale on USA Network.

While 'Lee Daniels' The Butler' is generating Oscar buzz for its chronicle of several decades of African- American political life, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson masterfully documented a full century of the African-American experience in the 10 plays the make up the American Century Cycle. These works, nine of which have been staged on Broadway with stars including Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, among many others, showed the suffering, joys, and triumphs of African-Americans through searing, poetic and personal stories of everyday people in Pittsburgh, PA.

August WilsonFor the very first time, the Estate of August Wilson has granted an organization the rights to record all 10 of these works. Kicking off on Monday, August 26 with 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,' The Greene Space - the performance venue of public radio stations WNYC and WQXR -- will stage these readings before live audiences, and will make them present them as live video webcasts for viewers everywhere at www.thegreenespace.org. Ruben Santiago-Hudson, one of the leading interpreters of Wilson's work, is Artistic Director. The series has assembled a formidable group of 'Wilson Warriors' including Phylicia Rashad, S. Epatha Merkerson, Kenny Leon, Leslie Uggams, Anthony Chisholm and many others, along with Wilson first-timers including Taraji P. Hensonand Jesse L. Martin. Click below to watch interviews with the directors!

While 'Lee Daniels' The Butler' is generating Oscar buzz for its chronicle of several decades of African- American political life, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson masterfully documented a full century of the African-American experience in the 10 plays the make up the American Century Cycle. These works, nine of which have been staged on Broadway with stars including Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, among many others, showed the suffering, joys, and triumphs of African-Americans through searing, poetic and personal stories of everyday people in Pittsburgh, PA.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola has announced that Fetch Clay, Make Man, written by Will Power and directed by Des McAnuff, will begin performances tonight, August 23 at NYTW, 79 East 4 Street, between Bowery and Second Avenue. Opening night is set for Thursday, September 12 at 7pm. Fetch Clay, Make Man is scheduled to run through Sunday, October 13; tickets are on sale now.

TimeLine Theatre Company begins its 2013-14 season with the award-winning play that 'changed American theater forever' (The New York Times). A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Ron OJ Parson, runs August 28 - November 17, 2013 (previews today, August 20 - 25) at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave, Chicago.

Arts advocate and philanthropist Howard J. Aibel of Weston will be honored with the Westport Country Playhouse Leadership Award at the theater's annual fundraising gala on the evening of Monday, September 16.

SALON/SANCTUARY CONCERTS opens its fifth season with the return of 'THE HEIRS OF TANTALUS'.

The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC and WQXR, the state-of-the-art venue of the nation's most listened-to news/talk and classical public radio stations, will make history this fall when it creates, for the first time, exclusive recordings of all 10 of August Wilson's American Century Cycle Plays.

Single tickets for Long Wharf Theatre's 2012-13 season are on sale starting Monday, August 5.