Director, Writer and Actor Richard Allen / Shango Amin Passes Away

Richard Allen / Shango Amin passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, June 12th, 2013. He lived life as a passionate and successful theatre and television actor, audio book and voice over artist, theatrical producer and director and writer.

His career as an actor included over 20 years on television on shows such as Star Trek the Next Generation (as Darmak, the Tamarian first officer); Treme on HBO (recurring) and One Life To Live (recurring), as well as theatre which included "Grey Gardens" at Playwrights Horizons, originating the role of Booker T. Washington in the World Premiere of "Ragtime", and "Play On!" at Pasadena Playhouse (Ovation Awards Winner / LA Drama Critics Award Nominee).

Richard Allen was also an award-winning audio book voice-over artist of nearly 100 titles, including The Autobiography of Fredrick Douglas; Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence; He-Motions by T.D. Jakes; Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson; and Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves - and his work has been heard via publishers such as Tantor Media, Random House Audio, Books on Tape, Brilliance Audio, Blackstone Audio and more.

Mostly recently Shango was developing two new musicals, "M and M" a new black musical rendition of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and "SIR" a new musical based on the award winning film To Sir With Love.

In 2012, Shango founded Black Sheep Theatricals and became a theatrical producer and was making his Broadway producing debut with the upcoming "Mr Rickey Calls A Meeting" (2014).

A graduate of Drama Studio London, Carnegie-Mellon and Adelphi U, Richard / Shango has lived in LA and NYC and spent the past 40 years in his life dedicated to the world of entertainment.

A celebration of his life is being planned for NYC on Sept 8th, 2013. Please send inquiries, stories and remembrances to Shango@lavieproductions.com.