Michele Shay

Funded by The Black Seed, the African-American Shakespeare Company & The CRAFT Institute have come together to form the African Diasporic Network that will debut Echoes of Us: Now and Always July 15-17 at the Marines Memorial Theatre. 

The African-American Shakespeare Company will feature a total of 5 productions during its 2022-23 season that will include an original work Echoes of Us, curated and produced by the company in conjunction with The Craft Institute's African Diasporic Network and funded by The Black Seed Fund. Echoes of Us will be directed by famed actress and director Michele Shay and will run July 14-17 at the Marines Memorial Theater.

On Thursday April 14, members of the original 1976 Broadway cast of for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf visited the Booth Theatre to enjoy Camille A. Brown’s reimagined production of Ntozake Shange’s classic choreopoem and meet the current cast.

The African Diasporic Network has finally announced plans for its first production, Echoes of Us, to be directed by none other than Michele Shay. 

This production marks the first Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange's piece, however, it has had quite the life on stage and screen. Today, we're taking you through the production history of for colored girls... to learn more about its journey back to Broadway!

RED BULL THEATER today announced the complete cast for its online Benefit Reading of Shakespeare’s Pericles featuring a company Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) voices.

Rising Phoenix Repertory has announced that Larry Powell is the recipient of this year’s Cornelia Street American Playwriting Award. The honor is presented to an emerging playwright of exceptional work ethic, character, and talent. 

The Billie Holiday Theatre has announced the return of its monologue showcase series - 50in50 – with a special fifth anniversary edition of the show - 50in50: Shattering the Glass Ceiling. For this year’s show, 50 original monologues were selected from women of African descent from across the globe and will be read by 50 women actors.

Center Theatre Group has announced the four judges who are evaluating performances by 11 local high school students in the regional finals for the 2021 August Wilson Monologue Competition. The competition was held virtually with participants performing on the stage of the Kirk Douglas Theatre and the judges viewing remotely but in real time.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation has announced that the 2020 Joe A. Callaway Awards will be awarded to Danya Taymor for excellence in directing for Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons) and Travis Wall for excellence in choreography for The Wrong Man (MCC Theater).

The Billie Holiday Theatre announced today a $300,000 grant from the Seller-Lehrer Family Foundation to establish the Seller-Lehrer Family Foundation Scholarship Fund for programs under the Theatre’s newly expanded Education & Humanities Division, including the Black Arts Institute and Youth Arts Academy.

The 48th Annual Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards occurred virtually on Monday, November 30, 2020 at 7pm hosted by Roger Guenveur Smith, the AUDELCO award winning actor, best known for his “The Huey P. Newton Story” and as Smiley in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”! and LaChanze, AUDELCO award winner for “The Secret Life of Bees” and 2006 Tony award winner for “The Color Purple”. 

The 48th Annual Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards will occur virtually on Monday, November 30, 2020 at 7pm and will be hosted by Roger Guenveur Smith, the AUDELCO award winning actor, best known for his 'The Huey P. Newton Story' and as Smiley in Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing'!

AUDELCO has announced the nominees for its 2020 'VIV' Awards, honoring excellence in Black Theatre.

Dumont Millennial Production, a new multimedia production company amplifying the unheard voices of first-generation Americans while exploring new technologies and innovative forms of storytelling, has announced its inaugural presentation, a livestreamed reading of Gooodnight, Tyler by B.J. Tindal (they/them) to benefit the National Black Theatre.

In case you were unable to join us for the live stream, or if youa??d like to revisit the powerful new works by some of Broadway and Hollywooda??s most vital voices, we invite you to watch #WhileWeBreathe, recorded live on Wednesday, July 29.

Producers Brian Moreland (Blue) and Arvind Ethan David (Jagged Little Pill) have announced #WhileWeBreathe: A Night of Creative Protest.

Producers Brian Moreland and Arvind Ethan David have announced casting for #WhileWeBreathe: A Night of Creative Protest in benefit of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc and The Bail Project, Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD), BYP100 Education Fund, Forced Trajectory Project (FTP), The Justice Committee, and SONG.

London's Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance has launched a range of online summer masterclasses and workshops run by internationally renowned practitioners.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre announced today cast details for a special edition of its breakout 50in50 monologue showcase series - 50in50: Love in the Time of Corona - with title inspiration from the classic novel Love in the Time of Cholera by Nobel prize winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez.