Billie Holiday Theatre News

The Motor City is coming to Broadway! Special guests from Detroit and New York City will come together for an extraordinary evening to celebrate the people, the culture, and the city of Detroit with Skeleton Crew, the Broadway premiere by Tony Award nominee Dominique Morisseau, at the 8PM performance on Friday, February 4.

The International Black Theatre Summit, a special initiative of The CRAFT Institute, held this year in collaboration with The Billie Holiday Theatre, will celebrate the inaugural Black Theatre Day with a daylong social media campaign and a virtual Happy Hour on Friday, September 17 at 5pm ET.

Nova Frontier Film Festival and Lab, The Billie Holiday Theater and Laurel Channel TV have once again joined forces to present the 2021 virtual edition of the Nova Frontier Film Festival during Juneteenth weekend from Thursday, June 17th – June 20th. Now in its 4th year, the Festival will feature films from across the African Diaspora, The Middle East, and Latin America, as well as a robust suite of events, all free and accessible to the public.

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.

A discussion with Creator Susan Cinoman, Producers Tracey Knight Narang, Terry Nardozzi and Playwright Cheryl Davis in discussion about the upcoming Period Piece project.

The Billie Holiday Theatre presents the premiere of the original theatrical film of its critically acclaimed work 12 Angry Men...and Women: The Weight of the Wait, filmed at Apple's Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. Including select stories from the 2011 edition of the acclaimed 12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today by The New Press and edited by Gregory S. Parks and Matthew W. Hughey, the film recounts narratives of racial profiling and unjust policing, as well as an original story that focuses on the killing of Breonna Taylor. 

Award winning actor and playwright David Heron has completed production as the narrator of A Reggae King Rises Again, Rolling Stone Magazine's new audio podcast tribute to Jamaican reggae legend and Grammy Award winning musician Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert.

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.

Beginning Thursday, December 10, 2020, Marcia Pendelton, president and founder of Walk Tall Girl Productions, will produce and host the new radio program, 'Backstage Stories.' The hour-long broadcast will air on WBAI FM (99.5 FM) in the Metropolitan New York City region and stream internationally on WBAI.org on Thursdays from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

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'!

The Billie Holiday Theatre announced today the expansion of its Board of Directors with the election of two new members: Kerry McCarthy (Vice President for philanthropic initiatives at The New York Community Trust) and Wendell Pierce (Tony award-winning actor and producer).

Cygnet Theatre has announced the line up for The Bill and Judy Garrett Finish Line Commission. The Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 playwrights include Angelica Chéri and Aurin Squire. Normally free public readings of the plays are held in person at the theatre, but due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions all artist work will be held via Zoom.

New York Public Radio and the August Wilson estate will release audio recordings of the playwright's American Century Cycle in 10 cultural institutions across the country.

Check out the current list of Equity-approved theatres, sorted by state, as well as any upcoming events they may have planned.

That Kindness: Nurses in their Own Words is a new virtual play created by American nurses with writer, activist, and performance artist V (formerly known as Eve Ensler), honoring nurses' selfless act of service and revealing raw, passionate testimonies from the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Billie Holiday Theater in Brooklyn will spearhead The Black Seed, which is described as the first national strategic plan to provide financial support for Black theaters across the country.

The Billie Holiday Theatre presented its mainstage fall 2020 presentation on Saturday, September 12, with 12 Angry Men...and Women: The Weight of the Wait in partnership with The New Press

Urban Stages has announces #NWORD, a virtual reading and performance. This will be part of Urban Stages' September Play Fest & Fundraiser to raise funds and continue the theater's decades long efforts of discovering and producing new plays by diverse up-and-coming artists.

On Saturday, September 12, 2020 at 8PM ET, The Billie Holiday Theatre will present its mainstage fall presentation for 2020 online with 12 Angry Men...and Women: The Weight of the Wait.