Ellen Holly News

Producer, director, and New Federal Theatre founder Woodie King Jr. passed away at 88 on January 29 following complications from emergency heart surgery.

Ellen Holly, the first Black person to have a lead role in daytime television, has passed away at 92. She was a theater actress, starred on Broadway, and was a published author. Her autobiography detailed her career and her historic Black family.

Woodie King, Jr., Founder and Producing Director of New Federal Theatre (NFT), will retire from leadership of the famed theater company on June 30, 2021, handing the baton to NFT's newly appointed Artistic Director, Elizabeth Van Dyke.

Woodie King Jr., founder of New Federal Theatre has penned an article exclusively for BroadwayWorld, discussing New Federal Theatre's past, present and more.

Red Bull Theater presents Keith Hamilton Cobb's acclaimed play American Moor, making its Off-Broadway premiere at Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St), in a production directed by Kim Weild and produced in collaboration with Evangeline Morphos, Frederick M. Zollo, Elizabeth I. McCann and Tom Shea.

King Lear is making its triumphant return to Broadway, starring Glenda Jackson in a gender-swapped version of the title role. As we gear up for this revival, let's take a look back on some notable Lears past...

 On Saturday, May 5th 2018, Take Wing And Soar Productions (TWASInc), an award winning, Harlem-based, professional Theater Arts Corporation held its Fifteenth Anniversary Gala Celebration, the TAKE WING AND SOAR SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS, at Columbia University's Lerner Hall Roone Arledge Auditorium.  The elegant afternoon featured esteemed hosts, talented classical actor/singers and the Volunteer Divas who were joined by approximately 120 business leaders, artists, patrons, volunteers, friends and alumni.

Lee Chamberlin, an actress and playwright whose career spanned four decades on the stage, television and films, died of cancer at 76 on May 25, 2014. Her death was confirmed by her family.

As viewers and television historians prepare to say good-bye to the landmark daytime soap opera One Life to Live on January 13, Ellen Holly, one of the show's original cast members, hopes to expose what she believes were duplicitous behind-the-scenes happenings of the iconic daytime drama and the show's true place in television history.