Eugene Lee News

The production values and cast of the Ahmanson Theatre's, A SOLDIER'S PLAY, are absolutely stellar. But, I had to wonder, is this story 'enough' for the younger African-American audiences of today?

The Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play has arrived in LA! In this video, watch as the company walks the red carpet on opening night.

Trinity Repertory Company, Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Curt Columbus and Executive Director Kate Liberman, announces its milestone 60th Anniversary Season.

The National Tour of A Soldier’s Play at ASU Gammage is magic, being led by not only the sensational Norm Lewis but also a fantastic cast, telling a story that although set in a time and place nearly 80 years ago, is also one that still mirrors realities our communities face today.

To celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of Los Angeles, nurture lifelong learning and human connection, and connect audiences with artists that are working at the highest levels of their own experience and craft, Center Theatre Group will host a variety of events tied to the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

Trinity Repertory Company concludes its 2022-23 Season with the award-winning musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler. Directed by Curt Columbus, Sweeney Todd runs at Trinity Rep in the Dowling Theater from May 25 through June 25, 2023.

The North American tour of “A Soldier’s Play” will make its Los Angeles premiere at Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre May 23 through June 25, 2023.

A SOLDIER’S PLAY is a solid and well-structured play from Charles Fuller that explores the deep-seated roots of American racism. Centered on a Black regiment in 1944 Fort Neal, Louisiana, the play takes the form of a murder investigation when Captain Richard Davenport arrives on the scene following the death of Sergeant Vernon C. Waters. While Fuller’s 1981 play is no doubt an indictment of the racist systems embedded in the American military—and the country as a whole—the piece now feels prescient, rather than revelatory. I imagine that it must have been quite radical when it debuted over forty years ago, but now it reads like a reinforcement of the truth. It’s an effective one, and audiences who enjoy the procedural format will appreciate the play’s series of interviews and flashbacks. Director Kenny Leon’s production keeps it moving at a brisk pace, but neither material nor staging are groundbreaking.

Arden Theatre Company is bringing audiences back into the world of August Wilson's ten-part series, The American Century Cycle. This time audiences will journey to Pittsburgh in the late 1990s for the final play of the cycle, August Wilson's Radio Golf. This bittersweet drama of assimilation and alienation in nineties America traces the forces of change on a neighborhood and its people caught between history and the twenty-first century. This is the fifth play in the cycle that the Arden has produced.  Kash Goins, who was an actor in the Arden's production of Two Trains Running, returns to direct. August Wilson's Radio Golf runs March 23-April 16.

The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) announced winners of its 27th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards in 14 categories of film, television, commercials, music videos and animation features, during a black-tie dinner gala at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on Saturday night, February 18, 2023. 

Purchase College, State University of New York’s Broadway Technical Theatre History Project, will present the Ninth Broadway technical “Backstage Legends and Masters Award” to theater legend, William M. (Bill) Mensching on Monday, April 24, 2023 at 7 p.m. at The Performing Arts Center on campus, located at 735 Anderson Hill Road in Purchase, NY.

In light of the death of former Dallas Theater Center Artistic Director, Adrian Hall, Executive Director, Kevin Moriarty offers words of perspective, comfort and hope. Read his full statement here.

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Tony Winner Eugene Lee has passed away. Lee won the Tony Award for Best Set Design in 2004 for Wicked. He was also nominated for a Tony Award for Ragtime. He also served as scenic designer for the original productions of Merrily We Roll Along, Sweeney Todd, and Seussical. 

Adrian Hall, 95, the founding artistic director of Trinity Repertory Company died on February 4, 2023 at his home in Van, Texas.

Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School officially renamed its current Black Box Theatre in the Howard Center for the Performing Arts as the Fuller Theatre, in honor of the late Charles Fuller, a school alumnus and Philadelphia-born playwright of the Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning Best Revival of a Play, A SOLDIER’S PLAY, playing at Philadelphia’s Forrest Theatre through January 29. See photos from the ceremony!

A Soldier's Play pinpoints various forms of racism found within the ranks of the military. Racism is detrimental to all who exhibits it. In this case it led to the death of an enlisted sergeant. This 'whodunit' masterpiece takes it's patron on a 'cat and mice' journey of colorism and racism with many guilty parties.

Trinity Repertory Company has announced the four Rhode Island residents who will be honored at its 24th Pell Awards Gala on Monday, June 5, 2023 at WaterFire Arts Center.

Roundabout Theatre Company has officially launched its national touring production of the 2020 Tony Award-winning Best Revival of the 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play. Read the reviews for A Soldier's Play here!

A searing indictment of prejudice and racism in all its permutations wrapped in a fascinating “whodunit” mystery ----the compelling Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Charles Fuller, A Soldier’s Play, is now a knockout of a production at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. 

Get a first look at footage of the premiere national touring production of Roundabout's 2020 Tony Award-winning Best Revival of the 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play.