Hattie McDaniel News

More than ever before, the past few months have made me realize how much work I have to do on my own as a white female, and specifically, a white female in theater, to combat the racial injustices that line our country's past and present.

Founded by Douglas Lyons (Beautiful, Beau), The Next Wave Initiative is a developmental branch of The Directors Company, committed to amplifying future Black voices in The American Theatre. On July 1st, at 7pm EST, NWI will host its first Zoom-Room Series: 'To be Young, Gifted, Black...and cast.'

We've rounded up 10 MORE books about Black theatre to read and educate yourself while in quarantine. 

Houston Theater company Vincent Victoria Presents will be premiering their next virtual production on June 26th and 27th. Entitled Divas, Dudes, and Characters, the performance will include scenes and monologues from Playwright/Producer Vincent Victoria's catalog of plays.

Douglas Lyons (Beautiful, Beau) has launched The Next Wave Initiative, a developmental branch of The Directors Company committed to amplifying future Black voices in The American Theatre.

Not willing to let Covid-19 dampen their creative spirit and ambitions, Vincent Victoria Presents will be performing their second full length virtual play during the pandemic.

On Friday, Oct. 11, 6:00 pm, Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series will honor award-winning performance artist, author and cultural activist Camille Yarbrough with our distinguished Reel Sisters Hattie McDaniel Award for her outstanding contributions to film, television, literature and performing arts over six decades. The Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award will be presented to Sandra Guzman, producer and lead interviewer of Toni Morrison: Pieces I Am, and pioneering filmmaker Leslie Harris, director of the classic film Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. Cash prizes will also be presented to our award-winning filmmakers. Tickets: $35 ($30 - Bring A Pal discount for 2+ tickets).

Over his four-decade career in the entertainment industry as a multi-award winning celebrity talent executive, producer, writer and occasional performer, Brian Edwards has worked with some of the biggest names in show business, not to mention some of the most beloved gay icons: Donna Summer, Joan Rivers, Cindy Crawford, Susan Sarandon, Melissa Rivers, Whoopi Goldberg, Farrah Fawcett, Shirley Jones, Naomi Judd, and Vanessa Williams, just to name a few. His debut book, published in late 2013 and titled, Enter Miss Thang, was an unabashedly honest and side-splitting memoir which became a national best seller and received several awards along the way, including top honors at The National Indie Excellence Awards, The International Book Awards and the IBPA Awards, ultimately becoming the most honored LGBT non-fiction book of 2014. Never one to let the party end, Edwards has just published his follow-up, which drops Labor Day Weekend, with even more insider tales, titled, I Might Have Been Queen (And Other Things I Didn't Mention Before).

BWW Review: BETTE DAVIS AIN'T FOR SISSIES at 3Below Theater is a compelling portrait of the great stage and film legend and early feminist.

Official winner of the Hollywood Fringe Scholarship Award and now on at the 2019 Dallas Solo Festival - Who You Calling A Bitch?!? Is the solo reverie of a young African-American actress as she navigates her identity through iconic African-American characters and entertainers in black history.

Whoopi Goldberg returns to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall stage on Saturday, April 27, 2019, at 8 p.m. for a performance you won't want to miss!

The Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival (LAWTF) marks 26 years of producing well over 500 extraordinary multicultural and multidisciplinary solo performers from around the globe.

It was only eight years ago when two-time Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage's terrific show-biz social satire, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark was first seen Off-Broadway, but director Kamilah Forbes' crackling good new mounting for Signature Theatre is a welcome return.

If standing ovations are one of the major parameters of a successful play, Hattie's Big Night would be deemed a crowd pleasing hit. The new show by Houston Playwright Vincent Victoria and produced by his company Vincent Victoria Presents, had its World Premiere on February 1 and has had audiences on their feet during the curtain call for each performance.

Main Street Theater is partnering with Harris County Public Library (HCPL) to celebrate the contributions of historical African American actors to Shakespeare.

The New York Pops announces the appointment of Broadway star Capathia Jenkins to its Board of Directors. Capathia has previously appeared as a soloist with The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall on multiple occasions, including during the orchestra's R&B celebration in February 2018.

To celebrate the October 26th, 2018, release of their brand-new Di-Tone Records project Phenomenal Woman: The Maya Angelou Songs, the critically acclaimed duo of vocalist Capathia Jenkins and award-winning composer, arranger and musician Louis Rosen will perform for three nights, Thursday through Saturday, October 25, 26, and 27, 2018, at the iconic jazz venue Birdland's new Birdland Theatre in New York City. The Birdland Theatre is located at 315 West 44th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.

Jazzheads 2018 Piano Festival: Dave Frank and Randy Klein at Club Bonafide Tues, June 19th 7:30 - 9:30p Jazzheads, one of NYC's premier jazz record labels, is proud to present the first of a series of upcoming mini-festivals featuring some of the greatest jazz musicians in NYC in an intimate setting. Two top-tier pianists with different modern styles, Dave Frank and Randy Klein, will present back to back shows at the beautiful Club Bonafide, 212 E 52nd St., 3rd floor.

Sarasota Opera's Da Capo Society, the only young patrons group, ages 21 - 45, dedicated to a single arts organization in Sarasota, will host The Wizard of Oz themed costume contest Thursday, June 7th at 6pm to celebrate the launch of the new season of "Classic Movies at the Opera House." Launched in 2017, the "Classic Movies at the Opera House" series will occur twice monthly starting Thursday, June 7 and will include timeless films designed to be enjoyed on the big screen in the elegance of the Opera House. Each presentation will begin at 7:30pm.

Rich-Rey Productions LLC has announced the Bay Area Premiere of HATTIE MCDANIEL…WHAT I NEED YOU TO KNOW!starring Vickilyn Reynolds as Hattie McDaniel, the trailblazing Gone with the Wind Academy Award-winner. HATTIE MCDANIEL… will perform from June 21 - 24, 2018 at the Cowell Theatre located within the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture (2 Marina Blvd, Landmark Building C, Suite 260, San Francisco, CA 94123).