Jason Dirden News

Definition Theatre has revealed the finalists of the Amplify Series Three New Play Commissioning Program. 

Tony-winner Anika Noni Rose has wed fellow actor Jason Dirden. The pair met in 2014 while performing together in the Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun. 

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. 

Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company announced winners of its 14th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition National Finals,  held virtually on Monday, May 3, 2021 at 7pm ET. The first place winner was Taloria Merricks from Atlanta; second place, Taylor Jackson from Atlanta; and third place, Tyla Uzo from Los Angeles.

Saturday, April 3 will see the debut of the feature length biopic Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia on Lifetime at 8pm EST/7pm CST. The movie of legend Mahalia Jackson stars GRAMMY and SAG award winner Danielle Brooks as the gospel legend and civil rights trail blazer.

Actor and producer Erin Cherry (After Forever) gets behind the mic to talk with host Patrick Oliver Jones, not only about her own acting journey onstage and onscreen but of the black women she watched growing up like Cicely Tyson and Diahann Carroll and the importance of such role models and examples, then and now.

Atlantic Theater Company has announced its Fall Reunion Reading Series, a free virtual reading series of plays that had their World Premieres at Atlantic Theater Company. The series, which launches October 22nd, will include broadcasts of Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau, and Guards at the Taj by Rajiv Joseph.

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.

Since 2012, award-winning actor and director Brandon J. Dirden has made an artistic home at Two River Theater, appearing on the theater's Red Bank stage in five productions and making his directorial debut in 2015 with August Wilson's Seven Guitarsa?"a production that NJ Monthly raved a?oepoignantly captures the joys and sorrows that are the signatures of Wilson's work.a??

August Wilson's “Jitney,” opened this week at Center Theatre Group at the Mark Taper Forum, running now through December 29.

Two River Theater announces the lineup of productions for its 2019/20 Season.

Today BET Networks announced second season pick-ups for both its half-hour subversive, smart, serialized comedy series 'BOOMERANG,' and the critically-acclaimed period drama based on the untold rise of the iconic music and dance program 'Soul Train,' 'AMERICAN SOUL.' BET is investing in partnerships with leading Black content creators with unique creative voices to bring viewers elevated storytelling and premium programming.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson's powerful and touching solo play 'Lackawanna Blues' is currently running at the Mark Taper Forum. Produced by Center Theatre Group, See photos from opening night!

Get all the scoop on Upcoming Guests on STRAHAN & SARA, 2./18-2/22, airing on ABC on Monday, February 18, 2019!

Get all the scoop on Upcoming Guests on STRAHAN & SARA, 2./18-2/22, airing on ABC on Monday, February 18, 2019!

The Blackhouse Foundation and BET Networks extend their longstanding partnership with the selection of 10 Black MFA students from across the country to serve as participants in the BET Networks-Blackhouse Fellowship Program at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival January 25-28 in Park City, UT. As part of this alliance, these two cultural powerhouses return with year two of this celebrated program.

The Blackhouse Foundation and BET Networks extend their longstanding partnership with the selection of 10 Black MFA students from across the country to serve as participants in the BET Networks-Blackhouse Fellowship Program at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival January 25-28 in Park City, UT. As part of this alliance, these two cultural powerhouses return with year two of this celebrated program. 

BET Networks today announced Kelly Price and Kelly Rowland are boarding AMERICAN SOUL, the newest scripted drama series that chronicles the untold rise of Soul Train. The powerhouse singers will pull double duty on the music-based series, showcasing both their incredible voices and acting chops. Kelly Price joins the cast as a series regular, while Kelly Rowland will portray Soul legend Gladys Knight, who was instrumental in launching Soul Train to national prominence. Rowland will also record an original version of Knight's classic hit, 'Midnight Train to Georgia' for the role.

Center Theatre Group has announced casting for the inaugural L.A. Writers' Workshop Festival: New Plays Forged In L.A., a one day event at the Kirk Douglas Theatre celebrating some of the freshest and most exciting voices in modern American theatre. The festival will take place on June 23 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with readings of three new plays by three L.A. Writers' Workshop participants from throughout the program's 13-year history. The readings include "A Kind of Weather" by Sylvan Oswald, "New Life" by Dan O'Brien and "How To Raise A Freeman" by Zakiyyah Alexander.

It was a swell family affair at Two River Theater last night as a searing and powerful production of Lorraine Hansberry's American classic A Raisin in the Sun, helmed by Carl Cofield and starring Brandon J. Dirden as Walter Lee Younger, his wife Crystal A. Dickinson as Ruth Younger, his father Willie Dirden as Bobo, Brenda Pressley as Lena Younger, Jasmine Batchelor as Beneatha Younger, Nat DeWolf as Karl Lindner, Charlie Hudson III as Joseph Asagai, Owen Tabaka as Travis Younger, York Walker as George Murchison, with Andrew Binger and David Joel Rivera as the Moving Men, celebrated opening night.