Lorraine Hansberry News

August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean will continue South Coast Repertory's 2017-18 season. With quiet power and undeniable beauty, Gem of the Ocean transports audiences to 1904 Pittsburgh and tells a story that mixes legends from the past with notes of hope for the future. Kent Gash will direct Gem of the Ocean on the Segerstrom Stage, Oct 14-Nov. 11, 2017. Tickets are available at www.scr.org.

This has been an unusual weekend for me. I had the privilege of attending two compelling plays written by African Americans about African Americans and performed by African Americans. Both shows are moving presentations that made me laugh. They made me cry. And they made me view the lives of families very different from my own with a new sense of understanding.

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, celebrates the opening of three Rolling World Premieres: Project Dawn by Karen Hartman, The Arsonists by Jacqueline Goldfinger, and Br'er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm. Scroll down for details on each production!

American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), has released its annual October Season Preview issue, which includes lists of the Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights for the new season.

Lynchburg, Virginia. The former site of a thriving cotton mill is now an impoverished neighborhood. Deeply affected by all of the recent killings, of young black men like himself, Ruffrino, a 14 year old militant, incites riots at school and online. More and more at odds with his mother and grandfather, the boys' anger grows beyond containment while the family home literally sinks into the cotton field, and no one seems to notice but him.

Atlantic Theater Company has announced its 2017-2018 Amplified Reading Series selections, presenting six bold new plays throughout Atlantic's season with an expanded rehearsal process for more meaningful engagement with the material and the playwright.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre continues its 2017/18 season with August Wilson's beloved play, FENCES, the winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play that same year.

The wait is over. Two River Theater (TRT) opens its 2017/2018 Season with an outstanding production of the time-honored classic, A Raisin in the Sun. The show will be on the Red Bank stage now through October 8. Written by Lorraine Hansberry and directed by Carl Cofield, it is staged and performed to perfection.

Mention the name Nina Simone and your mind probably conjures up jazz. Yes, Nina, the jazz superstar and writer/performer of such powerhouse songs as 'My Baby Just Cares for Me,' 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black,' and 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.' But, were you aware that the terms child prodigy, civil rights activist, political exile and the Legend Queen of Black Classical music also apply?

The award-winning KALI THEATRE specialises in presenting new plays by South Asian female playwrights, a mission that has been instrumental in developing talent and taking powerful new work to increasing audiences and critical acclaim across the UK for the past 25 years.

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.

Park Square Theatre is gearing up for its next season with world, American and Midwest premieres in a season that will showcase the Twin Cities diversity and talent.

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, launches its 2017/18 Season with Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Carl Cofield.

Two River Theater (Artistic Director John Dias, Managing Director Michael Hurst) presents A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Carl Cofield. The press opening is Friday, September 15 at 7pm and performances will continue through Sunday, October 8 in Two River's Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org.

Writer, teacher, therapist, lobbyist and actor Danna Schaeffer will present her one-woman show, You in Midair, from October 5 through 15, at New Expressive Works. You in Midair is directed by Julie Akers. Previously titled My Little Jezebel, this full production follows a January 2017 staged reading with PDX Playwrights in the Fertile Ground Festival New Works.

The Toronto International Film Festival debuted the 2017 Discovery programme lineup with 45 first and second feature films by up-and-coming filmmakers from around the world. Good news for the future of global cinema: this is the biggest Discovery programme to date, with 25% more titles than the 2016 roster and two-thirds of the selection World Premiering at TIFF.

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) announces the featured playwrights and plays for the 2017 Matchbox Readings Series, an annual program presenting four public staged readings of plays in development. Playwrights include Idris Goodwin, Lisa Marie Rollins, Jonathan Spector, and Nathan Yungerberg. The readings will be presented November 15-18 at Brava! for Women in the Arts.

August Wilson's Tony award-winning stage play, Jitney, takes center stage at The Blumenthal's Duke Energy Theatre, produced by Brand New Sheriff Productions.

Artistic Director Tony Prince and Producing Director Richard McGrew are excited to announce the 2017-2018 season of The Liminal Playhouse.

The Artistic Home will open its 2017-18 season with a lesser known, but wholly timely piece: WEDDING BAND: A LOVE/HATE STORY IN BLACK AND WHITE, by eminent African-American playwright and author Alice Childress. It will open to the press Sunday, October 29 at 7:00 pm, following previews from October 25 - 28.