Lorraine Hansberry News

Rufus Norris, director of the National Theatre, today announced a high-profile slate of forthcoming productions for 2016. Among them is Annie Baker's Pulitzer Prize-winning play THE FLICK -- keep reading for the jam-packed, incredible lineup!

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announces dates and subscription tickets for the 2015 - 2016 Season Artistic Advisor master classes and events -- Suzanne Farrell, former Principal Dancer in George Balanchine's New York City Ballet and founder of Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center (January 24, 2016); Judith Jamison, dancer, choreographer and Artistic Director Emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (April 5, 2016); Patti LuPone, Grammy, Olivier and Tony Award-winning actor and singer (March 31, 2016); Arturo Sandoval, Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter, pianist, composer and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (October 27, 2015); and Denzel Washington, Academy, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winning actor (September 17, 2015). 

LOS ANGELES, CA (September 15, 2015) Ebony Repertory Theatre (ERT -  Founder/Producer Wren T. Brown) announced today that Garth Fagan Dance will bring to Los Angeles Fagan's tribute to the late Geoffrey Holder, "Dance for/With Geoffrey." Performances at the 400-seat Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (4718 W. Washington Blvd.) in Los Angeles will run October 16-18, 2015. www.ebonyrep.org

A wide range of stories and voices comprise Goodman Theatre's 2015/2016 Season-a 'Big-Bold-Brilliant' line-up, beginning this month.

Greenway Arts Alliance has announced the world premiere production of Breathe, a drama by Javon Johnson. Directed by Levy Lee Simon, there will be two preview performances on September 23 and 24 at 8pm and opening night is set for Friday, September 25 at 8pm. The limited engagement of 17 performances will run through Friday, October 23.

Greenway Arts Alliance has announced a season of five world premieres kicking off September 25 with BREATHE by Javon Johnson which will run concurrently with BREATHING ROOM by Mary Lou Newmark (beginning October 3). FRONT DOOR OPEN by Tom Baum follows in November, and 2016 will begin with SWARM CELL by Gabriel Rivas Gomez, opening in January. The season will conclude with SIX LETTERS IN HARLEM by Crescent McGlone, opening in July.

BootStrap Theater Foundation is pleased to announce the world premiere of 'Arctic Requiem: The Story of Luke Cole and Kivalina' created by Sharmon J. Hilfinger and Joan McMillen, directed by Tracy Ward. This multifaceted theatrical production will run October 23 - November 15 at San Francisco's Z Below Theater 450 Florida Street with an Opening Night on Sunday, October 25, 5 p.m.

A glimpse at the artistry and talent of E'dena Hines.

Now, running through September 6th, Mad Cow Theatre has brought to their stage an exemplary production of Norris' surprisingly funny CLYBOURNE PARK that is so full of intelligence, talent, and compassion that it can't help but engage Orlando theatre audiences in this discussion that has become vitally important given tragic events in our country over the past year.

On September 26, the Long Beach Playhouse opens its 87th Mainstage Season with lower ticket prices for Friday night shows. Instead of paying $24, the Friday night single ticket price will be $20.

Penfold Theatre Company has announced its 2015-16 mainstage season, including an original adaptation of a holiday masterpiece; Penfold's Long Center debut with a Tony, Olivier and Pulitzer prize winning play; and a return to the Bard for our annual 'Penfold in the Park'!

The American Theatre Wing has just announced new appointments to its Board of Trustees and Advisory Committee, BroadwayWorld has learned.

On September 26, the Long Beach Playhouse opens its 87th Mainstage Season. This year's season is a celebration of authors and their finest works with classics including Pygmalion, The Mousetrap, A Raisin in the Sun and Around the World in 80 Days. The season opens with Lanford Wilson's comedy classic, Hot L Baltimore on September 26, 2015. The season curtain falls on August 6, 2016 with the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In between are six plays, including a two-weekend run of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.

Dutchman Opens Limited Engagement at Edgemar Center for the Arts on July 15; Tanna Frederick and Siaka Massaquoi star, Levy Lee Simons directs

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announces dates and subscription tickets for the 2015 - 2016 Season Artistic Advisor master classes and events -- Suzanne Farrell, former Principal Dancer in George Balanchine's New York City Ballet and founder of Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center (January 24, 2016); Judith Jamison, dancer, choreographer and Artistic Director Emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (April 5, 2016); Patti LuPone, Grammy, Olivier and Tony Award-winning actor and singer (March 31, 2016); Arturo Sandoval, Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter, pianist, composer and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (October 27, 2015); and Denzel Washington, Academy, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winning actor (September 17, 2015). 

The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Grep Cooper Productions, LLC LLC have announced that Virginia Woodruff (Violet, Leap of Faith, The Color Purple, All Shook Up, Smokey Joe's Cafe), Cheryl A. Freeman (The Who's Tommy , Disney's Hercules), Tyler Hardwick , Anthony Chatmon II , Miche Braden and Darilyn Castillo have joined the cast of ACAPPELLA. Rounding out the company are Katrina R. Dideriksen, Gavyn Pickens, Emily Goglia, Rachel Gavaletz, Janelle McDermoth, Darryl Williams, Alex Koceja and Garrett Turner.

Ebony Repertory Theatre (ERT - Founder/Producer Wren T. Brown) announced today that they will present the Pulitzer Prize Finalist and Tony Award-nominated production of THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS starring Tony Award-winner Roger Robinson (Joe Turner's Come and Gone) as Oedpius. The acclaimed production, conceived and adapted by Lee Breuer (Mabou Mines' Trilogy) and music by Bob Telson (Lincoln Center Theater's Chronicle of a Death Foretold), is a soul stirring dramatic-musical which takes place within the framework of a Pentecostal church service set against the tragic Greek background of the story of Oedipus at Colonus, in which the exiled king Oedipus seeks a place where he may be properly buried. ERT's production, directed by Andi Chapman (Actors Co-op's Steel Magnolias - Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Director), will commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Los Angeles Premiere. Performances will run tonight, June 18 - July 19, 2015 with an official press opening on Saturday, June 20 at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (4718 West Washington Boulevard) in Los Angeles.

Somewhere in my prodigious vinyl collection there is at least one album by the self-proclaimed 'High Priestess of Soul,' Nina Simone; and having just seen SIMPLY SIMONE: The Music of Nina Simone, at the Hattiloo Theatre, I am taking a deep breath and planning to thumb through my myriad of records in order to seek it out. Nina Simone never quite 'caught on' with mainstream audiences; the legendary Aretha Franklin, who, like Simone, emerged from a gospel background and was a gifted pianist, was much more successful in that respect. Simone was too idiosyncratic a performer to be pigeonholed or labeled. She scoffed at being called a blues singer or a jazz singer; her early classical training, encouraged by a white pianist and patron (who collected money from the people in the town and helped to enroll at Juilliard), always informed her music. Moreover, the songs she chose to interpret, in addition to her own, were an eclectic repertoire: Everything from Gershwin to the Beatles. Underappreciated in her own country, and disillusioned by the stagnation of the Civil Rights Movement after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she found her audience abroad, particularly in France; she turned her back on disco (which she disdainfully dismissed) and was selective and intelligent in the music she chose to interpret, which left no room for her on the popularity bandwagon.

Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play that is sure to stimulate much debate on social issues - past and present. It plays at Two Muses Theatre from tonight, June 5 through June 21.

Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play that is sure to stimulate much debate on social issues - past and present. It plays at Two Muses Theatre from June 5 through June 21.