Lorraine Hansberry News

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) announces the full cast and creative team for the world premiere of Slave Play

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe Stages an Impassioned RAISIN

The Lark, a theater company devoted to the support of visionary playwrights and the development of new plays, is thrilled to announce five New York City-based playwrights have been named as the 2018-19 Rita Goldberg Playwrights' Workshop Fellows. The group spans a wide range of backgrounds and professional experiences and will meet regularly throughout the year to develop new plays.

Jasmine Batchelor and Andrea Goss star in The River opening this month at TheaterWorks in Hartford, Connecticut. The two actresses sat down with BroadwayWorld.com to chat about the upcoming play, the characters, and what the best advice they ever received when first starting out in the business.

WFMT and The Studs Terkel Radio Archive invite audiences into the history books with the new podcast Bughouse Square with Eve Ewing. Inspired by the legacy of the inimitable 20th century broadcaster and oral historian Studs Terkel, and supported by hours and hours of tape from the Studs Terkel Radio Archive, the podcast revisits historical figures and events once explored by Terkel-now unpacked for the 21st century. And there is no better guide to lead audiences through decades of American letters and culture than series host Eve Ewing, the prolific writer, scholar, and cultural organizer.

In keeping with their tradition of honoring the ancestors and artistic leaders of past generations, Penumbra Theatre is opening this season by revisiting Ntozake Shange's groundbreaking iconoclastic work, for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, which won an Obie in 1976 for its Broadway run, which I saw. Let's pause to note that it was the first Broadway show written by a Black woman since Lorraine Hansberry's RAISIN IN THE SUN in 1959.

An heroic struggle for dignity, the importance of family, and the attainment of the American Dream take center stage in Lorraine Hansberry's acclaimed drama "A Raisin in the Sun," to be presented by Theater To Go at Mercer County Community College's (MCCC's) Kelsey Theatre.

Today, The 24 Hour Plays announced that they will bring The 24 Hour Musicals to Broadway for the first time. The evening, which is in partnership with The Lillys, will pay homage to the women who are changing the landscape of American Theatre. The 24 Hour Musicals will take place on Monday, October 29th at 8:00 PM at the American Airlines Theatre in Times Square.

For the first time in over 20 years the Bay Area will have the chance to experience Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls When The Rainbow is Enuf. This transformative and riveting evening of provocative dance, music and poetry tells the stories of 7 individual women dealing with the at times brutal, tender and dramatic arcs of their lives. 

THEATER TO GO presetns its October production of Lorraine Hansberry's classic American drama A RAISIN IN THE SUN. This drama about the African American experience explores the hopes and dreams of one extended family, the Youngers, a black working class family struggling to achieve the American Dream in the face of racial tensions and economic disenfranchisement in 1950's Chicago.

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce that Jeremy O. Harris is the recipient of the 2018-19 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award. Mr. Harris will be presented with the award at The Vineyard's annual Emerging Artists Luncheon on Friday, October 12 from noon-2:30pm at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) in Manhattan. Paula Vogel will speak at the event.

Bronx Charter School for the Arts' students, staff, families and supporters have a lot to be excited about heading back-to-school. On Thursday, Aug. 30, educators, national leaders from the Arts community, elected officials, families and students will join the ribbon-cutting celebration as Bronx Arts opens a middle school for 6th-8th grade students. The middle school is located in the Soundview section of the Bronx, less than half a mile from the Bronx Arts Elementary School, the leading elementary school in the community. School administrators say the lottery selection process for the middle school attracted more than 280 interested rising 6th grade students and families and filled 75 available seats. The school will add additional 6th grade classes annually, reaching capacity in the 2020-2021 school year.

First Floor Theater is pleased to launch its seventh season with the Chicago premiere of Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm's wild, social commentary HOODED, OR BEING BLACK FOR DUMMIES

Marissa Wolf, Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Works at Kansas City Repertory Theatre (KCRep), today announced the full schedule for the organization's popular 2018/2019 Monday Night Playwright Series. The series features a line-up of new and returning playwrights including Christina Anderson, Bennett Fisher, Greta Oglesby, Andrew Rosendorf, Bianca Leigh and Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence Nathan Louis Jackson, in addition to the Playwright Slam, hosted by Nathan Louis Jackson. These free public events take place on the UMKC campus at the Spencer Theatre Donor Lounge. 

To acknowledge her outstanding contribution to classical theatre in America, Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will present Tony-Award winning actress, singer and stage director Phylicia Rashad with the prestigious William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre (Will Award).

For the first time in over 20 years the Bay Area will have the chance to experience Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls When The Rainbow is Enuf. This transformative and riveting evening of provocative dance, music and poetry tells the stories of 7 individual women dealing with the at times brutal, tender and dramatic arcs of their lives. 

The admirable goal of the All About the Drama theater group is to reproduce classics of African-American theater. Its second production currently at the Anacostia Playhouse is from Douglas Turner Ward, co-founder of the Negro Ensemble Company.

Marquette Theatre's 2018-19 season will be the 44th in the Evan P. and Marion Helfaer Theatre. Six selected plays around the theme "Reflections" will explore this phenomenon and draw connections and comparisons.

Extra, extra. Read all about it! Mercer County Community College's (MCCC's) Kelsey Theatre has announced its blockbuster schedule for 2018-19. The curtain goes up on Kelsey's 45th season Sept. 6 with the award-winning musical 'Newsies,' followed by other major musicals, dramas, comedies, and shows for the entire family. Kelsey Theatre is located on MCCC's West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. Kelsey Theatre is wheelchair accessible with free parking next to the theater.

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce casting for Vineyard Theatre's Developmental Lab production of Tori Sampson's THIS LAND WAS MADE, directed by Whitney White.