Lydia R. Diamond News

Milwaukee Rep has announced the complete cast and creative teams for the start of 2022 with Toni Stone in the Quadracci Powerhouse January 4 – 30 and Piano Men in the Stackner Cabaret January 7 – February 27.

Today, PlayMakers Repertory Company at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced it will present Dipika Guha’s “Yoga Play” during the 2021/22 season. The season kicks off November 10 in the storied Paul Green Theatre.

In Owolabi's production of THE BLUEST EYE at Synchronicity Theatre, Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, Award-winning American Playwright Lydia R. Diamond, and Pecola Breedlove, the novel’s protagonist, seem to share a mutual legacy—this significance adds magnetism of this production, to say the least. 

True to its mission, Synchronicity Theatre's 24th Anniversary Season will feature the voices of women playwrights and provide new opportunities to uplift the voices of women and girls. The 2021-2022 season includes Synchronicity's Bold Voices series (bold, contemporary plays for adults), the Family Series (compelling plays for children and families), and education and outreach events (curated new voices, events, and performances). True to its mission, Synchronicity Theatre's 24th Anniversary Season will feature the voices of women playwrights and provide new opportunities to uplift the voices of women and girls. The 2021-2022 season includes Synchronicity's Bold Voices series (bold, contemporary plays for adults), the Family Series (compelling plays for children and families), and education and outreach events (curated new voices, events, and performances). 

As many teens return to classrooms for the first time since the pandemic, THIRD RAIL is joining forces with #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence to give them a platform to explore the impact of gun violence on their lives and communities by writing 10-minute plays.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater partnered with Nationals Park to host a free live simulcast of the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Toni Stone on Sunday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m. The performance inside the Kreeger Theater was broadcast to the center field video board at Nationals Park for thousands to experience.

Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Toni Stone at Arena Stage, directed by Pam MacKinnon, gives Toni (Santoya Fields) the power to tell her own story — the way she wants to tell it. 

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presented the Andrew R. Ammerman Directing Award to The Lark's recently named Artistic Director, May Adrales, on Thursday, September 9, 2021.

Join in honoring Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison in Synchronicity Theatre's production of THE BLUEST EYE. Adapted for the stage by Lydia R. Diamond and directed by Ibi Owolabi, this is the powerful story of Pecola Breedlove, a dark-skinned African-American girl who firmly believes she can overcome all obstacles in her life with blue eyes.

As many teens return to classrooms for the first time since the pandemic, #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence is giving them a platform to explore the impact of gun violence on their lives and communities by writing 10-minute plays. Submissions are being accepted now through November 1 and the call is open to all writers across the U.S. in grades 6-12. 

Aurora Theatre Company kicks off its 30th season with Dael Orlandersmith's STOOP STORIES. Elizabeth Carter (Eureka Day, The Heir Apparent, Wittenberg, Trouble In Mind) directs Jeunée Simon (The Bluest Eye) in this poetic one-hander comprised of stories drawn from Orlandersmith's personal life and limitless imagination.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is proud to partner with Nationals Park to host a free live simulcast of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Toni Stone on Sunday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m.

After a long time away from live theater, “Smart People” was the perfect show to return to. As an artwork, it has a supreme blend of moments to make you laugh, cringe, and question. As a performance, it has the actors with the chops to make this daring piece come to life in riveting ways.

Reprising their roles from the A.C.T. run include JaBen Early (Arena's Junk), Kenn E. Head (Roundabout's Toni Stone), Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. (Broadway's Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations), Sean-Maurice Lynch (Arena's Jubilee) and Jarrod Mims Smith (A.C.T.'s The Royale).

Today, PlayMakers Repertory Company at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced it will reopen for the 2021-2022 season, staging five productions in the 550-seat Paul Green Theatre between November 2021 and May 2022. The season features works that explore the resilience of family bonds in all their complicated forms, friendships that transcend language, time, and space, and one man's connection to his community that helps him stand taller than he could alone.   

The limited engagement of HERE IS FUTURE is produced by Octopus Theatricals, will play August 5-22. Learn more about the performances and how to attend here!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the company for Toni Stone, written by Arena alumna resident playwright Lydia R. Diamond. Set in the 1950s, Toni Stone was the first woman to play baseball in the Negro Leagues, also making her the first woman to play in a professional men's league.

Capital Stage is reopening its doors on August 25, 2021. The 2021-2022 Season will mark their 17th season beginning with Jeanne Sakata's HOLD THESE TRUTHS, directed by Jeffrey Lo (VIETGONE, THE GREAT LEAP - A VIRTUAL PERFORMANCE), and starring Jomar Tagatac (VIETGONE).

Celebrate the legacy of Toni Morrison's acclaimed novel The Bluest Eye. Brought to life as a tremendously moving theatrical event by Lydia R. Diamond (Stick Fly, Smart People,) The Bluest Eye tells the story of Pecola, a young Black girl who believes everything in her world would be made wonderful if only she had blue eyes.

Atlanta’s nationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre has announced the productions of the Alliance’s 53rd season.