Ruby Dee News

The Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop will present Douglas Lyons's new family comedy Chicken & Biscuits Monday May 13th at 7pm; at The Billie Holiday Theatre. Chicken & Biscuits, written in residence at The Directors Company, has previously been selected and performed in the Front Porch Reading Series and Queen Theatre's 2019 New American Voices Reading Series.

Check out our list of some of the top venues to check out when visiting Cleveland below!

A moving voyage through the sounds of the Black American experience returns to Aaron Davis Hall as City College Center for the Arts (CCCA) presents "A Soulful Music Celebration" on Saturday, April 6, at 3 p.m. The event, featuring Marvin Lowe and Friends and narrated by Obie-award winning actress Barbara Montgomery will take audiences on a journey through the music created by Africans and African-Americans in response to their trials and triumphs over the centuries. The soulful trek also seeks to inspire contemporary listeners to use their own voices to create change and help unite all people in these trying times.

Actress Judith Light and playwright Tony Kushner are set to receive DGF Madge Evans & Sidney Kingsley Awards. Former DGF Fellow, Oliver Houser, also announced as recipient of the DGF Stephen Schwartz Award.

The NAACP announced today that Congresswoman Maxine Waters will be honored with the prestigious NAACP Chairman's Award which is bestowed in recognition of individuals who demonstrate exemplary public service and use their distinct platforms to create agents of change. Leon W. Russell, Chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, will present Congresswoman Waters with the award at the 50th NAACP Image Awards on March 30, 2019 live at 9pm/8c on TV One.

Television and Broadway Musical Theatre performer TONOCCUS MCCLAIN debuts his first ever cabaret concert LIVING A WHY NOT LIFE with Musical Director Rob Woyshner on Sunday, January 20th at Sterling's Upstairs at The Federal in the NoHo Arts District of North Hollywood, CA. McClain has hosted television such TV shows as FOX Family's California Summer Countdown, reporting and anchoring Channel One News; and performed in Beauty and the Beast live at the Hollywood Bowl, Game of Thrones live at the LA Forum, numerous shows at the Disneyland Resort, and multiple performances at the Academy Awards. He also traveled North America touring in over 400 performances of The Lion King (Banzai u/s) for six years. He's crossed the globe singing in countries like South Korea, Spain, Germany, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Argentina, Canada, Australia, and across the Caribbean and back.

The Board of Governors of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, New York Chapter is pleased to announce the induction of ten talented individuals into the prestigious Gold & Silver Circles. The Gold & Silver Circles are comprised of an elite group of professionals who have made significant contributions to the New York television market. The Silver Circle recognizes individuals who have devoted a quarter of a century or more to the television industry. The Gold Circle honors those legends whose contributions span fifty years or more.

American Blues Theater announces the addition of five new Ensemble members and one new Artistic Affiliate to the Blues family. Joining the Ensemble is director, designer and Associate Producer Elyse Dolan, who directed several works in past Ripped and Blue Ink festivals; designer Jared Gooding, lighting designer of Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story; actor Philip Earl Johnson, who is slated to appear in the upcoming Chicago premiere of Steven Dietz's On Clover Road; director Chuck Smith, director of the recent American Blues production of Pearl Cleage's Flyin' West; and actress and playwright Wandachristine, who won many awards for her solo performance Beauty's Daughter. Actor Zachary Stevenson has been named an Artistic Affiliate. Stevenson recently made his Chicago debut as 'Buddy Holly' in American Blues Theater's Joseph Jefferson Award-winning musical Buddy - the Buddy Holly Story, in which he also won a Jeff Award for Performance in a Musical.

INDEPENDENT SHAKESPEARE CO. has been named the 2018 recipient of the PAUL ROBESON AWARD by Actors' Equity Foundation and Actors' Equity Association. The award was presented at the Association's National Membership Meeting in Los Angeles on October 15, 2018.

NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Leon W. Russell announced the Association is soliciting nominations for the 104th Spingarn Award.  All nominations for the 104th Spingarn Medal must be submitted, in writing, on or before December 31, 2018.  To be accepted, the postmark date on the envelope must be no later than December 31, 2018.

Award-winning actor, writer, director, producer, polymath and advocate for science communication Alan Alda has been named the 55th recipient of SAG-AFTRA's highest tribute: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Alda will be presented the performers union's top accolade at the 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019, at 8 p.m. (ET)/ 5 p.m. (PT).

The Broad Stage presents True Blues – Corey Harris and Guy Davis -- on Friday, September 28 at 7:30pm. Harris and Davis, two leading performers of acoustic blues, will each perform a set of their own before coming together onstage to celebrate the extraordinary music that has shaped their multifaceted careers.

Thomas Allen Harris is celebrating Harlem in his latest art exhibition titled Mother, Bethel, Harlem, USA, a collaboration with students from the Hunter College IMA MFA program to build an interactive exhibition at the Hunter East Harlem Gallery (HEHG), opening Thursday, August 30. Through an investigation of Harris's extensive body of work as a photographer, filmmaker, and creator of the interdisciplinary project Digital Diaspora Family Reunion (DDFR), the students have conceived works that are inspired by the family photo album, practices of archiving, and the local community in Harlem and East Harlem.

A staged reading of Rafael Moreno's family drama Fotos, which played to packed houses and critical acclaim last summer at The Producers Club, will close the 2017 -2018 season of the prestigious Frank Silvera Writers Workshop at the Billie Holiday Theatre in Brooklyn on Monday June 18.

Goodman Theatre celebrates the lives of "two strong, vibrant women dispensing joy and wisdom" (Chicago Tribune) in a major revival of Emily Mann's Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years. Directed by the Goodman's longtime Resident Director Chuck Smith, the production features Ella Joyce and Marie Thomas as the Delany centenarians, Bessie (1891 - 1995) and Sadie (1889 -1999), respectively. The sisters were discovered in 1991 when Amy Hill Hearth interviewed them for The New York Times. Following the article, the trio co-authored the book, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years-a New York Times bestseller and heartfelt reflection of their family history and triumphs over prejudices in times of social unrest. Mann adapted it for the stage, first at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey and then to Broadway, where it ran for 317 performances. Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years appears May 5 - June 10, 2018 in the Albert Theatre (opening night is Monday, May 14). Tickets ($20 - $75; subject to change) are now on sale at GoodmanTheatre.org/HavingOurSay, by phone at 312.443. 3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). ComEd is the Major Corporate Sponsor, Conagra Brands Foundation is the Major Production Sponsor and ITW and PwC are the Corporate Sponsor Partners. 

Trinity Repertory Company announced today that actress Mary McDonnell will be honored with the 2018 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts at the theater's 22nd annual Pell Awards Gala on Monday, May 21, 2018. A two-time Oscar nominee for Dances with Wolves and Passion Fish, McDonnell's theater, film and television career has spanned more than four decades with dynamic character portrayals in period and present-day roles, including TNT's The Closer and Major Crimes, Syfy's Battlestar Galactica, Donnie Darko, and Sneakers.

Iconic American singer, songwriter and performer Don McLeanis set to release his new album Botanical Gardens on March 23, 2018 via BMG. Don is set to appear on BBC Breakfast Thursday, March 15 along with multiple BBC radio stations and Absolute Radio in the U.K.

"Life is short, and it's up to you to make it sweet." - Sadie Delany (1889 -1999). Goodman Theatre revives Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, Emily Mann's "warming theatrical event" (Variety)that celebrates the lives of "two strong, vibrant women dispensing joy and wisdom" (Chicago Tribune). Goodman Theatre Resident Director Chuck Smith's production features Ella Joyce and Marie Thomas as the Delany centenarians, Bessie (1891 - 1995) and Sadie (1889 -1999), respectively, as they trace their lives in a heartfelt reflection of their family history and triumphs over prejudices in times of social unrest.

THE MAN IN ROOM 306, Luna's critically acclaimed signature piece, honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. April 12 through May 13th.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre brings back the groundbreaking 50in50: Women's Voices Initiative with the Obie Award-winning Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop with a reading March 17, 2018 at 7pm in The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY.