Sidney Poitier News

Today we are revisiting a groundbreaking play that premiered this week in 1959.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that Barbra Streisand (recipient of the 40th Chaplin Award) will present the 42nd Chaplin Award to Academy Award-winner Robert Redford

The first-rate cast of L.A. Theatre Works returns to the Eccles stage with a riveting thriller tonight, March 7. Based on John Ball's 1965 novel (which two years later became a ground-breaking, Academy award-winning film starring Sidney Poitier), 'In the Heat of the Night' is a stage performance that is at once relevant and, in the words of a DC Metro reviewer, 'searing, disturbing and flat-out brilliant.'

Yesterday, February 25, author and six-time Tony Award-winning producer Stewart Lane (La Cage aux Folles, A Gentleman's Guide…, War Horse), was joined by Tony Award winning actress Leslie Uggams (Hallelujah Baby!, On Golden Pond, Thoroughly Modern Millie, King Hedly II), and acclaimed director Sheldon Epps (Baby It's You!, Blues in the Night), for a conversation with Tom Santopietro (The Godfather Effect…, Considering Doris Day, Sinatra in Hollywood) at Barnes & Noble, 150 East 86th Street, to discuss the inspiring account of the tumultuous path that black actors have traveled to reach recognition on the Great White Way. Scroll down for photos from the event!

The first-rate cast of L.A. Theatre Works returns to the Eccles stage with a riveting thriller on Saturday, March 7. Based on John Ball's 1965 novel (which two years later became a ground-breaking, Academy award-winning film starring Sidney Poitier), "In the Heat of the Night" is a stage performance that is at once relevant and, in the words of a DC Metro reviewer, "searing, disturbing and flat-out brilliant." The radio play begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 435-655-3114 or online at EcclesCenter.org.

Sony Movie Channel (SMC) puts the spotlight on five Oscar winners and nominees this month, in the 'Sundays in HD' block, every weekend at 7 p.m. ET.

Today, February 25 at 7PM, Barnes & Noble, 150 East 86th Street hosts author and six-time Tony Award-winning producer Stewart Lane (La Cage aux Folles, A Gentleman's Guide..., War Horse), Tony Award winning actress Leslie Uggams (Hallelujah Baby!, On Golden Pond, Thoroughly Modern Millie, King Hedly II), acclaimed Broadway director Sheldon Epps (Baby It's You!, Play On!, Blues in the Night), and author Tom Santopietro (The Godfather Effect..., Considering Doris Day, Sinatra in Hollywood) in a discussion about the inspiring account of the tumultuous path that black actors have traveled to reach recognition on the Great White Way.

On Wednesday, February 25 at 7PM, Barnes & Noble, 150 East 86th Street hosts author and six-time Tony Award-winning producer Stewart Lane (La Cage aux Folles, A Gentleman's Guide…, War Horse), Tony Award winning actress Leslie Uggams (Hallelujah Baby!, On Golden Pond, Thoroughly Modern Millie, King Hedly II), acclaimed Broadway director Sheldon Epps (Baby It's You!, Play On!, Blues in the Night), and author Tom Santopietro (The Godfather Effect…, Considering Doris Day, Sinatra in Hollywood) in a discussion about the inspiring account of the tumultuous path that black actors have traveled to reach recognition on the Great White Way. This special Black History Month event celebrates the release of Lane's new book Black Broadway: African Americans on The Great White Way.

Louis Jourdan, a French actor famous for American film and television appearances in the Oscar-winning musical GIGI, MADAME BOVARY, CAN-CAN, and THE FIRST OLYMPICS: ATHENS, 1896, as well as Broadway appearances in shows such as ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER, has died. The Hollywood Walk of Fame winner was 93.

Woodie King's National Black Touring Circuit's 2015 Black History Month Play Series will feature "Adam," the story of legendary Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, and a reading of Ossie Davis' seminal play "The People of Clarendon County" from February 8 - 22 in Harlem, Queens and the Bronx. It's produced in conjunction with Voza Rivers/New Heritage Theatre Group. Tickets are $20. For more information call 212-353-1176.

Bounce TV (www.bouncetv.com), the nation's first-ever broadcast television network for African Americans, will honor Black History Month in February witha month-long programming tribute including some of the greatest African-American stories, motion pictures and performances of all-time.

PlayMakers Repertory Company continues its Mainstage Season tonight, Jan. 21-Feb. 8 with a scathingly funny backstage drama, 'Trouble in Mind,' by Alice Childress. PlayMakers is the professional theater in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Julianne Moore will be honored by Museum of the Moving Image at its 29th annual Salute today, January 20, 2015 at 583 Park in New York. The news was announced today by Herbert S. Schlosser and Ivan Lustig, Co-Chairmen of the Museum's Board of Trustees.

Oprah Winfrey hosts a gala of events honoring some of the legendary men and extraordinary women of civil rights, the arts and entertainment who made history and redefined what was possible for us all in the primetime television event OPRAH WINFREY PRESENTS: LEGENDS WHO PAVED THE WAY

It seems like more and more films are being adapted for the stage these days. Some for the better and some for the worse. Which brings us to the classic film, GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, which starred Spencer Tracy (in his final screen appearance), Katherine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier, in a wonderfully inspiring and humorous production being presented by the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. One might think that this particular piece of cinema is outdated, but the fact is that this story is one that will still resonate with audiences today, and maybe that's a just a sad dose of reality that we all have to face. Todd Kreidler's script follows the movie fairly closely (based on the original screenplay by William Rose), but includes large doses of laughs that neatly leaven the dramatic aspects of the piece, making it an engaging and thoroughly entertaining theatrical experience that I cannot recommend highly enough.

To become as time-honored and established as WALNUT STREET THEATRE is no easy feat. The theatre, which boasts over 200 years of operation as the oldest theatre in America, has seen its fair share of history through the bright lights that shine down on their world-renowned stage.

On February 2, 2015, Square One Publishers releases Black Broadway: African Americans on The Great White Way by six-time Tony Award winning producer and author Stewart F. Lane (La Cage aux Folles, A Gentleman's Guide..., War Horse).

PlayMakers Repertory Company continues its Mainstage Season Jan. 21-Feb. 8 with a scathingly funny backstage drama, 'Trouble in Mind,' by Alice Childress. PlayMakers is the professional theater in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Carrie Fisher will present the 51st SAG Life Achievement Award to her mother, Debbie Reynolds, at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, Executive Producer Kathy Connell announced today.

What better way to commemorate the 100th birthday of one of the nation's most storied theaters - The Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut - than with a special video starring the national company of Irving Berlin's White Christmas, the first show to take the stage in the theater's centennial year?