A Raisin in the Sun - 2004 - Broadway Articles Page 20

The first trailer for Lifetime's all-African-American remake of STEEL MAGNOLIAS has just been released by the cable network. Golden Globe and Grammy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Queen Latifah has signed on to star in and executive produce the television adaptation of the iconic play and 1989 film. Get a first look below!

Happy Birthday Audra McDonald! The actress earned three Tony Awards by the age of 28 - for her performances in Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime. She was nominated for another Tony Award for her performance in Marie Christine before she won her fourth in 2004 for her role in A Raisin in the Sun. She reprised her Raisin role for a 2008 television adaptation, earning her a second Emmy Award nomination. Her first Emmy nod came in 2001 for her performance in HBOs Wit. Fans of the small screen also regognize McDonald from her work on ABC's Private Practice. She is currently starring on Broadway as the title role in Porgy and Bess, for which she just won a Tony Award.

Joan Didion will be a guest at a Westport Country Playhouse Sunday Symposium today, June 17, following the 3 p.m. matinee performance of Ms. Didion's play, "The Year of Magical Thinking," based on her 2005 National Book Award-winning memoir. She will converse on the Playhouse stage with David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director. Following the symposium, Ms. Didion will sign copies of her books which will be available for purchase.

Last night, June 10, Audra McDonald took home her 5th Tony Award for for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her role of 'Bess' in THE GERSWIN's PORGY AND BESS. Though we'd think she'd be used to the feeling of winning by now, McDonald spoke with BroadwayWorld just moments after her win only to reveal how it still feels 'out of body'. Click below to hear from the Broadway darling herself!

Audra McDonald is the recipient of this year's Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her role of 'Bess' in THE GERSWIN's PORGY AND BESS. The award marks McDonald's fifth Tony award win.

Joan Didion will be a guest at a Westport Country Playhouse Sunday Symposium on June 17, following the 3 p.m. matinee performance of Ms. Didion's play, "The Year of Magical Thinking," based on her 2005 National Book Award-winning memoir. She will converse on the Playhouse stage with David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director. Following the symposium, Ms. Didion will sign copies of her books which will be available for purchase.

RUBICON THEATRE continues the company's 14th season tonight, May 24 with August Wilson's powerful and poignant drama GEM OF THE OCEAN.

RUBICON THEATRE continues the company's 14th season May 24 with August Wilson's powerful and poignant drama GEM OF THE OCEAN (first preview tonight, May 16).

NBC has released a clip from its new medical drama, DO NOT HARM which will star stage veterans Steven Pasquale, Phylicia Rashad and Michael Esper. View a sneak peek of the new series as well as an interview with Pasquale below!

RUBICON THEATRE continues the company's 14th season May 24 with August Wilson's powerful and poignant drama GEM OF THE OCEAN (first preview May 16).

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was thrilled to sit down and speak with nearly all of this year's Tony Award nominees at the official Tony Brunch on May 2, 2012, and we will be bringing you special coverage on all of them throughout the awards season. We begin with Audra McDonald, nominated for Best Actress in a Musical for The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

We'll be talking to nominees all day for their reactions! Click here for the complete list! Audra McDonald for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS 'I am honored and grateful and I'm super thrilled for the production as a whole to get so many nominations. I am so proud of this production and thankful to the Tony nominating committee for recognizing all aspects of the show. I got the news via text message. As usual, it was up at 6:15 for me to get the kids to school and I was back in bed by 8! Will was here though so it was nice to roll over when I got the news and say 'Hey I got a nomination!' Then we both conked out again. When we finally got up I asked him to be my date for the Tonys - he said yes! - so I guess that was our little celebration. Now it's back to being a mom for the day and get ready for the show tonight. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at the theater tonight to congratulate them.'

Rep Stage, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), concludes its 19th season with "Las Meninas," playwright Lynn Nottage's account of the seduction of Louis the XIV's queen, Marie-Therese, and the consequences of her scandalous relationship with Nabo, her African servant. Nottage weaves an imaginative tale based on a fascinating but forgotten time in history that examines truths about women and race. Eve Muson, who helmed last season's "Speech & Debate," directs a large cast in this rarely produced play. "Las Meninas" opens April 18 with a limited run through May 6, 2012, in the Studio Theatre of the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center (HVPA) on the campus of HCC.

The enhanced programming surrounding Westport Country Playhouse's production of the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical "Into the Woods" will feature a Sunday Symposium reuniting four original cast members from the 1987 Broadway production, on Sunday, May 6, following the 3 p.m. matinee performance.

Guthrie Director Joe Dowling today announced 11 mainstage productions of the theater's 2012-2013 season. The theater's 50th season and seventh on the Mississippi River looks ahead to a vital future with highlights including three new commissioned plays and works that deal vigorously with themes of war, race and politics through history and contemporary times.

Tarragon Theatre presents the English-language premiere of The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, written by Canadian playwright Carole Fréchette, translated by John Murrell, one of Canada's most frequently produced playwrights, and directed by Weyni Mengesha, hot on the heels of her production of Kim's Convenience at Soulpepper Theatre Company where she is associate artist.

PICT launches its 2012 season with the Pittsburgh premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Pulitzer finalist In the Next Room or the vibrator play. The production features Brad Heberlee as Dr. Givings, Megan McDermott as Catherine Givings, Jessica Frances Dukes as Elizabeth, and Melinda Helfrich as Sabrina Daldry. Alan Stanford directs.

Rep Stage, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), concludes its 19th season with "Las Meninas," playwright Lynn Nottage's account of the seduction of Louis the XIV's queen, Marie-Therese, and the consequences of her scandalous relationship with Nabo, her African servant. Nottage weaves an imaginative tale based on a fascinating but forgotten time in history that examines truths about women and race. Eve Muson, who helmed last season's "Speech & Debate," directs a large cast in this rarely produced play. "Las Meninas" opens April 18 with a limited run through May 6, 2012, in the Studio Theatre of the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center (HVPA) on the campus of HCC.

Geva Theatre Center's 2011-2012 Season continues with Lorraine Hansberry's classic play, A Raisin in the Sun, which runs in the Elaine P. Wilson Mainstage through March 25.

San Francisco's African-American Shakespeare Company has announced that due to unforeseen circumstances the company's World Premiere of Nambi E. Kelley's, XTIGONE, directed by Darrel V. Jones, has been postponed, and removed from African-American Shakespeare Company's current season schedule. A RAISIN IN THE SUN, Lorraine Hansberry's timeless play about a 1950s-era Chicago family longing for a better life, will be the third and final production of the company's 2011-12 season.

Golden Globe and Grammy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Queen Latifah has signed on to star in and executive produce the Lifetime Original Movie Event, Steel Magnolias, a television adaptation of the iconic play and 1989 film of the same name, reuniting her with her producing duo Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, from the Oscar and Golden Globe winning Chicago and Hairspray. (Zadan and Meron also produce Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva and Smash.) She will take on the role of 'M'Lynn' and star alongside an all-star cast that includes Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad as 'Clairee,' Golden Globe and multiple Emmy winner Alfre Woodard as 'Ouiser,' Grammy winner Jill Scott as 'Truvy,' Adepero Oduye as 'Annelle,' and Condola Rashad as 'Shelby.' The announcement was made today by Nancy Dubuc, President and General Manager of Lifetime Networks.

Five time Tony® award-winning Broadway producer, Jon B. Platt, will be presented The Commercial Theater Institute's Robert Whitehead Award for "outstanding achievement in commercial theatre producing" at a reception at Sardi's on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. David Stone, Stuart Thompson, and Bob Wankel will present the award.

Tarragon Theatre will present the English-language premiere of The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, written by Canadian playwright Carole Fréchette, translated by John Murrell, one of Canada's most frequently produced playwrights, and directed by Weyni Mengesha, hot on the heels of her production of Kim's Convenience at Soulpepper Theatre Company where she is associate artist.

Two-time Tony Award nominated costume designer Carrie Robbins, and scenic, lighting, costume designer and educator Lloyd Burlingame are among the 2012 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, May 4, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Ms. Robbins was selected to receive the 2012 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design, and Mr. Burlingame will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design.