Fences - 1987 - Broadway Articles Page 6

Beginning March 2, history unfolds around everyday lives in August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Part of Wilson's American Century Cycle, the masterpiece play portrays ordinary people swept up in a rapidly changing world against the backdrop of the civil rights movement. TWO TRAINS RUNNING is presented in the Marx Theatre by Moe and Jack Rouse and Randolph Wadsworth through March 30. Opening night is Thursday, March 7.

Denzel Washington will receive the 47th AFI Life Achievement Award, America's highest honor for a career in film. The award will be presented to Washington at a Gala Tribute on Thursday, June 6, 2019, in Los Angeles, CA.

August Wilson is considered one of the most prolific sources for documenting the twentieth century African-American experience. His ten-play cycle, basically set in Pittsburgh's Hill district, started with 'Gem of the Ocean,' representing the 1900s and ended with 'Radio Golf,' shining the spotlight on the 1990s. 'Fences,' which is now on stage at the newly renovated Jelliffe Theatre at Karamu, was the 1950s representative.

August Wilson authored Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, King Hedley II, Gem of the Ocean, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of the descendants of Africans brought to North America, decade-by-decade over the course of the twentieth century, and together, they form a compilation entitled The American Century Cycle.

Dirty Dancing was a box office hit in 1987, a coming-of-age summer romance between dance partners-cum-lovers Frances/'Baby' (Kira Malou) and Johnny (Michael O'Reilly). The film was first adapted for stage in 2004 and has enjoyed worldwide touring success over the years as well as two stints in London's West End.

For more than 60 years, Athol Fugard has helped us explore South Africa through his complex, flawed, and empathetic characters. He is one of the most significant voices of our time. Fugard's most recent work, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, makes its DC-area premiere at MetroStage. When Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin slated The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek as MetroStage's season opener, little did she know that an August tweet would thrust South African farm ownership and race relations firmly back into the world spotlight.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles (BAFTA Los Angeles) is pleased to announce that Academy Award Winner and “12 Years a Slave” director Steve McQueen will receive The John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing at the 2018 British Academy Britannia Awards. The award will be presented by Academy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Viola Davis.

The 72nd Annual Tony Awards are this Sunday June 10th at 8/9c hosted by Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles. It's the biggest award show of the Broadway season and it closes out a long awards season for Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals and plays. We can't help but wonder what chances this year's Best Musical and Best Play nominees have of taking home the ultimate prize...

Sometimes a character stands out from the source material and starts to establish its own reputation. Actors start to circle the part and gauge if and when they might get a crack at it. For men, in straight non-musical plays, Hamlet, Macbeth, Willy Loman, Stanley Kowalski, are a few that have achieved iconic status. Specifically black characters? The list is shorter: Walter Younger in A Raisin in the Sun would be one. There have been other plays and roles of note, but not until you get to August Wilson do you find a greater repository of suitable candidates.

New Dramatists, Tony® Honor recipient and the nation's premier playwright development laboratory, just honored Tony®and Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington at its 69th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute. Washington, currently starring on Broadway in The Iceman Cometh, directed by George C. Wolfe, received New Dramatists' 2018 Distinguished Achievement Award. Tributes to Mr. Washington and performances were presented by three-time Grammy Award-winner Branford Marsalis with bassist Noah Jackson, Tony®Award-winners George C. Wolfe and Stephen McKinley Henderson, Constanza Romero (August Wilson Estate), and Pulitzer Prize finalist and New Dramatists resident playwright Kristoffer Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity).

New Dramatists, Tony® Honor recipient and the nation's premier playwright development laboratory, will honor Tony®and Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington at its 69th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute. Washington, currently starring on Broadway in The Iceman Cometh, directed by George C. Wolfe,will receive New Dramatists' 2018 Distinguished Achievement Award on Tuesday, May 15 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Tributes to Mr. Washington and performances will be presented by three-time Grammy Award-winner Branford Marsalis with bassist Noah Jackson, Tony®Award-winners George C. Wolfe and Stephen McKinley Henderson, Constanza Romero (August Wilson Estate), and Pulitzer Prize finalist and New Dramatists resident playwright Kristoffer Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity).

The Wallis production of BLUES IN THE NIGHT, conceived and directed by Sheldon Epps, starts performances next week in the intimate Lovelace Theater! Artistic Director Paul Crewes snuck into rehearsal to chat with cast members Yvette Cason, Bryce Charles, Chester Gregory, and Paulette Ivory about this exciting new production.

It was just announced by Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedy that Martyna Majok's COST OF LIVING has officially won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Theatre Forward and Chairman John Thomopoulous will lead a celebration to support American theatre at the annual Chairman's Awards Gala on Monday, April 9th at The Pierre New York. The works of Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award® winner AUGUST WILSON (Fences, The Piano Lesson, Jitney) will be honored this spring with the Legacy Award, Tony Award® nomineeDAVID YAZBEK (The Band's Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty) will be honored with the Creative Achievement Award.

THEATRE FORWARD and Chairman JOHN THOMOPOULOUS will lead a celebration to support American theatre at the annual Chairman's Awards Gala on Monday, April 9th at The Pierre New York (2 East 61st Street at Fifth Avenue). The Chairman's Awards Gala supports the work of Theatre Forward, currently celebrating its 40th Anniversary season, which is dedicated to advancing American theatres and its communities through its Educating Through Theatre and Advancing Strong Theatre initiatives.

The Iceman Cometh begins previews tonight at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!

New Dramatists, Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premier playwright development laboratory, will honor Tony and Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington at its 69th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute.

Academy Award-nominee, Angela Bassett will join Kathleen Battle as a guest narrator in Battle's program Underground Railroad: A Spiritual Journey accompanied by pianist Joel Martin and the LA-based choir, The Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers at the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya) on Thursday, March 29 at 8:00pm.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announces the cast for its upcoming production of Blues in the Night.  Conceived and directed by Sheldon Epps, the production will feature Yvette Cason (Shout Sister Shout, Broadway and film versions of Dreamgirls), Bryce Charles (The Book of Mormon, ABC's "Black-ish"), Paulette Ivory (Disney's Aida and the West End premieres of The Lion King and Blues in the Night) and Chester Gregory (Broadway's Motown: The Musical, Hairspray and  Sister Act).  Blues in the Night will begin performances April 27 through May 20 in the Lovelace Studio Theater.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Lisa Rothe, Co-Presidents) will present the 2018 Theatre Women Awards at The TimesCenter (242 West 41st Street between 7th and 8th Avenues) on Friday, March 16 beginning at 6:30PM. Tickets ($65-$250) are available for advance purchase at www.theatrewomen.org. 

Based on the short story by Isak Dinesen (and made famous by the 1987 Academy Award-winning film), Babette's Feast will begin performances Wednesday March 14th at the Theatre at Saint Clement's (423 West 46th Street, between Ninth & Tenth Avenues) for an open-ended Off-Broadway engagement.  Opening Night is set for Sunday March 25th (5pm).  The performance runs 90 minutes with no intermission.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Lisa Rothe, Co-Presidents) will present the 2018 Theatre Women Awards at The TimesCenter (242 West 41st Streetbetween 7th and 8th Avenues) on Friday, March 16 beginning at 6:30PM. Tickets ($65-$250) are available for advance purchase at www.theatrewomen.org.

Seattle Repertory Theatre today announced the full ensemble cast of Two Trains Running, August Wilson's slice-of-life portrait of a defining moment in American history.

With great excitement, Seattle Repertory Theatre kicks off 2018 with its production of August Wilson's poetic masterpiece, Two Trains Running. A cast of seven-Eugene Lee (Memphis Lee), Nicole Lewis (Risa), William Hall Jr. (West), Carlton Byrd (Sterling), Reginald Andre Jackson (Wolf), David Emerson Toney (Holloway), and Frank Riley III (Hambone)-portray the denizens of a Pittsburgh diner who are all reckoning with a revolutionary time in history - the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

With great excitement, Seattle Repertory Theatre kicks off 2018 with its production of August Wilson's poetic masterpiece, Two Trains Running. A cast of seven-Eugene Lee (Memphis Lee), Nicole Lewis (Risa), William Hall Jr. (West), Carlton Byrd (Sterling),Reginald Andre Jackson (Wolf), David Emerson Toney (Holloway), and Frank Riley III(Hambone)-portray the denizens of a Pittsburgh diner who are all reckoning with a revolutionary time in history - the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s