When a woman is fed up, she’s fed up. That was the case for Tony-award-winning actress Tonya Pinkins, who is terminating her run as the lead role in a the Classic Stage Company’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children before it even opens. The abrupt ending is due to racism and sexism by white creatives.

In a statement entitled “Who Loses, Who Thrives When White Creatives Tell Black Stories?” (see entire statement below) Pinkins said her objections to the way her character, a Black woman, was portrayed in the play, were ignored.

Sounds familiar right?

I always feel a type of way when white writers write for Black characters, and even in some situations having a white director directing a Black actor on what choices to make. I completely understand the roles of the writer and director, and in no way discredit them. Nor is this to say a white director CAN’T direct Black actors. I do, however, have a problem when the actor expresses his/her ideas and offers input and it’s completely ignored. That was the case for Pinkins.

When I think of a show that did this well, I think immediately of Invisible Thread. When I attended a talkback with Griffin Matthews and Matt Gould, they discussed working with director Diane Paulus. She did an amazing job directing because she was willing to listen. Directors aren’t running a dictatorship, they are working in collaboration with everyone, including actors. From the looks of what Pinkins wrote, that wasn’t the case.

She wrote, “twice this year (but too many times in my career) my perspective as a Black woman was dismissed in favor of portraying the Black woman through the filter of the White gaze.”

Is that so surprising? For me, it’s not.

It’s no surprise that Black women are forced to play into respectability politics in order for white people to feel more comfortable or to appeal to them. I went to a talk for How To Get Away With Murder where Tony-award-winning actress Viola Davis talked about her time on The Help. She said there was a scene where she and Octavia Spencer added a bit of dialogue that was shot down by the director. During a dinner-serving scene they added something along the lines of “the crackers want crackers” and the director told them they didn’t think that was a “good choice.” Viola told the audience she didn’t understand how. Especially when the white actors were throwing around the N word, was it not believable that the Black women who were “the help” for white folks were talking smack about them behind their back? Of course it is. They just would rather that we look like the compliant obedient servants than have any will to fight back.  Because God forbid Black women stand up for themselves. Let’s just make them powerless!

Pinkins echoes the same sentiments in her statement, saying the changes made to Brecht’s play left the character originally— a canteen woman who is determined to make her living by following armies into war — “speechless, powerless, history-less and even cart-less.”

Pinkins challenges the theatre world to consider other perspectives that aren’t just white. The world we live in is diverse; the stage should reflect that. I, for one, stand by her statement openly and completely.

“As we begin the new year, I wish for White theater creatives to have the humility to recognize that their perspectives alone are insufficient when portraying Black women and all “others;” that their manufactured fears put false Black images on the stage. I believe this allows real Black people to be destroyed, in the world.”

This statement resonates most with me. I went to a talk where the amazing Harry Belafonte once said, “Art is the gatekeeper of truth.” Is that not why so many people love the theatre? Beyond the spectacle of Broadway and the elaborate sets and flashy costumes, to its core isn’t art supposed to reflect real life? Aren’t theatregoers supposed to relate to these charactersin some way and leave with a message? Well, how is one to receive the message or relate to the character when there is no one up there to relate to? I, too, encourage white theatre creatives to think about what Pinkins is saying. She isn’t complaining, and she should not be dismissed as such. She is making valid points that will only make the theatre community stronger if they are willing to give it a chance. Allow “others” in the room and see how far it will get you. Black stories deserve to be told correctly and unapologetically, by Black people, for Black people.

I stand with Tonya Pinkins. #BlackPerspectivesMatter

Full Statement by Tonya Pinkins:

WHO LOSES, WHO THRIVES WHEN WHITE CREATIVES TELL BLACK STORIES?

The year 2015, saw the rise of #BlackLivesMatter and #BlackGirlsMatter, both movements helmed by powerful, fearless Black women. In 2016 I’m starting #BlackPerspectivesMatter.

Twice this year (but too many times in my career) my perspective as a Black woman was dismissed in favor of portraying the Black woman,through the filter of the White gaze. Regrettably, I must exit Classic Stage Company’s MOTHER COURAGE.

When Black bodies are on the stage, Black perspectives must be reflected. This is not simply a matter of “artistic interpretation”; race and sex play a pivotal role in determining who holds the power to shape representation. A Black female should have a say in presentation a Black female on stage.

CSC’s truncated version (an hour has been cut) eliminates Mother Courage and her children’s backstory, the use of her cart, and much of Brecht’s brilliant commentary on war. Mother Courage is the KING LEAR in the classical cannon of female roles. Not since CAROLINE OR CHANGE, ten years ago, have I had a role of this caliber. How do I walk away from what could be one of the greatest roles in my career? I couldn’t, until all my research, arguing and pleading for my character’s full realization fell on deaf ears. And then I had to.

Brecht’s drama follows Mother Courage, a women who supports herself and her children by selling goods to warring armies from a cart she drags through the battle zones. Along the way, all three of her children are killed because of the war. Mother Courage is the epitome of every poor, undocumented, battered, trafficked and immigrant women hustling to provide for her family however she must.

It’s been a decade since my talent has matched the material – I thought. However, it was not relayed to me until final tech rehearsal that the vision for this Mother Courage (the Black Mother Courage in an African war) was of a delusional woman trying to do the impossible. She would not be an icon of feminine tenacity and strength, nor of a Black female’s fearless capabilities.

Why must the Black Mother Courage be delusional?

The #CSCMotherCourage poster shows my face plastered on an image of the African Continent, the Democratic Republic of the Congo highlighted. The inspiration: Lynn Nottage’s impulse to create a Black Mother Courage, which culminated in her Pulitzer Prize-winning play, RUINED.

What an opportunity to connect Brecht’s anti-World War II play to the war in modern day Congo, Africa’s first World war. My art meeting my activism. The chance to highlight the Chaplain’s line, “If you want to sup with the devil you need a long spoon,” as analogous to America’s participation in the War in the Congo through our appetites for electronic devices which require the resources of Coltan, which is raped and pillaged along with the bodies of Black women and children.

This production does not include a single vestige of the specific war in the Congo. For me, the cultural misappropriation is unconscionable. Why must Africa, why must blackness itself, be singularly nonspecific, a decorative motif, instead of being as specific and infinitely diverse as its reality?

This spring, in RASHEEDA SPEAKING, I was the only Black American woman in the room. Does this matter when portraying a Black perspective? Absolutely! The play purported to be about a Black woman’s struggles working in a White medical office. But for the joy of performing nightly with Dianne Wiest, Patricia Connolly and Darren Goldstein, and the talk-backs I orchestrated with Michael Eric Dyson, Dr Kimberly Crenshaw, Professor James Peterson and many others, it was a soul-murdering experience. It is debilitating, explaining to non-Black people, day in and out, that their conceptions of Black people are not only inaccurate but dehumanizing and offensive.

I won an award for playing Jaclyn in RASHEEDA SPEAKING. Yet months later, people still call out “Rasheeda” when complimenting me on my performance. What they innocently forget, but I am reminded of with each acknowledgement, is that “Rasheeda” was elucidated, in Jaclyn’s climactic monologue in the play, as the new word for “Nigger.” So who is speaking?

Despite Brecht’s title, Mother Courage’s was not the star of this production. My subordinate position was most clearly communicated to me when I attempted to perform a task Brecht specifically wrote for Mother Courage: snatching a fur coat off an armed soldier’s back. The actor playing the soldier argued, “I’m a man. This is a war. She gotta RESPECT that; I’d have to kill her!” I fired back, “Brecht wrote it. Mother Courage CAN snatch the fur coat and not get killed. Brecht is illustrating of her as an ‘Hyena of the war.'” I told the actor I was going to snatch the fur coat, and if he “had to kill me,” the play would have to end seven scenes earlier than Brecht had intended.

I snatched the fur coat at the performance. The actor found a way to continue the play. However, the director said that in future, I couldn’t do it, because, “the actor said he would kill you.” WHAT?!

Mother Courage coddled and reprimanded into submission to patriarchy?

Brecht did not write a delusional woman. He wrote a woman who seizes power at every turn, who forces her way through Hell, and who continues in spite of every opposing force. My Mother Courage was left speechless, powerless, history-less and even cart-less. Why must images of Black women be held hostage in cages of White and/or patriarchal consciousness?

I and many other artists of color have benefitted from having honorary white status bestowed upon us for our work. This status allows us to work alongside the best in the business and to be treated as equals. It is a daily struggle to partake of this status while straining to maintain integrity and authenticity to our own culture. Yet this status is often stripped when we are asked to portray our own people.

I am grateful to Olympia Dukakis, who has played the role seven times, for attending an early preview and giving me the permission to put my ferocity back into the role. I had not realized that the shame I was feeling was the result of having my “creative cock” chopped off every day. The backlash from my appropriate creative turn was immediate. One crew member complained “I just cant control her.”

Am I a dog or a slave to be misled so as to be controlled in my artistic expression?

I was even told that the cuts related to Brecht estate rights and permissions associated with our transposition to the Congo. So I contacted the attorney to the Brecht estate to fight for the integrity of the text that Brecht wrote. The attorney assured me that changing the Thirty Years War references to Congo War references was acceptable to the estate, and that all such matters were artistic decisions between artist and director. Well, not this artist.

My Mother Courage was neutered, leaving the unbridled Mother Courage wasting away inside me. My Mother Courage is too big for CSC’s definition. So it is best that they find someone to “fit in,” because I cannot.

I recall reading, Tony Kushner’s translation of Mother Courage, which was sent to entice me to accept the role. The pinnacle of my career has been CAROLINE OR CHANGE. Caroline’s power reigned on every page. So I know what that power feels like, and this is not it. CSC’s “Mcdraft” was not even from the Kushner translation.

Why, in 2015, in the arts, is there a need to control the creative expression of a Black woman?

As we begin the new year, I wish for White theater creatives to have the humility to recognize that their perspectives alone are insufficient when portraying Black women and all “others”; that their manufactured fears put false Black images on the stage. I believe this allows real Black people to be destroyed, in the world.

As we enter 2016, the collective White creative community has a responsibility to bring as many “others” into the room, both onstage and offstage, before, during and after decisions are made. Only then will the beauty of global humanity be heard, seen, and finally understood, so that the truth wipes away the misconceptions and misappropriations that cause the fear which foments violence around the globe.

The world can no longer afford to have artistic visions of all White worlds because they simply do not exist. I want the theater to look like the city streets I walk on. That is the theater I aspire to participate in, one where #OtherPerspectivesMatter and are respected and reflected.

I am contractually obligated to perform in #CSCMotherCourage through January 3, 2016.

The post Black Perspectives Matter: Why Black Voices Deserve To Be Heard appeared first on Broadway Black.

I came across a piece of commentary written to mimic the style of Pinkins’ recent releases, but reflecting the way some outsiders perceive Pinkins’ point of view.

“It is not enough that I am the title character. It is not enough that I am given liberty to change the staging, and effectively co-direct the play. If I cannot control everything from the set, to the lighting, to the costumes, to the score, to the goddamn script, I’m going to throw a temper tantrum and quit your stupid play. And even if you do give me complete control of the entire production, including what everybody gets paid, you had all better properly kiss my butt on command or I will still quit! And I will then play the race card and the gender card”

This is exactly what Pinkins is speaking out against.

You can have an entire website dedicated to hate speech and slander, and title it with that person’s name, because, as previously stated, the Internet is the best place to come to share our opinions, right?

I’m glad we’re on the same page, but let’s make sure we are on the same paragraph.

While it’s empowering to share your experiences and stand your ground, what you won’t do is blatantly discredit the experience of another. Disagree with decisions, sure. But discredit their experience? Never.

Emphasis on THEIR. THEIR, meaning, something YOU or OTHERS may not have experienced, but, an instance, feeling, idea, or circumstance that a person and/or group can speak to because it is part of their life and has been woven into their everyday truth.

Hear me and hear me loud and clear.

There are no cards.

You will not tell me that my experience as a Black woman in America does not have validity. You won’t belittle my cognizance and consciousness around the daily sexism, racism, and prejudice I face.

My life experiences are not cards.

They are issues.

To open up your vocal cords, or take to a computer to draft a message despite living in a world that continuously shows us our lives and PERSPECTIVES don’t matter, is an act of resilience. Time and time again, we may not speak out in fear that our experiences will be ripped apart and discarded and we will be deemed whiney, angry, weak, or lazy.

In her latest statement, Pinkins proclaims no man will speak for her in 2016, largely in response to the he said she said that’s been going on in response to her first statement. She highlights the importance of the intersectionality between race and gender, which results in an experience that many in the production have not experienced.

She says:

“My departure from CSC’s Mother Courage was not bourne of one episode but of a lifetime of experiences of inequality, patriarchy and misogyny. CSC’s Mother Courage was simply the straw to break my silence.”

Tonya’s experiences aren’t cards. They are issues that have built up her courage to not only share her experience, but act on how these experiences made her feel. She broke her silence, and because SHE broke it, all we need to do is listen to her voice.

Read her entire statement in response to those who have spoken out about her initial statement

No Man Speaks For Me in 2016

There is a plethora of “He said, She said surrounding my departure from Classic Stage Company’s Mother Courage. Tonya said this and Brian Kulick said that and Michael Potts says this… “

Now I say, Michael Potts is not equipped to speak for me. Michael Potts was a postscript to the production after John Jelks, withdrew for personal reasons. If, as Potts says, “I was running it,” the Chaplain would have been played by Frances Jue.

Potts states that I, “…insisted on being called ‘Momma…” which he spells like the disrespectful ‘Yo Momma.’ I asked to be respectfully called ‘Mama’ as in Mama Nadi in RUINED. A term of respect for women of a certain age in the Congo. Potts’ ignorance of this appellation is emblematic of his myopia throughout this production.

It was at my suggestion that CSC endeavored to negotiate a new translation by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. When that proved impossible, Eve Ensler of V-day: City of Joy in the Congo was the next and best choice. Eve and I would be following in the footsteps of Ntozake Shange who translated and transported Mother Courage the Reconstruction South forThe Public Theater and Rose Mbowa. who translated and performed as Mother Courage in the first authorized African production in Luganda the language of Uganda. But, a couple of weeks before rehearsals began, I was told that the death of Brecht’s heir stalled the approval of an Ensler translation in time for the start of our production. In hindsight, I question if that was even true. This left me with Kulick’s Frankenstein “McDraft.” based loosely on John Willet’s edited translation of the Brecht.

Potts appears in a little less than half of the play and has donned himself narrator of a my experience? HE didn’t hear me say this when HE thought I should. Why isn’t Potts more versed in the job he was elected to; Equity Deputy? As deputy, Michael Potts failed the black women in Mother Courage by failing to attend to their beseechings.

Mirrirai Sitole and Zenzi Williams asked Michael Potts to call an equity meeting to address the testosterone overdosed environment. I asked Potts about the meeting and he replied “The meeting occurred and you were late” The meeting he referenced was a meeting of Kulick, cast and crew. Only Equity members may attend Equity meetings. Potts never called the “equity meeting” the women requested.

Zenzi Williams said ,”I have never been spoken to the way he [Brian Kulick] spoke to me.” Mirirai Sithole was traumatized and said “It was not a safe space.” Both women were brought to tears in rehearsal. On this Potts is as mute as dumb Katrin. Ladies forgive me for telling stories that are not mine to tell but Michael Potts is white washing history to defend the master, to protect the way it is and the way it is must change.

I told Kulick that as Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company and as the director of the play, he was responsible for the squelching mysogyny. I said it to his face with company members present. He said, “I’m sorry,” He did nothing.

When Kevin Mambo ceased playing the scenes with me in performance and instead circled me on stage like I was prey. Kulick did not stop him. Instead, he told me I “…was driving the actors [male] insane.” Well, Mother Courage is supposed to drive the men insane because they can’t have her, they can’t control her and they can’t stop her. That was Brecht’s intent.

Kulick spoke for himself regarding his trans[-]plantation of Brecht to the general Congo. Does Kulick need Potts, to be his armor the way we three Black women needed him to be ours during this ordeal? Potts failed us then and continues to fail us now. Kulick empowered the male actors to behave like men in war, to bully and undermine us because women are always the first casualties of war.

Dr. Robin D. G. Kelly, author and Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at UCLA states that “Black women are in fact more vulnerable because of the exclusions of race and gender and Black men often play a role in perpetuating inequality/vulnerability/oppression,”

Potts and Kulick have worked together five times. I surmise Potts’ is safeguarding his next job by sacrificing me, the Black woman who spoke truths that he would rather remained unspoken. Black women show up in support of Black male movements everyday. Why Potts are you coming for me when White men are at the apex of a pyramid built upon Black vaginas?

Dr Kimberle Crenshaw, co-founder of The African American Policy Forum and law professor at UCLA and Columbia University School of Law says, “We have failed Black [women] when their experiences are not centered at the core of our vision of racial justice. We have failed them when we resist empowering women as core leaders of our organizations. We have failed them when we subject them to catcalling and other forms of sexual harassment on the front lines of protests against racialized violence. We have failed them when we applaud their work in these settings, while marginalizing them in the corridors of power behind closed doors.”

“We have also failed them when we encourage or force them to choose between their gender and their race; and when we question their loyalty to the race when they raise feminist issues rather than working with them to erase the roadblocks those concerns represent.”

My experience at CSC reflects inequality at the intersection of race and gender. Were I differently abled, transgendered, muslim or a combination of them, I would experience inequality distinctly differently for each and every way in which I was not a part of the healthy, White, male, Christian normative of American society, where privilege and power reside.

Just as there is uniqueness within that “norm”, there is infinite and overlapping uniqueness outside of it. Intersectionality addresses overlapping social identities and related systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. Potts would deny me my unique experience and voice.

My departure from CSC’s Mother Courage was not bourne of one episode but of a lifetime of experiences of inequality, patriarchy and misogyny. CSC’s Mother Courage was simply the straw to break my silence.

-Tonya Pinkins

The post Tonya Pinkins Pt 2. : It’s Not A Card, It’s An Issue appeared first on Broadway Black.

Brecht’s play follows trader “Anna Fierling” as she pulls her canteen wagon and her children through the carnage of Europe’s religious wars. According to the Classic Stage Company’s web site, “She’ll do anything to hold onto her money-making wagon, even if it means the loss of her children. Experience a timeless tale of war updated to the modern-day conflagration in the Congo, with a new and vibrant score by Tony Award-winning composer Duncan Sheik.”

Pinkins, who was last seen in Joel Drake Johnson’s Rasheeda Speaking, has enjoyed a long and successful career on the stage. She has been nominated for three Tony Awards, winning one for her performance as “Sweet Anita” in Jelly’s Last Jam. She also has won the Obie, the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards among many others. Pinkins has appeared on Broadway in Merrily We Roll Along, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The Wild Party, House of Flowers, Radio Golf, A Time To Kill, and Holler If Ya Hear Me, the musical inspired by the work of Tupac Shakur.

Although Broadway has become a second home for Pinkins, Mother Courage isn’t her first appearance in an Off-Broadway production. She’s also performed in the role of “Mopsa, the Shepherdess,” in The Winter’s Tale in 1983. And, in 2012, Pinkins starred in the Off-Broadway production of Katori Hall’s Hurt Village, the gritty drama about life and change in a Memphis housing project.

Joining Pinkins on stage in Mother Courage will be Joshua Boone, Curtiss Cook, Jr., Kevin Mambo, Jacob Ming-Trent, Geoffrey Owens, Michael Potts, Deandre Sevon, Mirirai Sithole, and Zenzi Williams.

Mother Courage opens on December 9. For tickets, visit here.

The post Tonya Pinkins Stars in Great Anti-war Drama, Mother Courage appeared first on Broadway Black.

Caroline, or Change

SHOULD. HAVE. WON. EVERY. SINGLE. TONY. FOR. WHICH. THEY. WERE. NOMINATED.  Okay, I’m good now. This show opened on Broadway in 2004. It’s 2015, why hasn’t there been a revival in the works for the Great White Way? Its score combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, Jewish klezmer, and folk music all in one. What other musical does that, and does so effortlessly? If only in 2004 I had been smart enough to become the theatre nerd I am today, I would have begged my mom to take me to New York City to see Tonya Pinkins, Chuck Cooper and Anika Noni Rose in this show. The musical is set in 1963 New Orleans during the American civil rights movement. Caroline works as a maid for a Jewish family, where she is allowed to keep the pocket change she finds while doing laundry. This becomes a point of pride and even crisis for the maid, who cannot cope with greater changes in her life and the growing civil rights movement.

Carmen Jones

If I had been around in the 1940s I would have been all up in the theatre to see Carmen Jones. Oscar Hammerstein’s take on  Bizet’s Opera Carmen featured an all-Black cast set in the South during the World War II era. This time, Carmen is a worker in a parachute factory; Don Jose is now Don, an army corporal; Micaela is now Cindy Lou, Joe’s lover; and Escamillo is Husky Miller, a boxer. When the show was first conceived, they had trouble finding suitable actors for it because back then, Black singers were discouraged (or practically barred) from becoming opera singers. To make up for this they plucked people from all kinds of non-acting positions–film scraper, cop, etc.

She Loves Me

Nearly every character in this show is white, and it takes place in Europe.  However, WHO CARES? This show has some amazing music. Its tender, hilarious, and entrancing “A Romantic Atmosphere” is one of the most exciting, funny production numbers to ever exist. Also I can see Audra McDonald absolutely KILLING it singing Vanilla Ice Cream. Look up the song if you don’t know. Seriously, Audra would slay that role as Amalia. The plot has been seen before:  it revolves around shop employees Georg Nowack and Amalia Balash who, despite being consistently at odds with each other at work, are unaware that each is the other’s secret pen pal met through a lonely-hearts ad.

St. Louis Woman

If you loved Porgy and Bess, you’ll love St. Louis Woman too. It has an Encores cast recording from 1998, but if you search high and low you’ll find the OBC as well. Starring the Nicholas Brothers, Pearl Bailey, and Ruby Hill, St. Louis Woman tells the story of Della Green who falls for Li’l Augie, a jockey with a winning streak, though she’s already the woman of Biglow Brown, a saloon owner. Brown is eventually killed, but he puts a curse on Li’l Augie that ends the streak and Della’s affection for the jockey.

 Once on This Island

It’s a French fairy tale about a young island girl from Haiti, Ti Moune, who falls in love with the mulatto son (Daniel) of a wealthy landowner. When he’s injured, she makes a pact with the gods that it’s going to be her life for his. He survives and is grateful, but rejects her love (RUDE!). The gods, as a reward for her sacrifice and disappointment, grant her eternal life by turning her into a tree. It reminds me a lot of The Tempest, a little Romeo and Juliet, and even some Little Mermaid just shaken up a bit and a lot more music.

We could probably list more overlooked shows, but I’m curious to know about some shows YOU think are overlooked! Sound off below.

The post 5 Great Musicals You’ve Probably Overlooked appeared first on Broadway Black.

“Arkabutla,” a short film written and co-produced by Hall, follows “Chauncey,” a contemporary “cowboy,” who is reunited with his 10-year-old daughter (“an old soul with a fast mouth,” according to casting notes) and 7-year-old son (a “brat” with charm) after a long stretch away from home on the rodeo circuit.

To give his kids something of the elation he feels as a bull rider, he buys a jet ski for a family visit to DeSoto County’s Arkabutla Lake. When a white lake official sees Chauncey with the jet ski, he assumes the recreational watercraft is stolen, leading to a confrontation that causes anger and disillusionment — “the sense of hopelessness you take from a situation like that.”

The film was inspired by an incident that Hall witnessed as a teenager and marks her first attempt at filmmaking. The award-winning playwright plans to employ an entirely local cast and crew on the project with shooting scheduled for October 20-23 in Memphis-area locations.

She hopes to follow the short by directing a feature adaptation of her Memphis-set play Hurt Village, which debuted off-Broadway in 2011 and starred Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins.

Hall’s most recent production was The Mixed Blood Theatre‘s Pussy Valley, which closed a successful run on May 10th. The play centered around the lives of four women working in a Mississippi strip club, a world that Hall describes as “the intersection of hip hop and strip club cultures.”

Katori Hall was the first African American playwright to win the Olivier Award, for The Mountaintop. Since her rise on the Broadway scene, her work has been produced at acclaimed theatres across the nation, bringing her signature style to the forefront of the theatre scene.

The post Katori Hall To Make Directorial Debut with “Arkabutla” appeared first on Broadway Black.

Continuing their exploration of Bertolt Brecht, Classic Stage Company and Brian Kulick tackle one of Brecht’s most famous plays. 

From the Classic Stage Company’s website:

The indomitable Mother Courage follows one luckless army after another across a war-torn world in her canteen wagon. She’ll do anything to hold onto her money-making wagon, even if it means the loss of her children. Experience a timeless tale of war updated to the modern-day conflagration in the Congo, with a new and vibrant score by Tony Award-winning composer Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening, American Psycho).

Performances are currently scheduled for Dec. 7 through Jan. 24, 2016.

The post Tonya Pinkins to Star in Classic Stage Company’s Mother Courage appeared first on Broadway Black.

Between Riverside an Crazy, which also won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, won Outstanding Play, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play (Stephen McKinley Henderson ), and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Liza Cólon-Zayas).

Tonya Pinkins also took home a win, Outstanding Lead Actress in Play, for Rasheeda Speaking.

Other winners were Jacob Ming-Trent for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play in Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3). Into The Woods for Outstanding Revival, Josephine and I written and performed by Cush Jumbo for Outstanding Solo Show, Jen Versweyveid for Outstanding Scenic Deisgn in Scenes From a Marriage. Terrence McNally received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Jeanine Tesori is the Playwright’s Sidewalk Inductee, and Nancy Nagel Gibbs was awarded the Edith Oliver Service to Off-Broadway Award.

The Lucille Lortel Awards were created in 1986 to honor artists in the New York Off-Broadway theater community and are named after 20^th century American actress and producer, Lucille Lortel. Go back and look at all who were nominated as previously reported HERE.

The post Artists of Color Sweep 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards appeared first on Broadway Black.

Below you’ll find the 2015 Drama Desk Awards nomination list in its entirety. On it you’ll find some of Broadway Black favorites including Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Tonya Pinkins (Rasheeda Speaking), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Between Riverside And Crazy), K. Todd Freeman (Airline Highway), and Renne Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton). One of our and (what seems like) the entire world’s favorite production, Hamilton, is leading the pack with 13 nominations. The Ceremony will take place on May 31 at New York’s Town Hall.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE DRAMA DESK AWARD NOMINEES OF 2015!

The Drama Desk Awards, which are presented annually, honor outstanding achievement by professional theater artists on Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway. The awards are voted on by theater critics, journalists, editors, and publishers covering theater.

Outstanding Play
Clare Barron, You Got Older
Lisa D’Amour, Airline Highway
Anthony Giardina, The City of Conversation
Stephen Adly Guirgis, Between Riverside and Crazy
Elizabeth Irwin, My Manãna Comes
Simon Stephens, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Jack Thorne, Let the Right One In

Outstanding Musical
An American in Paris
Hamilton
Fly by Night
Pretty Filthy
Something Rotten!
The Visit

Outstanding Revival of a Play
The Elephant Man
Fashions for Men
Ghosts
The Iceman Cometh
Tamburlaine the Great
The Wayside Motor Inn

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Into the Woods
The King and I
On the Town
On the Twentieth Century
Pageant
Side Show

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Reed Birney, I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard
Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy
Ben Miles, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Bill Pullman, Sticks and Bones
Alexander Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Brooke Bloom, You Got Older
Kathleen Chalfant, A Walk in the Woods
Kristin Griffith, The Fatal Weakness
Jan Maxwell, The City of Conversation
Helen Mirren, The Audience
Carey Mulligan, Skylight
Tonya Pinkins, Rasheeda Speaking

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Brian d’Arcy James, Something Rotten!
Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris
Jeremy Kushnier, Atomic
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Matthew Morrison, Finding Neverland
Ryan Silverman, Side Show

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, John & Jen
Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century
Leanne Cope, An American in Paris
Erin Davie, Side Show
Lisa Howard, It Shoulda Been You
Chita Rivera, The Visit

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
F. Murray Abraham, It’s Only a Play
Reed Birney, You Got Older
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway
Jonathan Hadary, Rocket to the Moon
Jason Butler Harner, The Village Bike
Jonathan Hogan, Pocatello
José Joaquin Perez, My Mañana Comes

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It With You
Beth Dixon, The City of Conversation
Julie Halston, You Can’t Take It With You
Paola Lázaro-Muñoz, To the Bone
Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Julie White, Airline Highway

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Christian Borle, Something Rotten!
Peter Friedman, Fly by Night
Josh Grisetti, It Shoulda Been You
Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century
Leslie Odom Jr., Hamilton
Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!
Max von Essen, An American in Paris

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Carolee Carmello, Finding Neverland
Tyne Daly, It Shoulda Been You
Elizabeth A. Davis, Allegro
Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton
Luba Mason, Pretty Filthy
Nancy Opel, Honeymoon in Vegas
Elizabeth Stanley, On the Town

Outstanding Director of a Play
Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Anne Kauffman, You Got Older
Lila Neugebauer, The Wayside Motor Inn
Austin Pendleton, Between Riverside and Crazy
Joe Tantalo, Deliverance
John Tiffany, Let the Right One In

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Carolyn Cantor, Fly by Night
Bill Condon, Side Show
John Doyle, The Visit
Thomas Kail, Hamilton
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Outstanding Choreography
Joshua Bergasse, On the Town
Warren Carlyle, On the Twentieth Century
Steven Hoggett, The Last Ship
Austin McCormick, Rococo Rouge
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Outstanding Music
Jason Robert Brown, Honeymoon in Vegas
Michael Friedman, The Fortress of Solitude
John Kander, The Visit
Dave Malloy, Ghost Quartet
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Sting, The Last Ship

Outstanding Lyrics
Jason Robert Brown, Honeymoon in Vegas
Fred Ebb, The Visit
Michael Friedman, The Fortress of Solitude
Karey Kirkpatrick & Wayne Kirkpatrick, Something Rotten!
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Benjamin Scheuer, The Lion

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Hunter Bell & Lee Overtree, Found
Karey Kirkpatrick & John O’Farrell, Something Rotten!
Craig Lucas, An American in Paris
Terence McNally, The Visit
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Kim Rosenstock, Will Connolly, & Michael Mitnick, Fly by Night

Outstanding Orchestrations
Christopher Austin, An American in Paris
Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Allegro
Larry Hochman, Something Rotten!
Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton
Rob Mathes, The Last Ship
Don Sebesky, Larry Blank, Jason Robert Brown, & Charlie Rosen, Honeymoon in Vegas

Outstanding Music in a Play
Cesar Alvarez, An Octoroon
Danny Blackburn & Bryce Hodgson, Deliverance
Sean Cronin, Kill Me Like You Mean It
Bongi Duma, Generations
Freddi Price, The Pigeoning
Arthur Solari & Jane Shaw, Tamburlaine the Great

Outstanding Revue
Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging!
Just Jim Dale
Lennon: Through a Glass Onion
Lonesome Traveler

Outstanding Set Design
Bob Crowley, An American in Paris
Christine Jones, Let the Right One In
David Korins, Hamilton
Mimi Lien, An Octoroon
Scott Pask, The Visit
Daniel Zimmerman, Fashions for Men

Outstanding Costume Design
Bob Crowley, An American in Paris
Bob Crowley, The Audience
Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Paul Tazewell, Hamilton
Andrea Varga, The Fatal Weakness
Catherine Zuber, Gigi

Outstanding Lighting Design
Howell Binkley, Hamilton
Paule Constable, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Paule Constable & David Plater, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Maruti Evans, Deliverance
Natasha Katz, The Iceman Cometh
Ben Stanton, Our Lady of Kibeho

Outstanding Projection Design
59 Productions, An American in Paris
Roger Hanna & Price Johnston, Donogoo
Darrel Maloney, Found
Peter Nigrini, Our Lady of Kibeho
Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Austin Switser, Big Love

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Peter Hylenski, Side Show
Scott Lehrer, The King and I
Scott Lehrer & Drew Levy, Honeymoon in Vegas
Brian Ronan, The Last Ship
Nevin Steinberg, Hamilton
Jon Weston, An American in Paris

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
Nathan Davis, The Other Mozart
Ien Denio, Deliverance
Ian Dickinson (for Autograph), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Gareth Fry, Let the Right One In
John Gromada, Lives of the Saints
Matt Tierney, Our Lady of Kibeho

Outstanding Solo Performance
Christina Bianco, Application Pending
Jonny Donahoe, Every Brilliant Thing
Tom Dugan, Wiesenthal
Mona Golabek, The Pianist of Willesden Lane
Joely Richardson, The Belle of Amherst
Benjamin Scheuer, The Lion

Unique Theatrical Experience
Catch Me!
Everybody Gets Cake
The Human Symphony
Queen of the Night
A Rap Guide to Religion

Special Awards: Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater.

For 2014-15, these awards include the following:

This year the nominators chose to bestow a special award for outstanding ensemble to the actors who so brilliantly shared a room in the world of A.R. Gurney’s The Wayside Motor Inn: Kelly AuCoin, Jon DeVries, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Rebecca Henderson, Marc Kudisch, Jenn Lyon, Lizbeth Mackay, David McElwee, Ismenia Mendes, and Will Pullen.

To Bess Wohl, the Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: For establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater, and having a breakthrough year with the eclecticAmerican Hero, Pretty Filthy, and Small Mouth Sounds. Her writing expresses sensitivity, compassion, and humor with a sure hand.

To John Douglas Thompson: For invigorating theater in New York through his commanding presence, classical expertise, and vocal prowess. This season he demonstrated exceptional versatility in Tamburlaine the Great and The Iceman Cometh.

To Ensemble Studio Theatre: For its unwavering commitment to producing new works by American playwrights since 1968, and enriching this season with productions ofWhen January Feels Like Summer, Winners, and Five Times in One Night. EST’s Youngblood program fostered and nurtured Hand to God, setting Tyrone off on his devilish path to Broadway.

To Andy Blankenbuehler: For his inspired and heart-stopping choreography in Hamilton, which is indispensible to the musical’s storytelling. His body of work is versatile, yet a dynamic and fluid style is consistently evident. When it’s time to “take his shot,” Blankenbuehler hits the bull’s-eye.

Note: Eligibility and award category designations for the productions under consideration this season were determined by the Drama Desk Board of Directors. Because of the abundance of work throughout the season, the Board also authorized increasing the number of nominees allowed in select categories.

The post 2015 Drama Desk Award Nominations appeared first on Broadway Black.

This year’s nominations gave us tons of excitement for some of Broadway Black’s finest. On this list you’ll find work and performances recognized from that of Suzan Lori Parks, Leslie Odom Jr., Quincy Tyler Bernstine, S. Epatha Merkerson, Lillias White, Tonya Pinkins, & Renée Elise Goldsberry.

The ever so popular musical Hamilton broke the record for most nominations with a total of 12, and the most nominated play was Between Riverside and Crazy with 6 nominations. For more information on the Lortel Awards and previous winners visit their website HERE

The following special awards will also be presented:

• Lifetime Achievement Award: Terrence McNally
• Edith Oliver Service to Off-Broadway Award: Nancy Nagel Gibbs
• Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee: Jeanine Tesori

The 2015 nominations by category are:

Outstanding Play

• Between Riverside and Crazy
  written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
  Produced by Atlantic Theater Company
• Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)
  Written by Suzan-Lori Parks
  Produced by The Public Theater in association with American Repertory Theater
• The Invisible Hand
  Written by Ayad Akhtar
  Produced by New York Theatre Workshop
• My Mañana Comes
  Written by Elizabeth Irwin
  Produced by The Playwrights Realm
• The Nether
  Written by Jennifer Haley
  Produced by MCC Theater

Outstanding Musical

• The Fortress of Solitude
  Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman
  Book by Itamar Moses
  Produced by The Public Theater in association with Dallas Theater Center
• Hamilton
  Book, Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda
  Produced by The Public Theater
• The Lightning Thief
  Music and Lyrics by Rob Rokicki
  Book by Joe Tracz
  Produced by Theatreworks USA
• Nevermore – The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe
  Written and Composed by Jonathan Christenson
  Produced by Radio Mouse Entertainment, Martin Hummel, Caiola Productions, Terry Schnuck, Susan Jaffe Tane, Hernreich-Horvath Productions, Catalyst Theatre in association with Fireboat Productions, Mary Cossette, Meredith Lynsey Schade
• Pretty Filthy
  Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman
  Book by Bess Wohl
  Produced by The Civilians in association with Jon B. Platt

Outstanding Revival

• Fashions for Men
  Written by Ferenc Molnár
  Produced by Mint Theater Company
• Indian Ink
  Written by Tom Stoppard
  Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company in association with American Conservatory Theater
• Into The Woods
  Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
  Book by James Lapine
  Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company in association with McCarter Theatre Center, a Fiasco Theater production
• Sticks and Bones
  Written by David Rabe
  Produced by The New Group
• The Wayside Motor Inn
  Written by A.R. Gurney
  Produced by Signature Theatre

Outstanding Solo Show

• Every Brilliant Thing
  Written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe
  Performed by Jonny Donahoe
  Produced by Scott Morfee, Jean Doumanian, Tom Wirtshafter, Patrick Daly, Kelpie Arts LLC, Scott Rudin, Marc & Lisa Biales, Terry Allen Kramer, Michael Ostin.
• Josephine and I
  Written and Performed by Cush Jumbo
  Produced by The Public Theater
• Just Jim Dale
  Written and Performed by Jim Dale
  Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company
• The Lion
  Written and Performed by Benjamin Scheuer
  Produced by Manhattan Theatre Club

Outstanding Director

• Michael Greif: Our Lady of Kibeho
• Thomas Kail: Hamilton
• Austin Pendleton: Between Riverside and Crazy
• Ken Rus Schmoll: The Invisible Hand
• Ivo van Hove: Scenes From a Marriage

Outstanding Choreographer

• Andy Blankenbuehler: Hamilton
• Camille A. Brown: The Fortress of Solitude
• Denis Jones: Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story
• Laura Krewski: Nevermore – The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe
• Lisa Shriver: Into The Woods

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play

• Usman Ally: The Invisible Hand
• Carson Elrod: The Heir Apparent
• Stephen McKinley Henderson: Between Riverside and Crazy
• Owiso Odera: Our Lady of Kibeho
• Bill Pullman: Sticks and Bones

Outstanding Lead Actress in a play

• Quincy Tyler Bernstine: Grand Concourse
• Anna Gunn: Sex With Strangers
• Jan Maxwell: The City of Conversation
• S. Epatha Merkerson: While I Yet Live
• Tonya Pinkins: Rasheeda Speaking

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical

• Adam Chanler-Berat: The Fortress of Solitude
• Claybourne Elder: Allegro
• Lin-Manuel Miranda: Hamilton
• Leslie Odom Jr.: Hamilton
• Ben Steinfeld: Into The Woods

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical

• Michelle Knight: Disenchanted!
• Jennifer Mudge: Into The Woods
• Sally Murphy: The Threepenny Opera
• Phillipa Soo: Hamilton
• Lillias White: Texas in Paris

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play

• Victor Almanzar: Between Riverside and Crazy
• Jacob Ming-Trent: Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)
• Jesse Pennington: Bootycandy
• Will Pullen: Punk Rock
• Scott Shepherd: The Village Bike

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

• Sophia Anne Caruso: The Nether
• Sun Mee Chomet: brownsville song (b-side for tray)
• Liza Colón-Zayas: Between Riverside and Crazy
• Beth Dixon: The City of Conversation
• Deirdre O’Connell: By the Water

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

• Daveed Diggs: Hamilton
• Andy Grotelueschen: Into The Woods
• Brian d’Arcy James: Hamilton
• Kevin Mambo: The Fortress of Solitude
• Steve Rosen: Pretty Filthy
  

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  Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical

  • Renée Elise Goldsberry: Hamilton
  • Luba Mason: Pretty Filthy
  • Lulu Picart: Disenchanted!
  • Jessica Tyler Wright: Allegro
  • Emily Young: Into The Woods

  ---

  Outstanding Scenic Design

  • Brett J. Banakis: Big Love
  • Laura Jellinek: The Nether
  • Derek McLane: Into The Woods
  • Walt Spangler: Between Riverside and Crazy
  • Jan Versweyveld: Scenes From a Marriage

  ---

  Outstanding Costume Design

  • Candice Donnelly: Indian Ink
  • Bretta Gerecke: Nevermore – The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe
  • Clint Ramos: Bootycandy
  • Paul Tazewell: Hamilton
  • Anthony Ward: Josephine and I

  ---

  Outstanding Lighting Design

  • Howell Binkley: Hamilton
  • David Lander: The Library
  • Tyler Micoleau: The Invisible Hand
  • Ben Stanton: The Nether
  • Japhy Weideman: Punk Rock

  ---

  Outstanding Sound Design

  • Mikhail Fiksel: My Mañana Comes
  • Leah Gelpe: The Invisible Hand
  • Daniel Kluger and Brandon Wolcott: The Nether
  • Nevin Steinberg: Hamilton
  • Matt Tierney: Pocatello

  ---

  The 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards voting committee is appointed by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, Actors’ Equity Association, the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers, and the Lucille Lortel Foundation, and includes theatre journalists, academics and other Off-Broadway professionals.

  Awarded since 1986, the Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the League by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

The post The Lucille Lortel Awards Announce 2015 Nominations appeared first on Broadway Black.

Tony-winners Anika Noni-Rose (2004, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Caroline, or Change) and Tonya Pinkins (1992, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Jelly’s Last Jam) are teaming up again (they appeared on Broadway together in ‘Caroline, Or Change’) for a benefit reading of Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage’s play, Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine at New World Stages in Manhattan. Noni-Rose and Pinkins will be joined by Wood Harris (2012 Broadwa

y “multiracial” adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, HBO’s The Wire) and Michael Mastro (2009, Broadway revival of West Side Story). This reading is to be directed by Tony-winner Kenny Leon (2014, Best Direction of a Play), who previously worked with Noni-Rose in his revival of A Raisin in the Sun (for which he won his Tony) in 2014, and Pinkins in Holler If Ya Hear Me in 2013.

This benefit, which is set to happen April 21st, at 6:30 PM is for the non-profit arts education organization Opening Act.

Proceeds of the evening go directly to Opening Act’s free theatre programs.

The non-profit organization provides students attending New York City’s most under-served public schools, the opportunity – through theater – to develop leadership, commitment, confidence, and community. Opening Act provides free after-school and extra-curricular programs to the most high-need NYC public high schools that have low graduation rates and a lack of theater and arts programs. Tickets are now on sale at http://openingact.org/play-reading/.

Noni-Rose can next be seen in the CBS pilot For Justice, opposite fellow Tony-winner Phylicia Rashad (2004, Best Actress in a Play, A Raisin in the Sun), and directed by Ava DuVernay (director of the Oscar-winning film Selma, 2015). Pinkins can currently be seen in Joel Drake Johnson’s Rasheeda Speaking, at the New Group‘s Pershing Square Signature Center through March 22nd.

Up next for Kenny Leon is a revival of the 1980 Tony-winning play Children of a Lesser God, set to bow during the 2015-2016 season.

The post ‘Fabulation’ At New World Stages Directed By Kenny Leon appeared first on Broadway Black.