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AUDELCO
AUDELCO, the Audience Development Committee, Inc., was established in 1973 by Vivian Robinson to honor excellence in African American theatre in New York City. AUDELCO presents the Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards (also known as Viv awards) annually. The awards were created to promote "recognition, understanding, and awareness of the arts in the African-American community." The AUDELCO awards recognize the following Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway: *Productions by African-American companies *Productions written and/or directed by African-Americans *African-American actors in productions Description AUDELCO has an office in Harlem, and the current president is Jacqueline Jeffries. The board of directors includes: Tony Peterson (2nd Vice-President), Ralph Carter (3rd Vice-President), Linda Armstrong (secretary), and Cherine Anderson, A. Curtis Farrow, Bambi Jones, Donna M. Mills, Mary Seymour, Dale Ricardo Shields, Terrence Spivey, and Mary B. Davis as the Chair ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley Prendergast
Merris Shirley Prendergast (June 15, 1929 – February 26, 2019) was a theater lighting designer notable for being the first African-American woman admitted to the United Scenic Artists’ lighting division in 1969. She was also the first African-American woman lighting designer on Broadway in 1973. Prendergast designed lighting for Broadway shows such as ''Waltz of the Stork'', '' Amen Corner'', and the Paul Robeson one-man show. She designed lighting for fifty years, well into her mid-80s. One of her last productions was ''Zora Neale Hurston: a Theatrical Biography'' in 2016. Early life Prendergast was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Dorita and Wilford Prendergast. She grew up in Boston and New York. She studied microbiology at Brooklyn College, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954. She worked as a bacteriologist with the New York City Health Department and focused on her art when not at work. Prendergast took a lighting design class at the YWCA (Young Women ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Wesley
Richard Wesley (born July 11, 1945) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is an associate professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing. Early life Wesley was born in Newark, New Jersey, to George and Gertrude Wesley, and grew up in the Ironbound section.Galant, Debra"Look Homeward" ''The New York Times'', September 17, 2000. Accessed September 22, 2008. After finishing high school, he studied playwriting and dramatic literature at Howard University and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1967. Freedman, Samuel G.br>"THEATER; One Struggle Over, Attention Turns to Guilt" ''The New York Times'', October 29, 1989. Accessed September 22, 2008. Career He first became known for the 1971 New York Shakespeare Festival of his play ''Black Terror,'' which portrayed the story of a black revolution. Clive Barnes, writing for ''The New York Times,'' described the play as a "winner" that "make ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André De Shields
André Robin De Shields (born January 12, 1946) is an American actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, and Tony Award. De Shields has appeared in the original Broadway casts of multiple stage productions, including ''The Full Monty'', ''Warp!'', and ''The Wiz'', and most recently and notably originating the role of Hermes on Broadway in the musical ''Hadestown'', winning the 2019 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for his performance. He has also appeared on television, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for his performance in the 1982 NBC broadcast of '' Ain't Misbehavin'''. Early life and education André Robin De Shields was born on January 12, 1946, in Dundalk, Maryland, to Mary Gunther and John De Shields. He was raised in Baltimore, the ninth of eleven children; his fathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dale Ricardo Shields
Dale Ricardo Shields is an African American actor, director, producer, and educator. He is one of ten teachers nationwide who received the 2017 The Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award. Dale also received the 2017 AUDELCO / "VIV" Special Achievement Award. In September, 2022, Shields received the Ebony Bobcat Network (EBN) Legend Award from Ohio University. Shields was named the recipient of the 2021 Paul Robeson Award by the Actors’ Equity Association and the Actors’ Equity Foundation. In 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, Dale received the Actors Fund / Encore Award. Early life Shields is the youngest of two sons of Claude Lee and Fannie Lousie Shields. His grandfather and father were founding members of the Shields Brother Gospel Quartet of Ohio and his mother was a member of the Turner Gospel Singers directed by the gospel artist, Arthur Turner. Don King is Shields' cousin. King's mother and Shields' grandmother were sisters. Dale graduated from Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shauneille Perry
Shauneille Gantt Perry Ryder (July 26, 1929 – June 9, 2022) was an American stage director and playwright. She was one of the first African-American women to direct off-Broadway. Biography Shauneille Perry was born on July 26, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois, to a prominent African-American family. She is the only child of Graham T. Perry (1894–1960), one of the first African-American assistant attorneys-general for the State of Illinois and his wife, the former (Laura) Pearl Gantt (1903–1957), one of the first African-American court reporters in Chicago, who studied business at Morris Brown College. She is the niece by marriage of real-estate broker and political activist Carl Augustus Hansberry, who married her father's sister, Nannie Louise Perry, and the first cousin of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, their daughter. She is also the niece by marriage of Carl Hansberry's brother, Africanist scholar William Leo Hansberry. She later said, "Lorraine and I sat at the table a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chadwick Boseman
Chadwick Aaron Boseman (; November 29, 1976August 28, 2020) was an American actor. Through his two-decade career, he appeared in a number of projects spanning both blockbuster and independent films, and received various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a nomination for an Academy Award. Born in South Carolina, Boseman studied directing at Howard University and began his career in theatre. Boseman won a Drama League Directing Fellowship and an acting AUDELCO, along with receiving a Jeff Award nomination for his 2005 play '' Deep Azure''. Transitioning to the screen, his first major role was as a series regular on the NBC drama '' Persons Unknown'' (2010) and he landed his breakthrough role as baseball player Jackie Robinson in '' 42'' (2013). He continued to portray historical figures, starring as singer James Brown in '' Get on Up'' (2014) and as Thurgood Marshall in ''Marshall'' (2017). Boseman achieved international fame for playing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ntozake Shange
Ntozake Shange ( ; FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018. October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018) was an American playwright and poet. As a , she addressed issues relating to race and in much of her work. She is best known for her –winning play, '' |
McDonald's Gospelfest
The McDonald's Gospelfest is an annual gospel music festival, talent competition, and fundraiser in Newark, New Jersey. Background The event, inaugurated in 1983, and sponsored by McDonald's, takes place in spring and has been held at the Prudential Center since 2008. The closing night contest and ceremony is produced, directed, and hosted by A. Curtis Farrow. The event, which can take several hours, has been recorded and broadcast variously on WABC-TV and WWOR-TV. Involving more than a thousand performers, it has been described as the "largest collection of gospel talent ever assembled" and the "most spectacular gospel celebration in the nation". The event is followed up by McDonald's Inspiration Celebration which makes a national tour. History McDonald's Gospelfest originated in 1983 under the auspices of the McDonald's Corporation and the McDonald's Tri-State Owners' Association. The event has been an important fundraising event which supports education opportunities wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles Denzel Washington on screen and stage, on stage and screen, Washington has received List of awards and nominations received by Denzel Washington, numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2020, ''The New York Times'' named him the greatest actor of the 21st century. He has been honored with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2025, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025. After training at the American Conservatory Theater, Washington began his career in theater, acting in performances off-Broadway. He first came to prominence in the NBC medical drama series ''St. Elsewhere'' (1982–1988), and in the war film ''A Soldier's Story'' (1984). Washington won Academy Awards for Academy Award for Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp is a pioneering figure in American theater, known for creating Shakespeare in the Park, which aimed to make classical theater accessible to all people by producing free-of-charge performances. He was a known advocate for non-traditional and diverse casting practices. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created a year-round producing home to focus on new plays and musicals. Eventually, one of the six performance spaces inside the Public Theater was renamed Joe's Pub in honor of Joseph Papp. It continues to host live performances across a wide range of art forms. Among numerous examples of these were the works of David Rabe, Ntozake Shange's ''For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf'', Charles Gordone's '' No Place to Be Somebody'' (the first off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robbie McCauley
Robbie Doris McCauley (July 14, 1942 – May 20, 2021) was an American playwright, director, performer, and professor. McCauley is best known for her plays ''Sugar'' and ''Sally's Rape,'' among other works that addressed racism in the United States and challenged audiences to participate in dialogue with her work. She also performed in Ntozake Shange's 1976 Broadway play ''For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf''. McCauley was professor emerita at Emerson College, teaching there from 2001 until she retired in 2013. Early life Robbie McCauley was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 14, 1942. Her parents were Robert, who spent his career in the military, and Alice (Borders) McCauley, who worked in the federal government. Robbie spent most of her younger years splitting time between Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Georgia. She earned her B.A. in 1963 from Howard University and later an M.A. from New York University. Career In New York, McCauley b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
