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Billie Allen
Billie Allen (January 13, 1925 – December 29, 2015) was an American actress, theater director, dancer and entertainer. Allen was one of the first black actors and performers to appear on television and stage in the United States, at a time when those venues were largely closed to African Americans. During the 1950s, Allen became one of the first black entertainers to have a recurring role on network television when she was cast as a WAC on staff on the CBS army base comedy '' The Phil Silvers Show'', from 1955 to 1959. She was one of the first African Americans to appear on television commercials in the U.S. She was also one of the earliest African American actors on daytime soap operas as she appeared in the mid-1950s as the character Ada Chandler on the popular daytime soap opera '' The Edge of Night''. Allen was also known for her work on Broadway and off Broadway. Life and career Allen was born Wilhelmina Louise Allen on January 13, 1925, in Richmond, Virginia. Her fath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richmond, Virginia, USA
(Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Virginia##Location within the contiguous United States , pushpin_relief = yes , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , established_date = 1742 , , named_for = Richmond, United Kingdom , government_type = , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Levar Stoney ( D) , total_type = City , area_magnitude = 1 E8 , area_total_sq_mi = 62.57 , area_land_sq_mi = 59.92 , area_water_sq_mi = 2.65 , elevation_m = 50.7 , elevation_ft = 166.45 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadway Revival
A revival is a restaging of a stage production after its original run has closed. New material may be added. A filmed version is said to be an adaptation and requires writing of a screenplay. Revivals are common in Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T .... References Stage terminology {{Theat-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alliance Theatre
The Alliance Theatre is a theater company in Atlanta, Georgia, based at the Alliance Theatre, part of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, and is the winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The company, originally the Atlanta Municipal Theatre, staged its first production ('' King Arthur'') at the Alliance in 1968. The following year the company became the Alliance Theatre Company. Within a decade, the company had grown tremendously and staged the world premiere of Tennessee Williams' ''Tiger Tail'' and was casting such well-known actors as Richard Dreyfuss, Morgan Freeman, Jane Alexander, Paul Winfield, Robert Foxworth, Jo Van Fleet and Cybill Shepherd. Other world premieres included Ed Graczyk's '' Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean''. With the arrival of Kenny Leon as artistic director in 1988, the company began a period of diversification and growth. Leon's work attracted a larger African-American audience by staging a more diverse sele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cherry Lane Theatre
The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. The Cherry Lane contains a 179-seat main stage and a 60-seat studio.Lee, Felicia R. (December 21, 2010"Cherry Lane Theater Artistic Director to Leave and Sell Building" ''The New York Times''. Retrieved December 24, 2010WebCitation archive History The building was constructed as a farm silo in 1817, and also served as a brewery, tobacco warehouse and box factory before Evelyn Vaughn, William S. Rainey, Reginald Travers & Edna St. Vincent Millay converted the structure into a theater they christened the Cherry Lane Playhouse. It opened in 1923. Its first reviewed show was ''Saturday Night'' by Robert Presnell, which opened on February 9, 1924. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (1961). Her other notable film roles include '' The Jackie Robinson Story'' (1950) and ''Do the Right Thing'' (1989). Dee was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she frequently performed until his death in 2005. For her performance as Mama Lucas in '' American Gangster'' (2007), Dee was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Female Actor in a Supporting Role. Dee was a Grammy, Emmy, Obie and Drama Desk winner. She was also a National Medal of Arts, Kennedy Center Honors and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award recipient. Early life Dee was born on October 27, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana Sands
Diana Patricia Sands (August 22, 1934September 21, 1973) was an American actress, perhaps most known for her portrayal of Beneatha Younger, the sister of Sidney Poitier's character, Walter, in the original stage and film versions of Lorraine Hansberry's ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (1961). Sands also appeared in a number of dramatic television series in the 1960s and 1970s such as ''I Spy'', as Davala Unawa in the 1967 '' The Fugitive'' episode "Dossier on a Diplomat", Dr. Harrison in the '' Outer Limits'' episode " The Mice", and ''Julia''. Sands also starred in the 1963 film '' An Affair of the Skin'' as the narrator and photographer, Janice. For her work, Sands was twice nominated for a Tony Award and twice nominated for an Emmy Award. Biography Early life and education Diana Patricia Sands was born one of three children in the Bronx, New York City, on August 22, 1934 to Rudolph Sands, a Bahamian carpenter, and Shirley (née Thomas), a milliner. For her early education, Sands at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Raisin In The Sun
''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem " Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences in south Chicago, as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances with an insurance payout following the death of the father, and deals with matters of housing discrimination, racism, and assimilation. The New York Drama Critics' Circle named it the best play of 1959, and in recent years publications such as ''The Independent'' and ''Time Out'' have listed it among the best plays ever written. Plot Walter and Ruth Younger, their son Travis, along with Walter's mother Lena (Mama) and Walter's younger sister Beneatha, live in poverty in a run-down two-bedroom apartment on Chicago's South Side. Walter is barely making a living as a limousine driver. Though Ruth is content with their lot, Walter is not, and desperately wishes to become wealt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ''A Raisin in the Sun'', highlights the lives of black Americans in Chicago living under racial segregation. The title of the play was taken from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" At the age of 29, she won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award — making her the first African-American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. Hansberry's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant in the 1940 US Supreme Court case '' Hansberry v. Lee''. After she moved to New York City, Hansberry worked at the Pan-Africanist newspaper ''Freedom'', where she worked with other intellectuals such as Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois. Much of her wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective". In 1951, he became director of the nonprofit Actors Studio in New York City, considered "the nation's most prestigious acting school," and, in 1966, was involved in the creation of Actors Studio West in Los Angeles. Although other highly regarded teachers also developed versions of "The Method," Lee Strasberg is considered to be the "father of method acting in America," according to author Mel Gussow. From the 1920s until his death in 1982, "he revolutionized the art of acting by having a profound influence on performance in American theater and film." From his base in New York, Strasberg trained several generations of theatre and film notables, including Anne Bancrof ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded on October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, and Robert Lewis, who provided training for actors who were members. Lee Strasberg joined later and took the helm in 1951 until his death on February 17, 1982. The Studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method acting. The approach was originally developed by the Group Theatre in the 1930s based on the innovations of Konstantin Stanislavski. While at the Studio, actors work together to develop their skills in a private environment where they can take risks as performers without the pressure of commercial roles. , the studio's co-presidents are Ellen Burstyn, Alec Baldwin and Al Pacino. The artistic director in New York is Beau Gravitte, and the Associate Artistic D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mamba's Daughters
''Mamba's Daughters'' () is a 1929 novel written by DuBose Heyward and published by the University of South Carolina Press. It was later adapted by Heward and his wife Dorothy Heyward for the stage; the play premiered on Broadway in 1939. Novel The book is set in the early 20th century, following three different families in scenes of deception and social transformation. The book also explores racial boundaries during that period of the 20th century. It received positive reviews, with the ''Georgia Historical Quarterly'' commenting that it provided "a unique perspective not only of Charleston's racial tensions, but also of the unique subculture shared by Charleston's elite whites and poorer blacks". ''Mamba's Daughters'' was translated into French (1932) and Dutch (1939). Stage adaptation The novel was adapted for the stage by Heyward and his wife Dorothy Heyward, with songs by Jerome Kern; it premiered on Broadway at the Empire Theatre on January 3, 1939, starring Eth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her notable recordings include "Dinah", " Stormy Weather", " Taking a Chance on Love", " Heat Wave", " Supper Time", "Am I Blue?", "Cabin in the Sky", " I'm Coming Virginia", and her version of " His Eye Is on the Sparrow". Waters was the second African American to be nominated for an Academy Award, the first African American to star on her own television show, and the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. Early life Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania on October 31, 1896 (some sources incorrectly state her birth year as 1900) as a result of the rape of her teenaged African-American mother, Louise Anderson (1881–1962), by 17 year old John Wesley (or Wesley John) Waters (1878–1901), a pianist and family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
