Lloyd George Richards (June 29, 1919 – June 29, 2006) was a Canadian-American

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. While head of the National Playwrights Conference, he helped cultivate many of the most famous theater writers of the 20th century. He was also the dean of the

Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in ...

from 1979 to 1991 (later Professor Emeritus), and was the first Black director on Broadway.

Biography

Richards was born in Toronto, Ontario, but was raised in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. His father, a Jamaican carpenter turned auto-industry worker, died of an infection when Richards was nine years old. Four years later, in 1932, his mother would go blind. He and his brother Allan kept the family together. He later went on to study

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

where instead he found his way in theatrical arts after a brief break during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

while serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Among Richards' accomplishments are his staging the original production of

Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was an American playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ''A Raisin ...

's ''

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 Ch ...

'', debuting on Broadway to standing ovations on 11 March 1959, and in 1984 he introduced

August Wilson August Wilson (né Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called '' ...

to Broadway in '' Ma Rainey's Black Bottom''. As head of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, he helped develop the careers of

Wendy Wasserstein Wendy Wasserstein (October 18, 1950 – January 30, 2006) was an American playwright. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 ...

Christopher Durang Christopher Ferdinand Durang (January 2, 1949 – April 2, 2024) was an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in th ...

, Lee Blessing and

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...

. Richards was Dean of

and Artistic Director of

Yale Repertory Theatre Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of Yale School of Drama, in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented stud ...

, both in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1979 to 1991; he became Professor Emeritus at Yale School of Drama after his retirement. Richards died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

on his eighty-seventh birthday in New York City. Richards also taught Moscow Art Theatre acting technique under Paul Mann at the Actor's Workshop in New York alongside Morris Carnovsky. June 29,2023 was named Lloyd Richards Day was named by Council Member Erik Botcher. June 29,2024 Lloyd Richards Way was named on 47th Street between Broadway & 8th Avenue.

Awards and nominations

;Awards * 1987:

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

Outstanding New Play - '' Fences'' * 1987: Tony Award Best Direction of a Play - '' Fences'' * 1987: Tony Award Best Play - '' Fences'' * 1987: Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...

* 1990: Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play - '' The Piano Lesson'' * 1991:

Regional Theatre Tony Award The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special recognition Tony Award given annually to a regional theater company in the United States. The winner is recommended by a committee of drama critics. Background Initially presented in 1948 to Robert ...

* 1993:

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

* 2002: The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize ;Nominations * 1960: Tony Award Best Direction of a Play - ''A Raisin in the Sun'' * 1981: Tony Award Best Play - ''A Lesson From Aloes'' * 1987: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Play - ''Fences'' * 1988: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Play - ''Joe Turner's Come and Gone'' * 1988: Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play - ''Joe Turner's Come and Gone'' * 1988: Tony Award Best Direction of a Play - ''Joe Turner's Come and Gone'' * 1988: Tony Award Best Play - ''A Walk in the Woods'' * 1988: Tony Award Best Play - ''Joe Turner's Come and Gone'' * 1989: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival - ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' * 1989: Tony Award Best Revival - ''Ah, Wilderness!'' * 1990: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Play - ''The Piano Lesson'' * 1990: Tony Award Best Direction of a Play - ''The Piano Lesson'' * 1990: Tony Award Best Play - ''The Piano Lesson'' * 1996: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Play - ''Seven Guitars'' * 1996: Tony Award Best Direction of a Play - ''Seven Guitars''

References

* *

External links

Lloyd Richards Papers
James Weldon Johnson Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. * *
Lloyd Richards' oral history video excerpts
at The National Visionary Leadership Project
Lloyd Richards Biography and Interview on American Academy of Achievement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Lloyd 1919 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male film actors American theatre directors Black Canadian male actors Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian people of Jamaican descent Male actors from New York City Male actors from Toronto United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces soldiers Wayne State University alumni Yale University faculty The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize winners