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Lloyd Richards

For Jamaican professional footballer, see Lloyd Richards (footballer).
Lloyd Richards
Born
Lloyd George Richards

(1919-06-29)June 29, 1919
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedJune 29, 2006(2006-06-29) (aged 87)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Theatre director, actor
Years active1947–1999
SpouseBarbara Davenport (1958-2006)
Children2
AwardsTony Award Best Direction of a Play
1987 Fences
Regional Theatre Tony Award
1991 Yale Repertory Theatre
Drama Desk Outstanding New Play
1987 Fences
1990 The Piano Lesson
National Medal of Arts
1993 Lifetime Achievement

Lloyd George Richards (June 29, 1919 – June 29, 2006) was a Canadian-American theatre director, and actor. 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 from 1979 to 1991 (later Professor Emeritus), and was the first Black director on Broadway.[1]

Biography

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Richards was born in Toronto, Ontario, but was raised in Detroit, Michigan. 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 at Wayne State University where instead he found his way in theatrical arts after a brief break during World War II while serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps.[2]

Among Richards' accomplishments are his staging the original production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, debuting on Broadway to standing ovations on 11 March 1959, and in 1984 he introduced August Wilson to Broadway in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.[3]

As head of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, he helped develop the careers of August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, Christopher Durang, Lee Blessing and David Henry Hwang.[4]

Richards was Dean of Yale School of Drama and Artistic Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, both in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1979 to 1991; he became Professor Emeritus at Yale School of Drama after his retirement.[5]

Richards died of heart failure on his eighty-seventh birthday in New York City.[6]

Richards also taught Moscow Art Theatre acting technique under Paul Mann at the Actor's Workshop in New York alongside Morris Carnovsky.[7]

Awards and nominations

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Awards
Nominations

References

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  1. ^ "SUCCESS STORY; Director, Once a Waiter, Stages a TV Drama". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  2. ^ "Black History Month Legend – Lloyd Richards". Black Theatre Matters. 2021-02-10. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  3. ^ Rich, Frank (1984-10-12). "THEATER: WILSON'S 'MA RAINEY'S' OPENS". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  4. ^ "Lloyd Richards and August Wilson · Yale University Library Online Exhibitions". onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  5. ^ "Lloyd Richards, Tony-Winning Director Who Helped Give August Wilson a Voice, Is Dead | Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  6. ^ Robertson, Campbell (2006-07-01). "Lloyd Richards, Theater Director and Cultivator of Playwrights, Is Dead at 87". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  7. ^ Shannon, Sandra G. (1991). "From Lorraine Hansberry to August Wilson: An Interview With Lloyd Richards". Callaloo. 14 (1): 124–135. doi:10.2307/2931445. ISSN 0161-2492. JSTOR 2931445.
  8. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  9. ^ Novotny, Jean (June 27, 1987). "Top guns: Academy salutes world-changers" (PDF). The Arizona Republic.
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