Helen Hayes MacArthur was an American actress whose career spanned eighty-two years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. She was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting; to date, the only other people to have accomplished both are Rita Moreno and Viola Davis. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They are presented by Theatre Washington, sponsored by TodayTix, a ticketing company, and supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, The Share Fund, Prince Charitable Trust, and Craig Pascal and Victor Shargai.
Karamu House in the Fairfax neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio, United States, is the oldest African-American theater in the United States opening in 1915. Many of Langston Hughes's plays were developed and premièred at the theater.
Black Nativity is an adaptation of the Nativity story by Langston Hughes, performed by an entirely black cast. Hughes was the author of the book, with the lyrics and music being derived from traditional Christmas carols, sung in gospel style, with a few songs created specifically for the show. The show was first performed Off-Broadway on December 11, 1961, and was one of the first plays written by an African American to be staged there. The show had a successful tour of Europe in 1962, one of its appearances being at the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy.
Forum Theatre was a non-profit theatre company based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2004 as Forum Theatre and Dance, it worked out of the Warehouse Theatre, the H Street Playhouse and, in its final years, out of a black box theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. The company focused on plays that featured storytelling and theatricality. The company also aimed to host productions dealing with topics that lent themselves to post-show discussions, which the theatre hosted in the lobby. It was known for producing "new and recent plays at revolutionarily low prices," according to The Washington Post. The Forum Theatre ceased operations on July 31, 2018.
Douglas Hughes is an American theatre director.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company located at 641 D Street NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1980, it produces new plays which it believes to be edgy, challenging, and thought-provoking. Performances are in a 265-seat courtyard-style theater.
The Studio Theatre is a non-profit theater production company located in the 14th Street corridor of Washington, D.C. It produces contemporary plays in a four-stage complex. Stages include the Metheny, the Mead and Milton, and Stage 4, a black box.
Synetic Theater is a non-profit physical theater company located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It performs at the Crystal City Theatre in Arlington Virginia. Since its formation its productions have received numerous awards.
Solas Nua is a Washington, D.C.-based Irish contemporary arts organization. Founded in 2005, its first event was a production of the play Disco Pigs by Enda Walsh. While it is best known for its theater offerings, Solas Nua also presents programming in areas including film, music, visual arts and literature. The organization puts special emphasis on promoting recent work by up-and-coming Irish artists.
Nativity: A Life Story is an African American Christmas-themed musical based on the Black Nativity written by Langston Hughes, that was intended to become a holiday tradition, appearing annually in various venues in New York City since its inception in the mid-1990s. The performances have been sponsored by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Bruce Weber of The New York Times called it "a quirky combination of spiritual fervor, showbiz glamour, African-American pride and a celebration of women".
Jared Mezzocchi is an American theatre director and projection designer.
Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a spoken-word poet, dancer, playwright, and actor who frequently directs stand-alone hip-hop theater plays.
Constellation Theatre Company is a non-profit theater company located in Washington, D.C., performing at the Source Theatre, a black box theatre. Since its founding in 2007, Constellation has received several Helen Hayes Awards, including the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company in 2009.
Karen Zacarías is a Latina playwright who was born in Mexico in 1969. She is known for her play Mariela in the Desert. It was the winner of the National Latino Playwriting Award and a finalist for other prizes. Mariela in the Desert was debuted at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Zacarías is the founder of the Young Playwrights' Theater located in Washington, D.C.
Michael J. Bobbitt is an American playwright, director, choreographer, and performing arts leader based in Boston. He will become executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council on February 1, 2021. Bobbitt was the artistic director of Adventure Theatre-MTC, the longest-running children's theater in the Washington metropolitan area, for 12 years before becoming artistic director of the New Repertory Theatre in greater Boston on August 1, 2019. Bobbitt's work has been recognized frequently as both a nominee and a recipient of the annual Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in theater.
Tony Cisek is an American scenic designer.
Dahlak Brathwaite is a hip-hop-rooted performance artist, spoken word poet, actor, musician, and writer. He has toured the United States with his one-man show, Spiritrials, since 2015. He first gained prominence when appearing twice on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. As a CalArts artist-in-residence he has further developed Spiritrials with director Roberta Uno and choreographer Toran Moore to create the project Try/Step/Trip which he has performed at venues such as Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, San Francisco's CalArts Center for New Performance, and the American Conservatory Theater. Since 2004, Brathwaite has toured over 200 colleges throughout the United States and Europe with the ill-Literacy artists collective and been a featured performer at the Los Angeles Get Down Festival. He has toured nationally and internationally with the hip-hop theater production of Word Becomes Flesh and Scourge, both under the direction of Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Additional collaborations include a track with acclaimed Bay Area rapper George Watsky and performances with Princess Cut. Brathwaite is a presenter through the CalArts initiative ArtChangeUS: Arts in a Changing America and a U.S. State Department International Exchange Fellowship's OneBeat Fellow, through which he has performed for the State Department's hip-hop diplomacy program, Next Level. The role, which placed him on Team Uzbekistan, has taken him to Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, the Philippines, Turkey, and the Dominican Republic.
