The title of “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” teases galactic possibilities and plays with the notion of the unfinished work. Not the film’s labor — directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson have crafted an eloquent and engaging portrait — but that of its spiky, brilliant subject. One of the luminaries of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s into the 1970s, the now 79-year-old Giovanni continues to address the pain and joys, the anger and resilience of the descendants of the Middle Passage, who know much about uncertain and dangerous journeys.
Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tn, in 1943, before moving with her parents and sister to Cincinnati, Oh. During the summers as a child, she returned to Tennessee to visit her maternal grandparents. She later attended Fisk University in Nashville and currently lives in Christiansburg, Va, not far from Virginia Tech, where until recently, she was a Distinguished Professor of Writing and English.
Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tn, in 1943, before moving with her parents and sister to Cincinnati, Oh. During the summers as a child, she returned to Tennessee to visit her maternal grandparents. She later attended Fisk University in Nashville and currently lives in Christiansburg, Va, not far from Virginia Tech, where until recently, she was a Distinguished Professor of Writing and English.
- 1/20/2023
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) won the best actress prize at the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her West End debut performance playing a criminal barrister specialising in defending rapists — who is then sexually assaulted herself.
Comer won critical and public acclaim for the solo role in Prima Facie, which is written by Suzie Miller and directed by Justin Martin. James Bierman’s Empire Street Productions will launch the courtroom drama at Broadway’s Golden Theatre from April 11, 2023.
Stephen Graham (The Irishman), like Comer a Liverpudlian, presented Comer with the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress, named in honor of the star who died in 2009.
Comer told guests, who included Richardson’s mother Dame Vanessa Redgrave and sister Joely Richardson, that her experience in Prima Facie had been “utterly terrifying, having never trained,” added: “I didn’t know if I could execute this.”
However, she praised the production’s creative team for supporting her,...
Comer won critical and public acclaim for the solo role in Prima Facie, which is written by Suzie Miller and directed by Justin Martin. James Bierman’s Empire Street Productions will launch the courtroom drama at Broadway’s Golden Theatre from April 11, 2023.
Stephen Graham (The Irishman), like Comer a Liverpudlian, presented Comer with the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress, named in honor of the star who died in 2009.
Comer told guests, who included Richardson’s mother Dame Vanessa Redgrave and sister Joely Richardson, that her experience in Prima Facie had been “utterly terrifying, having never trained,” added: “I didn’t know if I could execute this.”
However, she praised the production’s creative team for supporting her,...
- 12/12/2022
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
In honor of their lifetime of achievements, Spelman College will name a renovated theater, lobby, dressing rooms and supporting areas the Latanya Richardson Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson Performing Arts Center.
Located in the John D. Rockefeller Fine Arts Building, the updated arts center is being made possible by a lead gift from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation along with generous donations from Richardson Jackson and Jackson, Bank of America and David Rockefeller Jr.
At the height of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, actress-producer-director Latanya Richardson Jackson, C’71, was honing her significant talents on the stage of the Baldwin Burroughs Theatre in Spelman’s John D. Rockefeller Fine Arts Building. She performed, alongside then Morehouse College student, Samuel Jackson, as a member of the Morehouse Spelman Players in productions like “The Sale” by Pearl Cleage, C’71. Their auspicious debut in plays produced by Spelman’s Department of Drama...
Located in the John D. Rockefeller Fine Arts Building, the updated arts center is being made possible by a lead gift from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation along with generous donations from Richardson Jackson and Jackson, Bank of America and David Rockefeller Jr.
At the height of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, actress-producer-director Latanya Richardson Jackson, C’71, was honing her significant talents on the stage of the Baldwin Burroughs Theatre in Spelman’s John D. Rockefeller Fine Arts Building. She performed, alongside then Morehouse College student, Samuel Jackson, as a member of the Morehouse Spelman Players in productions like “The Sale” by Pearl Cleage, C’71. Their auspicious debut in plays produced by Spelman’s Department of Drama...
- 5/13/2021
- Look to the Stars
Update Eric McCormack will join the previously announced Mary-Louise Parker in the virtual performance of Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, premiering on Thursday, April 29 as part of the virtual Spotlight on Plays series. Brandon Burton has also joined the cast.
Also announced today was the April 8 premiere date of Pearl Cleage’s Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous.
Previous, March 23 Meryl Streep, Mary-Louise Parker and Carla Gugino have joined the line-up of actors taking part in this year’s virtual Spotlight on Plays series benefitting The Actors Fund, with Streep reuniting with her Sophie’s Choice co-star Kevin Kline on Sarah Ruhl’s Dear Elizabeth.
Parker is set to perform in Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz. Gugino will be teamed with the previously announced Ellen Burstyn in Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine.
Others previously announced, in addition to Kline and Burstyn, are Kathryn Hahn,...
Also announced today was the April 8 premiere date of Pearl Cleage’s Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous.
Previous, March 23 Meryl Streep, Mary-Louise Parker and Carla Gugino have joined the line-up of actors taking part in this year’s virtual Spotlight on Plays series benefitting The Actors Fund, with Streep reuniting with her Sophie’s Choice co-star Kevin Kline on Sarah Ruhl’s Dear Elizabeth.
Parker is set to perform in Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz. Gugino will be teamed with the previously announced Ellen Burstyn in Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine.
Others previously announced, in addition to Kline and Burstyn, are Kathryn Hahn,...
- 4/7/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Kathryn Hahn, Keanu Reeves, Debbie Allen, Ellen Burstyn and Bobby Cannavale are among the actors who’ll take part in this year’s virtual Spotlight on Plays series benefitting The Actors Fund.
Performers and directors were announced today by producer Jeffrey Richards for the series that kicks off March 25 with Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play, to be directed by Leigh Silverman.
Other artists to be featured in the spring series include Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, Heidi Schreck, Alia Shawkat, Heather Alicia Simms, Alicia Stith and more, with additional details to be announced.
The play series, launched last year on the Broadway’s Best Shows website, features actors performing the works remotely, with the readings pre-recorded and edited. This year’s line-up of plays and directors include:
The Thanksgiving Play (March 25)
By Larissa FastHorse, Directed by Leigh Silverman
Angry, Raucous And Shamelessly Gorgeous (April 9)
By Pearl Cleage, Directed...
Performers and directors were announced today by producer Jeffrey Richards for the series that kicks off March 25 with Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play, to be directed by Leigh Silverman.
Other artists to be featured in the spring series include Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, Heidi Schreck, Alia Shawkat, Heather Alicia Simms, Alicia Stith and more, with additional details to be announced.
The play series, launched last year on the Broadway’s Best Shows website, features actors performing the works remotely, with the readings pre-recorded and edited. This year’s line-up of plays and directors include:
The Thanksgiving Play (March 25)
By Larissa FastHorse, Directed by Leigh Silverman
Angry, Raucous And Shamelessly Gorgeous (April 9)
By Pearl Cleage, Directed...
- 3/8/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
March 8 is International Women’ Day and March is Women’s History Month, and many outlets are celebrating with special events and/or programming. Here’s a roundup.
Events/Panels
On Broadway, the neon lights will shine on the fourth annual Women’s Day on Broadway. This year’s virtual event begins at 1 p.m. Et/11 a.m. Pt March 12, with participants including Marija Abney, Laura Benanti, Tanya Birl, Pearl Cleage, Cara Cooper, Maria Manuela Goyanes, Alia Jones-Harvey, Gethsemane Herron-Coward, Vanessa Javier, Tavia Jefferson, Julia Jones, Eva Price and a performance by the Broadway Sinfonietta.
The Paley Center for Media in New York is launching a new quarterly series of high-profile conversations to celebrate the ongoing achievements of women and to explore the challenges they continue to face. It launches on March 8 with Choosing to Challenge: How Women Are Leading the Way, which focuses on women’s roles as leaders in...
Events/Panels
On Broadway, the neon lights will shine on the fourth annual Women’s Day on Broadway. This year’s virtual event begins at 1 p.m. Et/11 a.m. Pt March 12, with participants including Marija Abney, Laura Benanti, Tanya Birl, Pearl Cleage, Cara Cooper, Maria Manuela Goyanes, Alia Jones-Harvey, Gethsemane Herron-Coward, Vanessa Javier, Tavia Jefferson, Julia Jones, Eva Price and a performance by the Broadway Sinfonietta.
The Paley Center for Media in New York is launching a new quarterly series of high-profile conversations to celebrate the ongoing achievements of women and to explore the challenges they continue to face. It launches on March 8 with Choosing to Challenge: How Women Are Leading the Way, which focuses on women’s roles as leaders in...
- 3/6/2021
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s no question that this election has been a nail-biter — with Georgia flipping to blue early Friday — so it’s fitting, really, that Georgia politician Stacey Abrams has a thriller coming out in May 2021. Abrams has been widely lauded for helping Biden take the lead in her home state, which very well could help the former democratic Vice President clinch the election.
But back to that book. For those not in the know, Abrams writes romantic suspense novels under the name Selena Montgomery. And, according to Forbes, the former...
But back to that book. For those not in the know, Abrams writes romantic suspense novels under the name Selena Montgomery. And, according to Forbes, the former...
- 11/6/2020
- by Brenna Ehrlich
- Rollingstone.com
Exclusive: The Broadway production company behind the upcoming Michael Jackson musical Mj and the stage adaptation of the hit 2000 film Almost Famous has hired The Old Globe Theater’s Travis LeMont Ballenger as producer to help oversee both high-profile projects.
Ballenger, most recently the Associate Artistic Director at the Globe in San Diego, also will work on the development of new shows in his job at Lia Vollack Productions. He brings the company substantial theater experience, particularly with regard to works by Black artists including Lynn Nottage, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright penning the book for Mj.
“Throughout his career, Travis has already distinguished himself as a true creative force,” Lia Vollack said. “He is a passionate theater maker and an outspoken advocate for artists. I am so thrilled that Travis is joining me and I know my company, our shows, and Broadway will be so much richer for...
Ballenger, most recently the Associate Artistic Director at the Globe in San Diego, also will work on the development of new shows in his job at Lia Vollack Productions. He brings the company substantial theater experience, particularly with regard to works by Black artists including Lynn Nottage, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright penning the book for Mj.
“Throughout his career, Travis has already distinguished himself as a true creative force,” Lia Vollack said. “He is a passionate theater maker and an outspoken advocate for artists. I am so thrilled that Travis is joining me and I know my company, our shows, and Broadway will be so much richer for...
- 8/13/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
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