Lloyd Richards

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Lloyd Richards
Born	Lloyd George Richards (1919-06-29)June 29, 1919 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	June 29, 2006(2006-06-29) (aged 87) New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Theatre director, actor
Years active	1947–1999
Spouse	Barbara Davenport (1958-2006)
Children	2
Awards	Tony 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]

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

• 1987: Drama Desk Award 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^[8][9]
• 1990: Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play - The Piano Lesson
• 1991: Regional Theatre Tony Award - Yale Repertory Theatre
• 1993: National Medal of Arts
• 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

• Campbell Robertson (30 June 2006). "Lloyd Richards, Theater Director and Cultivator of Playwrights, Is Dead at 87". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
• Kenneth Jones (30 June 2006). "Lloyd Richards, Tony-Winning Director Who Helped Give August Wilson a Voice, Is Dead". Playbill. Retrieved 2008-05-28.

• Lloyd Richards Papers James Weldon Johnson Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
• Lloyd Richards at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lloyd Richards at IMDb
• Lloyd Richards' oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
• Lloyd Richards Biography and Interview on American Academy of Achievement