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In Memoriam: Lloyd Richards
Signature Theatre Company mourns the loss of celebrated theatre director and educator Lloyd Richards (June 29, 1919-June 29, 2006). His first major assignment as director was the original Broadway production of A Raisin in the Sun, which proved a historic event in 1959. Its playwright, Lorraine Hansberry, became the first African-American woman to have a play produced on Broadway and Richards the first African-American, man or woman, to direct a Broadway production. A decade later, he was named artistic director of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, a post he held until 1999. As the first artistic director of the conference, he strengthened its reputation as the leader in development of new plays and is remembered for his commitment to nurturing the growth of playwrights during their time at the conference, including Signature 1992-1993 Playwright-in-Residence Lee Blessing. Richards was both artistic director of Yale Repertory Theatre (awarded the 1991 Regional Theatre Tony Award under his leadership) and dean of Yale School of Drama from 1979 to 1991, when he retired from both posts.
In 1982, Richards formed a professional relationship with August Wilson at the National Playwrights Conference. Before the conference presentation of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the first Wilson play accepted, Wilson was an unknown figure in American theatre. Richards directed the subsequent Broadway productions of six twentieth-century cycle plays, all of which explore, collectively, the experience of African-Americans from 1911 through 1969. He and Wilson perfected a model that saw Wilson rewrite plays during multiple productions at regional theatres around the country before their Broadway premieres.
Signature Theatre Company applauds Richards for his eternal contribution to the American theatre.
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