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Mission:
SEW Productions Lorraine Hansberry Theatre
(LHT) was founded to present high-quality,
professionally directed plays by America's
foremost African-American playwrights;
provide employment and career-building
opportunities for local actors, directors,
designers, and technicians of color; and
foster youth development and cultural
enrichment through instructional workshops
and special outreach programs.
History:
Founded in 1981 by artistic director
Stanley E. Williams and executive director
Quentin Easter, LHT performed for seven
seasons in various venues around San
Francisco. In 1988 we opened the doors of
our first permanent home, in the landmark
YWCA building at 620 Sutter Street. The
Academy of Art University has recently
acquired the building, and the theatre ended its tenancy at the location at the end of our 2007-2008 Season.
After one and a half seasons "on the road," the board of directors and staff are happy to announce the new home of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre is 450 Post Street. The former home of Theatre on the Square and Post Street Theatre, our new home is just half a block from Union Square between Mason and Powell Streets.
We
develop and present works that explore,
celebrate, and reflect the lives of
African-Americans -- believing this
important cultural expression to be an
indispensable part of the American
culture. The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre is
one of the leading African-American
theatres in the region and the first to be
located in the high-profile downtown
theatre district of San Francisco.
We
attract theatre-goers from throughout
Northern California and have built one of
the most diverse audiences of any theater
in the region. We have produced more than
120 plays, including West Coast and World
Premieres, experimental works, classics in
the African-American canon, lively
musicals, and hard-hitting social and
political dramas. Our presentations range
from the works of Nobel Laureates Wole
Soyinka, Derek Walcott, and Toni Morrison
to Pulitzer Prize-winning writers Charles
Fuller, Alice Walker and August Wilson, to
large-scale musicals celebrating Duke
Ellington, Bessie Smith, Lester Young,
Fats Waller, Eubie Blake and others; to
award winning dramas by James Baldwin,
Langston Hughes, and our namesake Lorraine
Hansberry; to pioneering experimental
theatre artists Adrienne Kennedy, Ntozake
Shange and Maria Irene Fornes, and new
works by Robert Alexander, Roger Guenveur
Smith, David Rousseve Prince Gomolvilas
and others.
LHT
has also hosted internationally acclaimed
artists Danny Glover, Ntozake Shange, Ruby
Dee, the late August Wilson, and Ossie
Davis; and joined in collaborations with
the American Conservatory Theatre, the
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the
San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, Cultural Odyssey, Afro
Solo and others to bring the works of
African-American writers and artists to a
wider audience.
Our
Lorraine Hansberry Theatre Youth Academy
offers esteem-building workshops for
disadvantaged youth; our "Tomorrow Today
Program" fosters the development of new
playwrights, and our theatre hosts
important community-based groups
reflecting San Francisco's great diversity
such as the Theatre of Yugen, the Lesbian,
Gay and Transgender communities, the
Artfull Circle Theatre, Baybash, Make It
So Productions, Rrazz Productions, Joe
Spotts Presents and many
others.
Major
Awards and Recognitions: 4 Dramalogue
Awards for Jamal's Vietnam War drama,
LBJ; 2 Dramalogue Awards for our
25th Anniversary Production of A Raisin
in the Sun; 5 Bay Area Critics' Circle
Awards for Robert Alexander's anti-drug
musical, Air Guitar; 2 Critics'
Circle Awards for Outstanding Special
Effects Design (Adrienne Kennedy's
Funnyhouse of a Negro and Stanley
Williams's adaptation of Legends and
Folktales of Brer Rabbit); Critics'
Circle Award for Outstanding Sound Design
for the musical, Bricktop; Critics'
Circle Award for Outstanding Costume
Design for Duke Ellington's
Sophisticated Ladies; Critics'
Circle Awards for Outstanding Performances
in August Wilson's Jitney and Ma
Rainey's Black Bottom; and the
Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding
Production for Vinnette Carroll's Your
Arms Too Short to Box With God. Among
our other honors are: inclusion in the
Year's Ten Best Plays by The San
Francisco Bay Guardian for five
consecutive years; the National Black MBA
Association Award for Distinguished
Service in the Arts; the 1988 San
Francisco Chamber of Commerce Cyril Magnin
Award; the 1990 KGO Channel 7 Profiles in
Excellence Award; the California Alliance
for Arts Education Award 1999; the Charles
Schwab Renditions 2000 Award for
Outstanding Arts Organization; the
National Black Theatre Network Winona
Fletcher Award 2002, the Phi Beta Sigma
Fraternity Alpha Nu Sigma Chapter Notable
Citizen Award 2003, The San Francisco
Bay Guardian's "Best of the Bay 2005"
Award for Black Nativity, the 2006 San
Francisco Black Pride Reggie Williams
Achievement Award, the National Council of
Negro Women (Golden Gate Section) Service
Award, the 2007 KQED Local Heroes Award,
the SFNOIR Kuumba Award for Artistic
Achievement, the San Francisco Bay Area
Critics' Circle's Paine Knickerbocker
Award for continuing contributions to Bay
Area theatre, the 2008 Thurgood Marshall
College Fund Award of Excellence, and
numerous recognitions from three San
Francisco Mayors, the Board of
Supervisors, and the California State
Senate.
As
we work to secure and renovate our new
permanent home, we need your help to reach
our goals.
Contributions of $100 or more are listed
in our Producer's Circle on line and in
our theatre programme/playbill.
Thank you for supporting the
Lorraine Hansberry
Theatre!
You may give to our Capital Campaign Fund
with VISA, MasterCard, American Express,
Discover or PayPal.
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