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Lloyd Richards | |
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| 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. |
| Occupations | Theatre director,actor |
| Years active | 1947–1999 |
| Spouse | Barbara Davenport (1958-2006) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Tony Award Best Direction of a Play 1987Fences Regional Theatre Tony Award 1991Yale Repertory Theatre Drama Desk Outstanding New Play 1987Fences 1990The Piano Lesson National Medal of Arts 1993 Lifetime Achievement |
Lloyd George Richards (June 29, 1919 – June 29, 2006) was a Canadian-Americantheatre director, andactor. 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 theYale School of Drama from 1979 to 1991 (later Professor Emeritus), and was the first Black director on Broadway.[1]
Among Richards' accomplishments are his staging the original production ofLorraine Hansberry'sA Raisin in the Sun, debuting on Broadway to standing ovations, and in 1984 he introducedAugust Wilson to Broadway inMa Rainey's Black Bottom.
Richards was born inToronto, Ontario on June 29, 1919. His name came from the then-current UK Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George, as his parents—Jamaicans who moved to Canada—were British subjects at the time.[2]
His family moved toDetroit,Michigan in 1923 after seeing an advertisement for employment atFord's auto-manufacturing plant.[3] His father Albert Richards, a Jamaican carpenter turned auto-industry worker, died ofdiphtheria when Richards was nine years old.[3] His mother, Rose Richards (née Coote), went blind when Richards was 13,[4] due to what he said was the "inadequate treatment of a doctor."[2]
Richards attended McMichael Middle School andNorthwestern High School.[5] To help make ends meet in theGreat Depression, Richards and his brother Allan shined shoes and worked in a barbershop.[6] Richards did not participate in plays in high school—which he explained in an interview by citing the largely white student body—but did some theater with the localNacirema Club.[7]
Richards originally enrolled to study at Detroit'sWayne University on thepre-law track, though he transitioned to studying acting and radio production.[8][9] At Wayne, he worked as a janitor and part-time elevator operator to help fund his education.[10]
After graduating in 1944,[3] Richards volunteered forWorld War II service in the US Army Air Corps. His brother Allan was drafted and Richards learned that the Air Force was willing to train black volunteers with valuable skills—rather than employ them as menial support or infantry units like the other branches—so he joined.[10] He never saw active combat, but he trained with theTuskegee Airmen.[3]
Richards returned to Detroit following the war. He worked as a social worker during the day,[11] while working at a local radio station and performing with the Actors Company—a local community theater troupe, mainly of Wayne alumni—and the Paul Robeson Art Guild.[12] Though he was the only black member of the Actors Company in an era of de jureracial segregation, he did not view himself as a political artist at the time, recalling in 2001 that:
"It was not theater about making a statement, other than the statement that was in the play, you know. And we were not a theater that was about that. We were doing great plays and that we all loved. And we just did them, you know, and we didn't raise the question ourselves. Nobody seemed to raise it, at least in my earshot, and I was an important member of the company."[13]
In 1948, Richards moved from Detroit to New York City.[14] He had wanted to go to New York to try to develop his acting career and cited a phone call fromJames Lipton—a school peer who had found early success in New York—as the direct impetus for his move.[15] With Lipton's help, Richards auditioned for a couple Broadway productions and for theActors Studio, but received rejections.
Richards acted in low-payingoff-Broadway productions while working odd jobs and receiving benefits provisioned by theGI Bill.[16] Richards began working at theParamount Pictures executive dining room as a waiter. He continued working there untilA Raisin in the Sun, leading studio headAdolph Zukor to exclaim that "our waiter walked out of here and directed a Broadway play!"[17]
Richards debuted as an actor on Broadway in 1950 in the one-act playFreight, which ran for 5 performances.[18]
In 1957, Richards made his second appearance on Broadway inMolly Kazan'sThe Egghead.[19] Richards played a duplicitous communist student whoKarl Malden's liberal professor vehemently defends from charges of communism.[20]Brooks Atkinson reviewed his performance favorably, writing that "Mr. Richards plays the villain with enough skill, intelligence, and bravado to win the admiration of the audience in the end."[21] A then-unknownJames Earl Jones debuted on Broadway as Richards's understudy.[22]
While performing in one off-Broadway play under directorPaul Mann, Mann invited him to assist him with his acting school.[16] At the Paul Mann Actors Workshop, Richards advanced rapidly from a clerical worker to a sought-after teacher ofmethod acting.[23] Through the workshop, he met his wife, the dancer Barbara Davenport, andSidney Poitier. Richards became good friends with Poitier at the time as too relatively poor actors trying to break through on Broadway. One anecdote Richards shared told of how the two men shared a hot dog at one point, as neither wanted to spare the money on their own.[24] At one point in this fallow period, Poitier promised him an opportunity as director, should Poitier earn a starring role.[25] Richards also taught Moscow Art Theatre acting technique alongside Morris Carnovsky.[26]
According to writerSamuel G. Freedman, the technique Mann and Richards used took a middle ground between the sociological techniques ofStella Adler and the psychiatric techniques ofLee Strasberg.[23] As Poitier put it,
"What [Richards] would do is question us not about our character but about ourselves, until you began to arrive at your own conclusions about your character. It was by looking at the various ways we deluded ourselves, the corners we cut, that we understood ourselves and our characters.''[23]
In early 1958, Poitier sent Richards a script forA Raisin in the Sun.[25] After reading it with his wife, Richards met with both producerPhilip Rose and playwrightLorraine Hansberry and began collaborating on the project. Richards and Hansberry worked weekly to revise the script, wherein Hansberry would present her pages and Richards would make suggestions. They bonded over their mutual appreciation for the work ofAnton Chekhov,Paul Robeson, andSeán O'Casey, whoseJuno and the Paycock Hansberry used as a model during the revision process.[25] Hansberry biographerCharles J. Shields argued that Richards was a major contributor to the final script, though it's not possible to compare the difference the revisions made as the original manuscript was lost.[25]
Rose struggled to fund the production and tried to negotiate a fundraising partnership withKermit Bloomgarden, but balked at his requirement thatEthel Waters replaceClaudia McNeill as Lena Younger and that Richards be kept as director only on a provisional basis.[27] After the Chicagotryout in February 1959,Chicago TribuneClaudia "Acidy" Cassidy gave the play a mostly positive review and wrote that Richards's direction was "so right that [the play's] false spots are probably on their way out this morning."[28]
The play debuted on March 11, 1959 at theEthel Barrymore Theatre and ran for 530 performances.[29] As it was the first Broadway show directed by a black person and written by a black woman,[30][31] featuring a story about contemporary black characters, there was some doubt that it would be accepted by largely white, largely upper class audiences.[32][33] On its opening night, the play receiving standing ovation from audiences, with Poitier calling from the stage for Hansberry and Richards to be given their own ovations.
The Broadway production received positive reviews.[34][35] Brooks Atkinson wrote that Richards's direction brought about "explosions in the performance. But the explosions never give an impression of being arbitrary."[36]Kenneth Tynan praised the play, concluding that Richards specifically had "done a sensible, sensitive, and impeccable job."[37]
Richards also directed the European premiere in July 1959, which originated at theBristol Hippodrome before transferring to theAdelphi Theatre onLondon'sWest End.[38] British critics gave the production mixed reviews.[39]
Richards did not direct Hansberry's future plays, though they maintained a friendly relationship until her death in 1963. In 1959,James Baldwin corresponded with Hansberry "begging" for her to send along his manuscript forThe Amen Corner to Richards for his feedback.[40]
In the years afterA Raisin in the Sun, Richards directed multiple other productions on Broadway:
Richards was attached toPeter Feibleman'sTiger, Tiger Burning Bright,[47] which premiered on Broadway in 1962 underJoshua Logan's direction.[48] He also directed a version ofArthur Miller'sThe Crucible—based on its original, non-Broadway script—for Boston University in May 1962.[49] Defining the period before he joined the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, criticMichael Feingold noted that what Richards "did after the huge success ofRaisin was immediatelynot do another black family play."[50]
Richards also directed a production of James Baldwin'sThe Amen Corner starringClaudia McNeill to tour in Europe, which ran on Broadway in a separate (but concurrent) production directed byFrank Silvera.[51] The play—produced byEllis Haizlip and Rudolph Stoiber—premiered at theVienna Festival in June 1965, with subsequent stagings at theThéâtre des Nations, West End'sSavile Theatre, and at venues inAmsterdam,Munich,Jerusalem, and other cities.[51][52][53][54] Baldwin preferred Richards and Haizlip's production and unsuccessfully tried to intercede to stop Silvera's production from advancing to Broadway in its favor.[54]
Richards first went to theEugene O'Neill Theater Center in 1966—its second season of existence—to directJoel Oliansky's Bedford Forrest, aboutthe Confederate general and anemancipated man's attempt to kill him.[55] The production, starringJames Edwards, was one of the O'Neill's first full undertakings, with Richards arriving before the construction on the play's stage was completed. Founder George C. White brought in Richards asBedford Forrest's director at Oliansky's request.[55] The play was an early stage credit forMichael Douglas, whose step-father helped found the O'Neill.[56] Richards directed Douglas multiple times at the O'Neill, including as the lead inBill Cowen's Summertree—which later ran on Broadway—and Neil Yarema'sRainless Sky.[57]Jeffrey Sweet quoted Douglas describing his relationship with Richards:
"I had just recently decided to pursue acting. I was very undeveloped. I remember a lot of personal direction from Lloyd Richards, who was a great teacher. He was very articulate. And when something was funny, he had one of the greatest laughs—just from the bottom of his soul. Nothing made you happier than pleasing him."[57]
Richards also worked with Cowen on his follow-up toSummertree—a musical calledRedemption Center—as well as Joe Julian'sMan Around the House and Thomas Oliver Crehore'sJust Before Morning.[57]
After a tumultuous National Playwrights Conference in 1968, White invited Richards to become the O'Neill's inaugural artistic director.[50] Richards was the choice—over contenders that includedMelvin Bernhardt—due to his experience, his compatibility with the O'Neill system, and what White described as his father-like and "sort of magisterial" qualities.[50] When he became artistic director, Richards planned to refrain from directing individual shows for the O'Neill, focusing on the broader slate.
With White, Richards revived the concept of thedramaturg, which the O'Neill subsequently helped popularize in the American theater community.[58][59] Before they developed the role, the O'Neill featured polarizing talkbacks with press critics and audience that meant playwrights "were often at the mercy of some terribly inept critics in very influential positions," decreasing their "ability to experiment freely."[60] When searching for an alternative, White suggestedBertolt Brecht's work as a dramaturg as a guide.[58] Richards researched and eventually implemented dramaturgs for all productions at the O'Neill—one for every four plays—including prominent criticsJohn Lahr,Edith Oliver, and Michael Feingold.[60]
In 1970, Richards went to Nigeria to meet withWole Soyinka, a political dissident in the country's waningcivil war, to invite him to the O'Neill.[61] He workshopped the play he wrote about his prison experience,Madmen and Specialists, with Richards, premiering it in August.[62]
Richards's major roles in the annual National Playwrights' Conference including selecting plays from playwright submissions,[b] running the feedback sessions for new plays, and adjudicating disputes. As White described Richards's impact, "what is known as the O'Neill Process should rightfully be known as the Richards Process."[64]
As head of the National Playwrights Conference at theEugene O'Neill Theater Center, he helped develop the careers ofAugust Wilson,Wendy Wasserstein,Christopher Durang,Lee Blessing andDavid Henry Hwang.[65]
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Yale PresidentA. Bartlett Giamatti appointed Richards the dean ofYale School of Drama (which made him artistic director ofYale Repertory Theatre) in 1979 to replaceRobert Brustein.[66] Giamatti originally offered the role to White—who was a childhood friend—but he declined it and strongly recommended Richards. Both White and Richards required that he be allowed to continue working as O'Neill artistic director during the summertime National Playwrights Conference.
Richards served as YSD dean and Yale Rep artistic director in New Haven, Connecticut from 1979 to 1991; he became Professor Emeritus at Yale School of Drama after his retirement.[67] Though he continued the Yale Rep's tradition of prestige, Yale Rep chroniclerJames Magruder described Richards's personality as a break from the pugnacious style of Brustein.[68] Where Brustein:
"was a tall, combative, opinionated word wielder who did what he had to do to get his way [...] Richards, by contrast, was diminutive, rotund, soft-spoken, and circumspect with his language and in his public interactions. Years of observing and teaching and directing actors made him a listener first and foremost."[68]
In his first season, Richards broughtJames Earl Jones to the Yale Rep as the lead in the little-produced history playTimon of Athens. Richards himself directed the production, which received middling reviews. Jones joinedTimon in a deal with Richards that would allow him to also lead the American premiere ofA Lesson from Aloes.[68]
Richards directed Jones as Judge Brack in a 1981 production ofHedda Gabler, starringDianne Wiest.[69][70] ForThe New York Times,Mel Gussow praised Richards's direction of Wiest and Jones, in what he described as an "uncharacteristic, but formfitting role."[70] In 1982, Richards also directed Wiest (as Nora) inA Doll's House, alongsideRichards Jenkins (as Torvald).[71]
In his second year, Richards instituted the Yale Rep's Winterfest, which would showcase a slate of four new plays each January. The first Winterfest featured three works from O'Neill alumni—OyamO'sThe Resurrection of Lady Lester,Corinne Jacker'sDomestic Issues andSybille Pearson'sSally and Marsha—as well asRococo byHarry Kondoleon.[72]
The Winterfest continued throughout Richards's tenure, but his successorStan Wojewodski Jr. ended the program in 1992.[73] It also provided extensive opportunities for YSD students focused on lighting, costumes, and other crafts who regularly featured in Winterfest productions, unusual for other works at the semi-professional Yale Rep.[68]
In addition to serving as Yale Rep artistic director, Richards also directed 1-2 individual plays each season:
Richards first spoke to the playwright Athol Fugard in 1979 at the request of James Earl Jones, who wanted Richards to invite him to Yale Rep to stageA Lesson from Aloes.[87] Over the course of Richards's Yale Rep tenure, Fugard premiered"Master Harold"...and the Boys—starringDanny Glover,Željko Ivanek, andZakes Mokae—The Road to Mecca—starringCarmen Matthews,Tom Aldredge, and Marianne Owen—andA Place with the Pigs—starring himself andSuzanne Shepherd.[88][89][90] The theater also hosted restaged versions ofA Lesson from Aloes,Blood Knot, andBoesman and Lisa.[90][91]
Fugard described Yale Rep as a "home away from home," defined in part by the " very, very trusting, supportive, understanding relationship with Lloyd."[92] As Fugard often directed his own plays, Richards was his main consistent collaborator at the theater.[93]
Due to Fugard's productivity at Yale Rep,Samuel G. Freedman wrote that the two men had "sealed a creative and personal partnership almost unparalleled in the American theater."[87] Fugard described their relationship as laconic, but mutually respectful, as though written in the style ofSamuel Beckett.[87] He also spoke about how Richards minded his struggle withalcoholism, which he felt "said so much about how he cared about me, not as Athol Fugard the playwright, but as Athol Fugard the man.''[87]
After Fugard derided the O'Neill process and its extensive use of dramaturgs, Richards invited him to the O'Neill to work as a dramaturg on the playThe Trinity Site by Janeice Scarborough.[94]
Richards married dancer Barbara Davenport in October 1957.[66] They had two sons, one of whom was a freshman at Yale when Richards's appointment to the faculty was announced.[66]
He was invited to serve on the board ofKenny Leon'sTrue Colors Theatre in Atlanta, which opened in 2002.[95]
Richards died ofheart failure on his eighty-seventh birthday in New York City.[96]The Broadway Leaguedimmed the lights at all Broadway theaters for one minute at 8 p.m. on June 30, 2006 in Richards's honor.[67]
June 29,2023 was named Lloyd Richards Day was named by Council MemberErik Bottcher. On June 29,2024, Lloyd Richards Way was named on47th Street betweenBroadway &8th Avenue.[97]
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