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Broadway Theater To Be Renamed For Icon Lena Horne In Historic First

In a historic first, the Nederlander Organization will rename one of its Broadway theaters to honor the great performer and civil rights activist Lena Horne, the company announced today. The venue, currently the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, will be the first Broadway venue named for a Black woman.

The new name – The Lena Horne Theatre – will become official this fall. The venue currently houses the hit Broadway musical Six.

“We are proud to take this moment to rename one of our theaters in honor of the great civil rights activist, actress, and entertainer Lena Horne,” said James L. Nederlander of The Nederlander Organization in a statement. “I am so honored to have known Lena. She became a part of our family over the years. It means so much to me that my father was the producer of Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, and it is my privilege, honor, and duty to memorialize Lena for generations to come.”

The name change is the latest realization of a pledge made last year by the three major Broadway theater owners (in an agreement with Black Theater United) to name at least one of their theaters for a Black artist. In March, the Shubert Organization announced that it would rename the 110-year-old Cort Theater the James Earl Jones Theatre. 

Jujamcyn Theaters had renamed its Virginia Theatre as the August Wilson Theatre in honor of the playwright in 2005.

Horne, who died in 2010, was one of the 20th Century’s most accomplished and influential singers, and had a groundbreaking and 70-year career spanning Hollywood films, television, nightclubs, concerts and Broadway.

In 1981, she opened the celebrated show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music at the Nederlander Theater. She won a special Tony Award and two Grammy Awards for the show. James M. Nederlander, father of James (Jimmy) L. Nederlander, was one of the lead producers of the production.

Horne’s other Broadway credits include her 1934 debut Dance With Your Gods, Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1939, Jamaica (which earned her a Tony nomination in 1958), and, in 1974, Tony & Lena Sing with Tony Bennett.

The 1,069-seat theater at 256 W. 47th Street to be renamed for Horne opened in 1926 as the Mansfield Theatre, and in 1950 was leased to CBS under the name Studio 59. The venue was renamed for former New York Times theater critic Brooks Atkinson when it resumed theatrical performances in 1960.

In a statement, Gail Lumet Buckley, Horne’s daughter, and the Horne Family said, “On February 13, 1939, Brooks Atkinson wrote a review of the musical Blackbirds of 1939 for The New York Times. His review was generally unfavorable except for the mention of ‘a radiantly beautiful girl, Lena Horne, who will be a winner once she has proper direction.’ The proper direction came from within Lena herself. She sought an artistic education, and a political education. She sought her own voice, found it, and then fought for the right that was always denied her – the right to tell her own story. In 1981, James M. Nederlander offered her their stage and Lena’s one-woman show, The Lady and Her Music ran for more than a year. 366 performances, in three countries. It was her fullest expression as an artist and storyteller. We’re grateful to the Nederlander Organization for rechristening this space to the Lena Horne Theatre. We hope artists and audiences alike will tell their own stories here.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams also praised the news, saying, “As a daughter of Brooklyn, a civil rights leader, an artist, and an activist, there is no one who embodies the spirit of this great city more than Lena Horne. With this renaming, an iconic New Yorker will rightly take her place amongst an iconic New York industry while being introduced to new generations as they visit this beautiful theater. This is a fantastic decision by Jimmy Nederlander and the Nederlander Organization, and I look forward to continuing to support all of our great venues as we recover from COVID and once again welcome the world to our doorstep.”

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Stepfather guilty of child abuse after Florida restaurant employee saves boy with note

Stepfather found guilty of child abuse after a Florida restaurant employee saved a boy with a note asking if he needed help

A stepfather in Florida has been convicted of child abuse after a restaurant employee last year noticed concerning signs and used a surreptitious note to ask a boy if he needed help, the Orange County State Attorney’s Office announced on June 6.

Orlando Police Department

A stepfather in Florida has been convicted of child abuse after a restaurant employee last year noticed concerning signs and used a surreptitious note to ask a boy if he needed help, the Orange County State Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

A jury found Timothy Lee Wilson, 36, guilty of two counts of false imprisonment of a child under the age of 13, three counts of aggravated child abuse with a weapon, four counts of aggravated child abuse, and one count of child neglect, a news release from the state attorney’s office said.

An investigation revealed the boy was kept away from his family in a hotel room used for storage, was regularly deprived of food and drink, and was subjected to military-style exercises and other abuses, according to the release. Officers recovered multiple items used as weapons against the child, the release added.

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The 11-year-old boy and his family were at the Mrs. Potato restaurant in Orlando on January 1, 2021, when employee Flaviane Carvalho noticed he was sitting secluded from his parents and sibling, was being deprived of food and drink, and was bruised and scratched, CNN previously reported.

Stepfather found guilty of child abuse after a Florida restaurant employee saved a boy with a note asking if he needed help

After police arrived and questioned the child, Timothy Wilson, left, was arrested at the restaurant, and the boy’s mother, Kristen Swann, was taken into custody days later.

Orlando Police Department

Carvalho stood behind the boy’s parents and held up a note asking the boy if he was OK. When the child nodded no, she wrote a second note that asked, “Do you need help,” she explained at a news conference.

After the boy nodded yes, Carvalho called her boss and then called 911.

After police arrived and questioned the child, Wilson was arrested at the restaurant, and the boy’s mother, Kristen Swann, was taken into custody days later, Orlando investigators said.

Swann is facing multiple felony abuse charges, including neglect of a child, aggravated abuse and failure to report child abuse, records from the Orange County Clerk’s Office show. She has pleaded not guilty. CNN is reaching out to Swann’s attorney for comment.

Wilson will be sentenced on August 19, 2022. CNN has reached out to his attorney for comment on the verdict.

What police found after the parents’ arrests

When Swann and Wilson were arrested, another 4-year-old child was removed from the home and was found to not have suffered any abuse, according to Orlando Police Detective Erin Lawler at the time of the arrests. Lawler said the 11-year-old boy is Swann’s child and the 4-year-old is Swann’s and Wilson’s child.

After Carvalho called 911, the boy was taken to a hospital where he was found to be 20 pounds underweight for his age, according to Lawler, who added that the boy also had bruises in various stages of healing across his entire body.

Investigators later found that the boy had been “tortured” and “maliciously punished,” the attorney’s office release said. Prosecutors said the boy had been hung upside down from a door by his neck and feet and on one occasion handcuffed to a dolly cart.

“What this child had gone through, it was torture,” Lawler said. “I’m a mother and seeing what that 11-year-old had to go through … It shocks your soul.”

“If Ms. Carvalho would not have said something when she saw it, that little boy would probably not be with us much longer,” she added.

“I was used like a tool from God to, to help him,” Carvalho told CNN affiliate WESH. “We need to pay attention for the ones that (are) in need, and step forward to do something to change the situation.”

CNN’s Hollie Silverman contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire

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‘Shine the light’: Ariana DeBose talks hosting Tony Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — Tony Award host and theater veteran Ariana DeBose says this year’s telecast will spread its arms wider than just Broadway’s stars and celebrate the unsung heroes like understudies and swings who kept shows open during the pandemic restart.

“As the host of this particular Tony ceremony and as one of your own, I say to those people, ‘I promise you, I got you,’” she told The Associated Press. “There’s no way in the world that this Tony Awards will go by without us taking the time to shine the light.”

The Oscar-winning and Tony-nominated actress — who was once an ensemble member and understudy on Broadway — will for the first time host the three-hour awards show Sunday on CBS, helping hand out the top competitive Tonys.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun. I’m trying to keep it light, keep it joyful, say a little something that maybe we need to hear. But we’re celebrating,” she said. “It feels great. I am, in the words of Stephen Sondheim, ‘excited and scared.’”

DeBose is quite familiar with the massive Radio City Music Hall stage. She’s performed during three previous telecasts including in “Summer,” “Motown the Musical” and “Bring It On: The Musical.”

“It is helpful, but I don’t think any of those times really compares to this one. I feel like I’m being tasked with driving the train a little bit,” she said. “I think, if I’m honest, I do feel the pressure. But it’s because I have skin in the game. It’s because I care.”

The season — with a whopping 34 new productions — represents a full return to theaters after nearly two years of a pandemic-mandated shutdown. DeBose calls it a roller coaster of a season with starts and stops.” The fact that the Tonys are even happening seems like a win.

“Thank goodness we’re going to have a Tonys that are live,” said playwright Lynn Nottage, nominated for the play “Clyde’s” and the musical “MJ.” “The theater feels like it’s been resuscitated, and the fact that we can have this big celebration just speaks to the resilience of the form and of the community.”

The telecast will have performances from this year’s Tony Award-nominated musicals, including “A Strange Loop,” “Company,” “Girl from the North Country,” “MJ,” “Mr. Saturday Night,” “Music Man,” “Paradise Square” and “Six.” The original cast members of the 2007 Tony-winning musical “Spring Awakening” will also reteam and perform.

At the last Tonys nine months ago, the winners were pulled from just 18 eligible plays and musicals and many of the competitive categories were depleted ones as Broadway experienced an 18-month shutdown. At that ceremony, Leslie Odom Jr. hosted a “Broadway’s Back!” celebration on Paramount+ for the second half of the four-hour show, with performances from the three top musicals.

The shows this time vying for hardware are an extremely varied lot, from a David Mamet revival to one by Paula Vogel, golden-age classics like “Funny Girl” to very current entries like “A Strange Loop.” There’s Stephen Sondheim’s gender-switched “Company” and a show celebrating Michael Jackson.

Producers are once again using a larger show footprint thanks to streaming partner Paramount+, adding an extra hour before the three-hour main awards show to celebrate the creative Tony winners. Emmy Award-winners Darren Criss and Julianne Hough are hosting that hour which will be aired exclusively on the streaming network. Criss will open that portion with an original song.

“A Strange Loop,” a theater meta-journey about a playwright writing a musical, goes into the show with a leading 11 Tony nominations. Right behind with 10 nominations each is “MJ,” a bio musical of the King of Pop stuffed with his biggest hits, and “Paradise Square,” a musical about Irish immigrants and Black Americans jostling to survive in New York City around the time of the Civil War.

History could be made in a few categories.

L Morgan Lee of “A Strange Loop” is the first out trans performer nominated for a Tony; Adam Rigg, scenic designer of “The Skin of Our Teeth,” is the first out nonbinary designer nominated; and Toby Marlow, co-creator of “Six” is the first out nonbinary composer-lyricist nominated.

Camille A. Brown and Lileana Blain-Cruz are vying for best direction of a play and if either wins, she would be the first Black female winner in the category. If Marianne Elliott prevails in that category, she will be the first woman to accept three Tonys for direction.

If playwrights Michael R. Jackson (“A Strange Loop”), Lynn Nottage (“MJ”) or Christina Anderson (“Paradise Square”) take home the Tony for best book of a musical, they would be only the second Black winner after Stew’s victory for “Passing Strange” in 2008. And Jiyoun Chang (“for colored girls”) and Yi Zhao (“The Skin of Our Teeth”) could become the first lighting designer of Asian descent to win a Tony.

And the Tonys may usher in the latest EGOT winner: Jennifer Hudson, who has an Emmy, Grammy and Oscar, could join that elite group if “A Strange Loop” wins best musical — she’s a producer.

Some sadness crept into the days before the Tonys as word that two stalwart musicals from the 2016-17 season — best musical Tony-winner “Dear Evan Hansen” and best musical nominee “Come From Away” — posted closing notices, a reminder that nothing lasts forever on Broadway. Another fan favorite, “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” also will close after some 500 shows.

Some of the stars expected on Sunday include Broadway royalty like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chita Rivera, Bebe Neuwirth, Kelli O’Hara, Danny Burstein, Cynthia Erivo, Raúl Esparza, Bernadette Peters, Billy Porter and Nathan Lane. Some of the Hollywood stars will be Andrew Garfield, Bryan Cranston, Jessica Chastain, Laurence Fishburne, currently on Broadway in “American Buffalo,” Sarah Paulson, Paris Jackson and Zach Braff.

DeBose said she was heartened by the fact that multiple Black artists were nominated in every single performance category. There are 16 Black performance nods out of 33 slots or 48%.

“I think the nominations are reflective that the Tony delegation has been listening. It’s an incredibly diverse group of nominees,” she said.

“I’m honored to be the person with the privilege to try and provide a moment of joy and true celebration for not only all the headliners and nominees, but for our community at large, which is something I think we really need right now,” she said.

___

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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Here’s where to celebrate Juneteenth 2022 around Baton Rouge

Over the last couple of years, the U.S. has played catch up with its understanding of the significance of Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating June 19, 1865, the day when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached slaves in Galveston, Texas—a full two-and-a-half years after it was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. Just last year, Juneteenth was finally recognized as both a federal holiday and as a state holiday in Louisiana.

But local commemorations of Juneteenth are by no means new. The first began about 30 years ago, with a community event in Scotlandville organized by the late Sadie Roberts-Joseph, the beloved, soft-spoken activist who was also known for founding the Baton Rouge African American Museum, says Roberts-Joseph’s niece, Pat McAllister LeDuff.

“The first Juneteenth celebrations were held at Scotlandville Park on 72nd Street, even before Sadie founded the museum,” LeDuff recalls. “She would encourage people to bring their memorabilia and artifacts and share them with the younger generation. That’s where the idea for the museum came from.”

Roberts-Joseph and LeDuff also founded the organization, Citizens Against Drugs and Violence (CADAV), which LeDuff still runs. CADAV will hold its annual Kidz Fest event this weekend, a longtime kick-off to Baton Rouge’s Juneteenth celebrations.

This year, a variety of events for kids, families and adults will commemorate Juneteenth 2022 in the Capital Region.

Know of a Juneteenth event we missed? Tell us at [email protected] so we can add it here.

Kidz Fest 2022, a pre-Juneteenth Celebration

Saturday, June 11

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (8:30 a.m. registration)

Event includes a 1K walk/run to bring awareness to childhood obesity, entertainment, speakers, vendors, face painting, book mobile and food. Kid-preneurs will also showcase their products and services.

Scotlandville Parkway at Badley Road

Find CADAV on Facebook

26th Annual City of Donaldsonville Juneteenth Celebration

Saturday, June 11

11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

A family-oriented, free festival held on Louisiana Square at Railroad Avenue in Donaldsonville, this annual Juneteenth event features a history presentation, food and lots of live music, including the Michael Foster Project, Bucket List and DJ Trot.

Find Donaldsonville Juneteenth on Facebook

Baton Rouge Juneteenth Festival and Caravan

Saturday, June 18

Baton Rouge’s three-part festival begins at Galvez Plaza in downtown Baton Rouge for festivities from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. that include an appearance by Louisiana’s Second District Congressman Troy Carter. The event continues with an 11:15 a.m. caravan that lines up at 222 St. Louis Street and travels to Gus Young Park for a family friendly Juneteenth event coordinated by Louisiana State Representative C. Denise Marcelle from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, email [email protected] or text (225) 933-4217, or click here.

Juneteenth Celebration at Delmont Library

Saturday, June 19

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Delmont Gardens Branch Library

Games, food, a vendor pop-up, book Jeopardy and a panel discussion with professionals who will share advice with young people on how to be successful in their respective fields.

ebrpl.com

Juneteenth Cultural Gala at Blend Wine Bar

Saturday, June 18

7 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Blend Wine Bar

A celebration of African American culture with a night of luxury, art and food. Wear black semi-formal attire to this posh event at Blend downtown, which benefits local Black artists and America My Oyster Association, a nonprofit that promotes multi-cultural awareness.

Click here for ticket information.

The Juneteenth Experience at Vegan Friendly Foods

Sunday, June 19

4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Vegan Friendly Foods

A gathering of Black-owned pop-up vendors, family fun and live music celebrating the Black excellence

veganffoods.com

Juneteenth Celebration with Live Music at the River Center Exhibit Hall

Sunday, June 19

5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

New York-based female vocal trio SWV, singer songwriter Musiq Soulchild and zydeco accordionist and singer Chris Ardoin play at the Raising Cane’s River Center Exhibit Hall.

Click here for ticket information.

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Artworks by Sam Gilliam, Victor Vasarely, Dali, Chagall, Erte, others all do well in Neue Auctions’ May Modern Auction

Artworks by Sam Gilliam, Victor Vasarely, Dali, Chagall, Erte, others all do well in Neue Auctions’ May Modern Auction – African American News Today – EIN Presswire

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Racism is ‘endemic’ in U.S., Utah and LDS Church, panelists say

… segregated swimming pools where [Black Americans] could only have access … I don’t know. Racism … is endemic again.” Gerlach … the brutal and bloody racism that sustained this country,” … professor who also taught African American history, echoed the others … RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News