Although the current Broadway production of A Raisin in the Sun is getting a lot of attention for one of its stars - hip-hop mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs - plenty of folks in St. Petersburg are more interested in the man most playgoers never see.
Director Kenny Leon, a 1974 graduate of Northeast High School, has said he cast Combs partly to draw younger people to the theater to see Lorraine Hansbury's classic 1959 drama. Combs plays Walter Lee Younger, a role originated on Broadway by Sidney Poitier.
The critics have been lukewarm about Combs, but the recent Tony Award nominations honored the play with several nods, including one for best revival. Phylicia Rashad (who plays Younger's mother) was nominated for best performance by an actress and Audra McDonald (Younger's wife) and Sanaa Lathan (Younger's sister) both received nominations for best performance by a featured actress. Leon was bypassed by the Tonys, though he did score a best director nomination for a Drama Desk Award.
After graduating from Northeast High, Leon earned a degree from Clark Atlanta University and later became artistic director of Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, where he worked for more than a decade. He is co-founder and director of the True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta, a company dedicated to celebrating diversity in the arts. In addition to acting and directing work in stage, film and television, among Leon's many producing credits is the Elton John/Tim Rice musical, Aida.
What's next for Leon, who was in Tampa last week visiting family and playing some golf? He's slated to direct Jessye Norman and Denyce Graves in Margaret Garner, the new Toni Morrison opera (score by Richard Danielpour), premiering next spring in Philadelphia.
- LORRIE LYKINS, Times correspondent
New York dramatist wins Pinter Prize
New York playwright Susan Miller has been awarded the 2004 Pinter Review Prize for Drama from the Pinter Review and the University of Tampa Press for her play A Map of Doubt and Rescue. She will receive $1,000, and the play will have a staged reading in Tampa and be published by the UT Press in hardcover and paperback editions. The recipient of two OBIE awards and a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship in play writing, Miller has written for film and television and is a consulting producer on the Showtime series The L Word.
New Tampa theater to hold gala
The new Acorn Theatre is having a gala at Artists Unlimited, 223 N 12th St., Tampa, on June 25. If you are interested in volunteering, e-mail info@acorntheatre.org The company plans to open its first production, yet to be announced, Aug. 28 at the theater of Hillsborough Community College in Ybor City.
