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Lloyd Richards
Lloyd George Richards (June 29, 1919 – June 29, 2006) was a Canadian-American theatre director, and actor. 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 the Yale School of Drama from 1979 to 1991 (later Professor Emeritus), and was the first Black director on Broadway.
Among Richards' accomplishments are his staging the original production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, debuting on Broadway to standing ovations, and in 1984 he introduced August Wilson to Broadway in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
Richards was born in Toronto, Ontario on June 29, 1919. His name came from the then-current UK Prime Minister David Lloyd George, as his parents—Jamaicans who moved to Canada—were British subjects at the time.
His family moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1923 after seeing an advertisement for employment at Ford's auto-manufacturing plant. His father Albert Richards, a Jamaican carpenter turned auto-industry worker, died of diphtheria when Richards was nine years old. His mother, Rose Richards (née Coote), went blind when Richards was 13, due to what he said was the "inadequate treatment of a doctor."
Richards attended McMichael Middle School and Northwestern High School. To help make ends meet in the Great Depression, Richards and his brother Allan shined shoes and worked in a barbershop. 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 local Nacirema Club.
Richards originally enrolled to study at Detroit's Wayne University on the pre-law track, though he transitioned to studying acting and radio production. At Wayne, he worked as a janitor and part-time elevator operator to help fund his education.
After graduating in 1944, Richards volunteered for World 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. He never saw active combat, but he trained with the Tuskegee Airmen.
Richards returned to Detroit following the war. He worked as a social worker during the day, 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. Though he was the only black member of the Actors Company in an era of de jure racial segregation, he did not view himself as a political artist at the time, recalling in 2001 that:
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Lloyd Richards
Lloyd George Richards (June 29, 1919 – June 29, 2006) was a Canadian-American theatre director, and actor. 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 the Yale School of Drama from 1979 to 1991 (later Professor Emeritus), and was the first Black director on Broadway.
Among Richards' accomplishments are his staging the original production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, debuting on Broadway to standing ovations, and in 1984 he introduced August Wilson to Broadway in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
Richards was born in Toronto, Ontario on June 29, 1919. His name came from the then-current UK Prime Minister David Lloyd George, as his parents—Jamaicans who moved to Canada—were British subjects at the time.
His family moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1923 after seeing an advertisement for employment at Ford's auto-manufacturing plant. His father Albert Richards, a Jamaican carpenter turned auto-industry worker, died of diphtheria when Richards was nine years old. His mother, Rose Richards (née Coote), went blind when Richards was 13, due to what he said was the "inadequate treatment of a doctor."
Richards attended McMichael Middle School and Northwestern High School. To help make ends meet in the Great Depression, Richards and his brother Allan shined shoes and worked in a barbershop. 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 local Nacirema Club.
Richards originally enrolled to study at Detroit's Wayne University on the pre-law track, though he transitioned to studying acting and radio production. At Wayne, he worked as a janitor and part-time elevator operator to help fund his education.
After graduating in 1944, Richards volunteered for World 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. He never saw active combat, but he trained with the Tuskegee Airmen.
Richards returned to Detroit following the war. He worked as a social worker during the day, 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. Though he was the only black member of the Actors Company in an era of de jure racial segregation, he did not view himself as a political artist at the time, recalling in 2001 that: