Theater News

Star-Studded Celebration of New Federal Theatre Set for February 13

Woodie King, Jr.(Photo © Aga Cowan)
Woodie King, Jr.
(Photo © Aga Cowan)

On Sunday, February 13, beginning at 3pm, Ossie Davis and Lynn Whitfield will co-host a 35th anniversary salute to Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre (NFT) at The Town Hall, located at 123 West 43rd Street. The gala will include a “roast and toast” of Negro Ensemble Company co-founder Douglas Turner Ward, followed by an awards presentation acknowledging significant contributors to the development of the NFT.


The evening’s honorees will be Micki Grant, creator of Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope; playwright Ed Bullins; and producer-director-playwright-librettist-lyricist George C. Wolfe. Two special awards for contributions to black theater will be presented to the ensemble cast of last season’s Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun and to the Theatre Development Fund for continuing to support minority artists and companies.

Among the special guests scheduled to take part in the celebration are Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter, Obba Babatunde, Amiri Baraka, Samuel L. Jackson, Reginald Vel Johnson, Phylicia Rashad, S. Epatha Merkerson, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Kiki Shepard, Leslie Uggams, Denzel Washington, and Hattie Winston.


Tickets for the event are priced at $75, $175, and $300; they may be purchased by phoning Lorelei Enterprises at 212-838-2660 or by clicking here.