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LLOYD RICHARDS, Tony Award winning director and Yale University professor emeritus, is one of the pioneers of American theatre, known for his part in shaping modern theatre. Richards was instrumental in the groundbreaking introduction of the African American voice to Broadway, making history in 1959 as the first black director, of the first black drama, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. This historic production opened up a new era on Broadway, and earned Richards a Tony Award nomination, the first of six. Off stage, Richards made his mark by setting the standard for new play development at the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O`Neill Theater Center, where he served as artistic director from 1968 to 1999. Richards revamped the old process of accessing plays by stripping away all the elements of staging and production, and concentrated on the play itself in simple staged readings. Here, Richards discovered August Wilson and other leading voices in modern theater including Christopher Durang, John Guare, and Wendy Wasserstein. Richards has since ushered six of Wilson`s plays to Broadway, including The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars and Fences, for which he earned the coveted Tony Award for Best Direction in 1987. Richards has been honored by the Writer`s Guild of America as "one whose contribution to the writing community has brought honor and dignity to writers everywhere". In the fall of 1993, Richards was recognized with the National Medal of Arts, the nation`s highest honor for the arts.

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