Fellowships.
Legendary acting teacher, pioneering director, producer, and nurturer of playwrights, Lloyd Richards, was one of the most influential figures in modern American theater. One of his greatest contributions was the cultivation of new voices in the theater. Lloyd is deeply revered among those whom he mentored during his extraordinary career as an educator and while on faculty in the Teacher Development Program. The recipient of the Lloyd Richards Teaching Fellowship receives a full scholarship to the Teacher Development Program.
Applications: Ongoing / Deadline for submissions – March 21, 2025
Eligibility and Selection Criteria
This fellowship is intended to support teachers of traditionally underrepresented backgrounds who would enhance diversity in the profession. Applicants should demonstrate exceptional artistry and craftsmanship, as well as a dedicated interest in teaching.
Open to any acting teacher, professional actor, teaching artist, or coach. Teachers of all disciplines of actor training, including voice, movement, and technique are eligible to apply.
Application Materials
About Lloyd Richards
Lloyd Richards, was the first African American to direct a Broadway play and a recipient of the National Medal of the Arts. Lloyd began his studies of acting and theatre production at Wayne University in the late 1940s. Essentially self taught by today’s standards, he moved to New York City seeking an acting career. Roles for actors of color were hard to come by so Lloyd reached out to the well known acting teacher Paul Mann. Soon Lloyd was teaching his own class in Paul’s studio when he met Sidney Poitier. Five years later, in a landmark event in both men’s careers, A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway and changed the course of the American Theatre. Lloyd went on to an extraordinary career as an educator and acting teacher, including Head of Acting in the new NYU School of the Arts (1966); Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center (1969) where he later admitted and developed August Wilson in what would become a history-making artistic partnership; and Dean of the Yale School of Drama (1979). In 1991, Lloyd Richards retired from his posts as Dean of the Yale University School of Drama and as Artistic Director of Yale Rep. He continued to serve as Artistic Director of the Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Center until 1999. He died in 2006, on his 87th birthday.
Biography, Academy of Achievement
The New York Times, 2006
Yale Alumni Magazine, 2006
Lloyd Richards Day – 6/29 NYT article