Regina Taylor
Encyclopedia
Regina Taylor is an American actress and playwright
. She has won several awards throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award
and NAACP Image Award
.
, but starting at age 12 she went to a newly integrated school in Muskogee, Oklahoma
, where she was subjected to an incident of racism
by another student. The family later returned to Dallas, where she graduated from L. G. Pinkston High School
in 1977.
: 1980's Nurse and 1981's Crisis at Central High
. In the latter movie, she was praised by critic John O'Connor of The New York Times
for her portrayal of Minnijean Brown
, a member of the Little Rock Nine
, a group of African-American students who braved violence and armed guards to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Her first role to gain widespread attention was that of Mrs. Carter, the drug-addicted mother of a promising young female student, in the 1989 film Lean on Me
. She became well-known to the television viewing public for her role as Lilly Harper on the early 1990s TV series I'll Fly Away
. This role won her a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Television Drama and also an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
.
Since then she has had some critical success for various supporting roles in films, such as the Spike Lee
film Clockers, Courage Under Fire
, A Family Thing
, The Negotiator, and for the telefilms Losing Isaiah
and Strange Justice
— a Showtime original film in which she portrayed Anita Hill
— and as the lead in the PBS telefilm Cora Unashamed
, based on a Langston Hughes
short story. She was a cast member for all four seasons of the CBS
drama The Unit
as Molly Blane, the tough-minded housewife who holds the women of 'the Unit' together when their husbands are on covert assignments.
Taylor is also an accomplished stage actress, and was the first black woman to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
on Broadway. Her other Broadway credits include Macbeth
and As You Like It
. She appeared in off-Broadway and regional productions of such plays as Jar The Floor, Machinal
, The Illusion
, A Map of the World
, and The Tempest
, for which she received a Dramalogue Award.
, Ntozake Shange
, Suzan-Lori Parks
and Kia Corthron
); has won a best new play award from the American Critics' Association for Oo-Bla-Dee (a work about 1940s female jazz musicians).
She has written and directed the award-winning Crowns, which was first produced at the McCarter Theatre
and at Second Stage Theatre
in New York. She wrote and directed an adaptation of Anton Chekhov
's The Seagull
called Drowning Crow. She wrote and directed The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, a dramatic rendering of the financial gains and emotional losses of African-American businesswoman Madam C.J. Walker, which received its world premiere production in 2004/05 at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival
. Her other plays include Escape From Paradise
, Watermelon Rinds, Inside the Belly of the Beast, Mudtracks and Love Poem #97.
Taylor is currently the writer-in-residence at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia
, where she developed a new play Magnolia, set during the beginning of desegregation in Atlanta in 1961. It had its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre
in Chicago in March, 2009 after going through a workshop in 2008 at the National Playwrights' Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
in Waterford, Connecticut
. Taylor returned to the Goodman Theatre
in January and February 2011 for the world premiere of her new play entitled The Trinity River Plays, a co-production with Dallas Theater Center
, directed by Ethan McSweeny. The production is a trilogy composed of Jar Fly, Rain, and Ghoststory.
Her play, Crowns, was produced in various locations, including the Meroney Theater in Salisbury, North Carolina
with The Piedmont Players in May 2009; the Pasadena Playhouse
in co-production with Ebony Repertory Theatre in July 2009; Syracuse Stage
in Syracuse, New York
; at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre in Storrs, Connecticut
in May 2009 and at the Electric City Playhouse in Anderson, SC in May 2011.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
. She has won several awards throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
and NAACP Image Award
NAACP Image Award
An NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....
.
Biography
Taylor was born in Dallas, TexasDallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, but starting at age 12 she went to a newly integrated school in Muskogee, Oklahoma
Muskogee, Oklahoma
Muskogee is a city in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States. It is the county seat of Muskogee County, and home to Bacone College. The population was 38,310 at the 2000 census, making it the eleventh-largest city in Oklahoma....
, where she was subjected to an incident of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
by another student. The family later returned to Dallas, where she graduated from L. G. Pinkston High School
L. G. Pinkston High School
L.G. Pinkston High School is a public secondary school in West Dallas, Texas . L.G. Pinkston High School enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District....
in 1977.
Acting
Her earliest professional acting roles were two made-for-television films while she was studying at Southern Methodist UniversitySouthern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
: 1980's Nurse and 1981's Crisis at Central High
Crisis at Central High
Crisis at Central High was a 1981 made-for-television movie about the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957, based on a draft of the memoir by the same name by former assistant principal Elizabeth Huckaby....
. In the latter movie, she was praised by critic John O'Connor of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
for her portrayal of Minnijean Brown
Minnijean Brown-Trickey
Minnijean Brown-Trickey was one of a group of African American teenagers known as the "Little Rock Nine." On September 25, 1957, under the gaze of 1,200 armed soldiers and a worldwide audience, Minnijean Brown-Trickey faced down an angry mob and helped to desegregate Central High.She was suspended...
, a member of the Little Rock Nine
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine was a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then...
, a group of African-American students who braved violence and armed guards to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Her first role to gain widespread attention was that of Mrs. Carter, the drug-addicted mother of a promising young female student, in the 1989 film Lean on Me
Lean on Me (film)
Lean on Me is a 1989 dramatized biographical written by Michael Schiffer, directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Morgan Freeman. Lean on Me is loosely based on the story of Joe Louis Clark, a real life inner city high school principal in Paterson, New Jersey, whose school is at risk of being...
. She became well-known to the television viewing public for her role as Lilly Harper on the early 1990s TV series I'll Fly Away
I'll Fly Away (TV series)
I'll Fly Away is a television series set during the late 1950s and early 1960s, in an unspecified Southern U.S. state. It aired on NBC from 1991 to 1993 and starred Regina Taylor as Lilly Harper, a black housekeeper for district attorney Forrest Bedford and his family...
. This role won her a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Television Drama and also an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
The NAACP Image Award winners for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series:*Most Wins**Della Reese has won this category 7 times....
.
Since then she has had some critical success for various supporting roles in films, such as the Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
film Clockers, Courage Under Fire
Courage Under Fire
Courage Under Fire is a 1996 film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips and Matt Damon. It is one of the first films to depict the 1991 Gulf War.-Plot:...
, A Family Thing
A Family Thing
A Family Thing is a 1996 film starring Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones and Irma P. Hall. It was written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson and directed by Richard Pearce.-Plot:...
, The Negotiator, and for the telefilms Losing Isaiah
Losing Isaiah
Losing Isaiah is a 1995 drama film starring Jessica Lange and Halle Berry, directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal. It is based on the novel of the same name by Seth Margolis. The screenplay is written by Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal. The original music score is composed by Mark Isham...
and Strange Justice
Strange Justice
Strange Justice is a 1999 television movie starring Delroy Lindo and Regina Taylor and directed by Ernest Dickerson. Originally aired on the Showtime network, the film is based on a book by Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson.-Synopsis:...
— a Showtime original film in which she portrayed Anita Hill
Anita Hill
Anita Faye Hill is an American attorney and academic—presently a professor of social policy, law and women's studies at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she alleged that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had...
— and as the lead in the PBS telefilm Cora Unashamed
Cora Unashamed
Cora Unashamed is a TV movie from The American Collection directed by Deborah M. Pratt, starring Regina Taylor and Cherry Jones, and released in 2000. The movie is based on a short story by the same name in The Ways of White Folks, a collection of short stories by Langston Hughes...
, based on a Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
short story. She was a cast member for all four seasons of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
drama The Unit
The Unit
The Unit is an American action-drama television series that focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled after the real-life U.S. Army special operations unit commonly known as Delta Force...
as Molly Blane, the tough-minded housewife who holds the women of 'the Unit' together when their husbands are on covert assignments.
Taylor is also an accomplished stage actress, and was the first black woman to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
on Broadway. Her other Broadway credits include Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
and As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
. She appeared in off-Broadway and regional productions of such plays as Jar The Floor, Machinal
Machinal
Machinal is a play written by American playwright and journalist Sophie Treadwell, inspired by the real life case of convicted and executed murderess Ruth Snyder...
, The Illusion
The Illusion
The Illusion is a play by Tony Kushner, adapted from Pierre Corneille's seventeenth-century comedy, L'Illusion Comique. It follows a contrite father, Pridamant, seeking news of his prodigal son from the sorcerer Alcandre. The magician conjures three episodes from the young man's life...
, A Map of the World
A Map of the World
A Map of the World is a novel by Jane Hamilton. It was the Oprah's Book Club selection for December 1999. It was made into a movie released in 1999 starring Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, David Strathairn, Chloë Sevigny, Louise Fletcher and Marc Donato with a soundtrack by Pat Metheny.- Plot...
, and The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, for which she received a Dramalogue Award.
Playwriting
Taylor is a Distinguished Artistic Associate of Chicago's Goodman Theater. Among her accomplishments, she has collaborated on and appeared in the play Millennium Mambo; has written A Night in Tunisia, which premiered during the 2000 Alabama Shakespeare Festival; curated Urban Zulu Mambo (an evening of plays by Adrienne KennedyAdrienne Kennedy
Adrienne Kennedy is an African-American playwright and was a key figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. She is best known for her first major play Funnyhouse of a Negro....
, Ntozake Shange
Ntozake Shange
Ntozake Shange born October 18, 1948, is an American playwright, and poet. As a self proclaimed black feminist, much of the content of her work addresses issues relating to race and feminism....
, Suzan-Lori Parks
Suzan-Lori Parks
Suzan-Lori Parks is an African American playwright and screenwriter. She received the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant in 2001, and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Topdog/Underdog.-Early years:...
and Kia Corthron
Kia Corthron
Kia Corthron is an American playwright, activist, and television writer. She wrote an episode of The Wire entitled, "Know Your Place", as well as an episode of The Jury called, "Lamentation on the Reservation".-Biography:...
); has won a best new play award from the American Critics' Association for Oo-Bla-Dee (a work about 1940s female jazz musicians).
She has written and directed the award-winning Crowns, which was first produced at the McCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It is one of the most active cultural centers in the nation, offering over 200 performances of theater, dance, music and special events each year...
and at Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
in New York. She wrote and directed an adaptation of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's The Seagull
The Seagull
The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
called Drowning Crow. She wrote and directed The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, a dramatic rendering of the financial gains and emotional losses of African-American businesswoman Madam C.J. Walker, which received its world premiere production in 2004/05 at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival
Alabama Shakespeare Festival
The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is the seventh largest Shakespeare festival in the world. Each year, it attracts more than 300,000 visitors from throughout the United States and more than 60 countries, to its home in Montgomery, Alabama....
. Her other plays include Escape From Paradise
Escape from Paradise
Escape from Paradise: From Third World to First is a 2001 non-fiction book written by John Harding and May Chu Harding set in Singapore, Brunei, Australia, England, and the United States. The book tells, from the author's perspective, of her struggle to divorce her ex-husband, Hin Chew Chung, whom...
, Watermelon Rinds, Inside the Belly of the Beast, Mudtracks and Love Poem #97.
Taylor is currently the writer-in-residence at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, where she developed a new play Magnolia, set during the beginning of desegregation in Atlanta in 1961. It had its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
in Chicago in March, 2009 after going through a workshop in 2008 at the National Playwrights' Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
The Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut is a 501 not-for-profit theater company founded in 1964 by George C. White. The O'Neill is the recipient of the . The O'Neill is home to the National Theater Institute , and several major theater conferences including the...
in Waterford, Connecticut
Waterford, Connecticut
Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,152 at the 2000 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place .-Geography:...
. Taylor returned to the Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
in January and February 2011 for the world premiere of her new play entitled The Trinity River Plays, a co-production with Dallas Theater Center
Dallas Theater Center
The Dallas Theater Center is a major regional theater in Dallas, Texas . It produces classic, contemporary and new plays. The theater was based in the Kalita Humphreys Theater, a building designed by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, from 1959 to 2009...
, directed by Ethan McSweeny. The production is a trilogy composed of Jar Fly, Rain, and Ghoststory.
Her play, Crowns, was produced in various locations, including the Meroney Theater in Salisbury, North Carolina
Salisbury, North Carolina
Salisbury is a city in Rowan County in North Carolina, a state of the United States of America. The population was 33,663 in the 2010 Census . It is the county seat of Rowan County...
with The Piedmont Players in May 2009; the Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...
in co-production with Ebony Repertory Theatre in July 2009; Syracuse Stage
Syracuse Stage
Syracuse Stage is a professional non-profit theatre company in Syracuse, New York, U.S.A. It is the premier professional theatre in Central New York. It was founded in 1974 by Arthur Storch, who was its first artistic director. The company grew out of the Syracuse Repertory Theatre that was...
in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
; at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre in Storrs, Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
Storrs is a census-designated place and part of the town of Mansfield, Connecticut located in eastern Tolland County. The population was 10,996 at the 2000 census...
in May 2009 and at the Electric City Playhouse in Anderson, SC in May 2011.
External links
- CBS website/Profile of Regina Taylor
- New Plays And Playwrights - Working in the Theatre Seminar video at American Theatre Wing.orgAmerican Theatre WingThe American Theatre Wing is a New York City-based organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre," according to its mission statement...
, January 2004 - Regina Taylor bio at the American Theatre Wing website (2003)