Monday, July 5, 2010
BlackTheatre co-founder Stanley Williams dies
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Black theater co-founder Stanley Williams dies
Monday, July 5, 2010
Stanley E. Williams founded the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco with his partner, who diednine weeks ago.
Stanley E. Williams, the founding artistic director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, one of the mostinfluential African American arts companies in California, died Friday. He was 60.
Mr. Williams, who was receiving treatment for cancer, died just nine weeks after his longtime partner, Quentin Easter, with whom he hadrun the company they founded in 1981.
Marc Paquette, a spokesman for the theater, said Mr. Williams died at his home in San Francisco.
"Stanley Williams was a big personality with a big heart," said Kary Schulman, director of the city's Grants for the Arts. "He devotedhis life, both personal and professional, to the Lorraine HansberryTheatre, accomplishing things few thought possible when he and Quentinstarted the organization. For our community to lose Quentin and nowStanley in such a short time is a terrible blow."
The two men began the Lorraine Hansberry in a San Francisco storefront and in a shorttime had established it as the Bay Area's premier African Americantheater company. By 1988, it had created and moved into its own 300-seattheater on Sutter Street in the downtown theater district, and beforelong was recognized as one of the leading companies for black artists inthe state.
Mr. Williams was a tireless and forceful advocate not only for his company but also for African American theaterand artists in general. He was an early supporter of the playwrightAugust Wilson; he directed and had a hand in producing most of the worksin Wilson'smilestone 10-play series of African American life, the PittsburghCycle.
The Hansberry had experienced difficulties in recent years, though. It lost its theater in 2007, when the buildingwas acquired by the Academy of Art University, and had been mountingreduced seasons in other venues. It had just negotiated a lease to takeover the vacant, former Post Street Theatre, a 729-seat house, inFebruary, shortly before both Mr. Williams and Easter became severelyill and had to cancel the lease.
Mr. Williams, who had been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and was undergoingtreatment, had appeared very frail when he spoke at the theatercommunity's memorial celebration for Mr. Easter on June 14. Still, hissudden death came as a surprise to friends and colleagues, includingPaquette, who had spoken with him a few hours before he died Fridayevening.
Mr. Williams was raised in Connecticut and attended Goddard College in Vermont before moving to the Bay Area.
The Hansberry's small remaining staff and board will be meeting this week to make funeral arrangements and consider the future of thecompany.
E-mail Robert Hurwitt at rhurwitt@sfchronicle.com.
Marvin X on Stanley Williams
We mourn the passing of our comrade in the arts, Stanley Williams. Stanley directed a production of my play One Day inthe Life. We enjoyed working with him and his partner/co-founder of theLorraine Hansberry Theatre, Quentin Easter, who made his transition afew weeks ago. Stanley and Quentin took Bay Area Black Drama to a higherlevel, especially after they established their home in San Francisco'sdowntown theatre district.
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