Famed theatre director Lloyd Richards dies

NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) Lloyd Richards, the Tony Award-winning director and educator who brought August Wilson's works to the stage and directed the famed 1959 Broadway production of ''A Raisin in the Sun,'' has died in New York.

Richards, who was believed to be 87, died on Thursday after a brief illness that sent him to the hospital, officials of the O'Neill Theater Center told Playbill.com yesterday.

Broadway honored Richards by dimming marquee lights yesterday.

The Toronto-born Richards, who grew up in Detroit, was also a stalwart of regional theatre and was long active in the academic community, where he was known for his ability to nurture playwrights.

He served as artistic director of the National Playwrights Conference at the O'Neill Center for 32 years, was dean of the Yale School of Drama and artistic director of the Yale Repertory Theatre.

Richards won the 1987 Tony for his direction of Wilson's ''Fences.'' His partnership with Wilson, an award-winning playwright whose work focused on the lives of black Americans, led to six Broadway productions, including ''Seven Guitars,'' ''Joe Turner's Come and Gone,'' ''Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,'' ''Two Trains Running'' and ''The Piano Lesson.'' Richards also influenced other prominent playwrights including Athol Fugard, John Guare, John Patrick Shanley and Wendy Wasserstein.

''He pioneered the need to take emerging playwrights away from the demands and distractions of commercial theatre and into a retreat setting,'' the O'Neill Centre in Waterford, Connecticut, said in a statement.

Richards' numerous honours also included the Drama Desk Award and the National Medal of the Arts.

''Lloyd Richards is irreplaceable. His like will not come again,'' Amy Sullivan, executive director of the O'Neill Theater Center, said in a statement.

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