Acclaimed director Kenny Leon to speak, March 5

Acclaimed director, producer and actor Kenny Leon will engage in a conversation with students and faculty at 5 p.m. Monday, March 5, in McCosh 4 (entryway B).

Leon currently is directing August Wilson's play "Radio Golf," which is set to open March 18 at McCarter Theatre and later in the spring on Broadway.

He spent 13 years as artistic director of the Alliance Theatre Company in Atlanta before founding True Colors Theatre Company there in 2001. At the Alliance Theatre, he launched the premiere of Elton John's "Aida" and Pearl Cleage's "Flyin' West," which is being produced this semester by Princeton's Black Arts Company: Drama.

Since then, he has directed theater productions around the country. His credits include the 2004 Broadway revival of "A Raisin in the Sun," which won two Tony awards and featured Sean Combs, Sanaa Lathan and Phylicia Rashad; a 2004-05 Broadway production of August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean," which was nominated for five Tony awards; and the world premiere of an opera, "Margaret Garner," by Princeton professor Toni Morrison at the Detroit Opera House in 2005.

The event, sponsored by the Center for African American Studies and the Program in Theater and Dance, is free and open to the public. Seating is limited.