Shauneille Perry

Shauneille Perry
Born	(1929-07-26) July 26, 1929 Chicago, Illinois, United States
Occupation	Theatre director, playwright, actor
Years active	1950s–present
Spouse(s)	Donald Ryder (1957–present)

Shauneille Perry (July 26, 1929 –) is an American stage director and playwright. She was one of the first African-American women to direct off-Broadway.

Biography

Shauneille Perry was born on July 26, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois, to a prominent African-American family. She is the daughter of Graham T. Perry (1894–1960), one of the first African-American assistant attorneys-general for the State of Illinois and his wife, the former (Laura) Pearl Gant (1903–1957), one of the first African-American court reporters in Chicago. She is the niece by marriage of real-estate broker and political activist Carl Augustus Hansberry (who married her father's sister, Nannie Louise Perry) and his brother, Africanist scholar William Leo Hansberry. She is also the first cousin of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, Carl Hansberry's daughter.

Perry attended Howard University, where she was a member of the Howard Players under the direction of Owen Dodson. In 1950, she received a B.A. in drama from Howard. Her studies followed at the Goodman Theatre Art Institute in Chicago, where she received an M.A. in directing. She also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

In 1957, Perry married architect Donald Ryder in Chicago. Several months later, she received national exposure as the second place winner in the 1958 Picturama Contest, an essay competition sponsored by Ebony Magazine. She took advantage of the prize with her husband, which was a $4,000, three-week tour of Paris. By the end of the decade, the couple relocated to New York City, where it did not take long for her to establish herself as an actress.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, she acted in various productions on the New York stage including The Goose (1959), Dark of the Moon (1960), Talent '60 (1960), Ondine (1961), Clandestine on the Morning Line (1961) and The Octoroon (1961). Her work as Lilly Ruth, a pregnant girl in the short-lived off-Broadway production of Clandestine on the Morning Line received particular notice.

Despite her success as a performer, Perry became disenchanted with acting and turned her focus toward writing, directing, and raising a family. "Got tired of acting," she once said, "it was too slow; too much business."

After Vinnette Carroll, Perry became one of the first African-American women to direct on the New York stage. One of her early efforts was Mau Mau Room, at the Negro Ensemble Company. It was the first major stage production of a play written by J. E. Franklin. In 1971, she staged three different productions: Rosalie Pritchett, Sty of the Blind Pig and the original off-Broadway production of J. E. Franklin's play, Black Girl. The latter was made into a film, directed by Ossie Davis.

In addition to directing, Perry has written several plays including the book of the children's musical Mio, which she staged as a workshop production at the New Federal Theatre in the fall of 1971. It was later staged (with a different director) at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City in 1978. Other plays she either wrote or co-wrote include Last Night, Night Before (1971), Daddy Goodness (1979), and Things of the Heart: Marian Anderson's Story (1981).

Perry has also written "Sounds of the City," a 15-minute daily soap opera that aired on the Mutual Black Network in the mid-1970s.

Personal

Perry and her cousin Lorraine Hansberry were born less than a year apart and were very close. One summer when they were little girls, Lorraine's mother took them to Columbia, Tennessee where she and Perry's father had grown up. Along the way, her aunt pointed out the Kentucky hills where her father (Shauneille's and Lorraine's grandfather) George Perry had hidden after he escaped from slavery.

Years later, Shauneille was there when Lorraine had cancer and supported her. Hansberry named her as substitute executor of her estate after her ex-husband, Robert Barron Nemiroff.

Perry has three daughters. Her eldest child was named Lorraine in honor of her famous cousin.

Selected Credits

Theatre

Directing

Year	Production	Theatre(s)	Notes
2006	The Taking of Miss Janie	Harry De Jur Playhouse / Abrons Arts Center
1998	In Dahomey	New Federal Theatre	Also writer
1993	In Bed with the Blues:The Adventure of Fishy Waters	New Federal Theatre	Written by Guy Davis
	Looking Back	New Federal Theatre	Written by Micki Grant
1990	The Balm Yard	New Federal Theatre	Written by Don Kinch
1986	Williams & Walker	American Place Theatre	Written by Vincent Smith
1981	Keyboard	New Federal Theatre	Written by Matt Robinson
	Love	New Federal Theatre	Written by Carolyn Rodgers
	Who Loves the Dancer	New Federal Theatre	Written by Rob Penny
1979	Trouble in Mind	New Federal Theatre	Written by Alice Childress. Part of A Black Retrospective with four other plays.
1977	African Interlude	New Federal Theatre	Written by Martie Evans-Charles
	Relationships	E.S.T. Theater	A program of two one-act plays by Philip Hayes Dean
1976	Showdown	New Federal Theatre	Written by Don Evans
1974	The Prodigal Sister	Theatre de Lys	Musical written by J. E. Franklin and Micki Grant, based on Franklin's play, Prodigal Daughter
1972	Jamimma	New Federal Theatre	Written by Martie Evans-Charles
1971	The Sty of the Blind Pig	St. Mark's Playhouse
	Black Girl	Theatre de Lys	Written by J. E. Franklin
	Rosalee Pritchett	St. Mark's Playhouse

Writing

Year	Production	Theatre(s)	Notes
1981	Things of the Heart: Marian Anderson's Story	New Federal Theatre	Directed by Denise Hamilton. Part of the Ethnic Heritage Series.
1979	Aunt Willie Pays a Call	Henry Street Settlement
1978	Mio	Henry Street Settlement	Book of musical.
1976	Clinton: An Urban Fairytale	New Heritage Repertory Theatre
1971	Mio	New Federal Theatre	Also directed.

Acting

Year	Production	Role	Theatre(s)	Notes
1961	Octoroon	Grace	Phoenix Theatre
	Clandestine on the Morning Line	Lilly Ruth	Actors Playhouse
	Ondine		Lenox Hill Playhouse
1960	Talent '60
	Dark of the Moon		Lenox Hill Playhouse
1959	The Goose		Sullivan Street Playhouse

Television

Writing

Year	Production	Network	Notes
2001	The Old Settler	PBS	Adaptation of the play by John Henry Redwood. Part of the series PBS Hollywood Presents

Motion Pictures

Acting

Year	Title	Role	Distributor	Notes
1981	Death of a Prophet
1978	Black Theatre: The Making of a Movement	Herself	California Newsreel	Documentary
1976	The Long Night		Howard Mahler Films
1971	Desperate Characters	Woman Doctor	ITC Films	Credited as Shauneille Ryder

Awards and recognition

• 1974: AUDELCO Award, Best Director
• 1985: AUDELCO Award, Best Director

Perry is also the recipient of a Broadcast Media Award, a Fulbright scholarship, a New York State Council of the Arts Young Audiences Play Commission and a Black Rose of Excellence from Encore Magazine.

External links

• Shauneille Perry at the Internet Movie Database
• Shauneille Perry at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Shauneille Perry at the Internet Theatre Database