Vinnette Carroll, Playwright and Director, Dies at 80



By JESSE McKINLEY



innette Carroll, the trailblazing actress, director and playwright who was the first African-American woman to direct a production on Broadway, died Tuesday at her home in Fort Lauderhill, Fla. She was 80.



The cause was complications from diabetes and heart disease, said Anita MacShane, a friend.



A black woman in a business often dominated by white men, Ms. Carroll's career… Continue

A native of California, Coley was born in Berkley, California in 1955 and raised in Oakland, California where he spent the bulk of his developmental years influenced equally by his upbringing in the African-American church and his vocalist mother's love for Gospel, classical and jazz music. In his teenage years, he went through vocal and instrumental training (learning clarinet and teaching himself piano) in school bands and regional choirs up until 1977, when Coley… Continue