27 stories by "Alex Williams"
With her dance partner and onetime husband, Juan Carlos Copes, she reinvented tango for a global stage, including in the hit stage show “Tango Argentino.”
In 1970, he founded London's Young Vic, an adventurous "people's theater" " the Who took the stage at one point " before shaking up the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Like his friend and mentor Bobby Short, he exuded haute style while imbuing American standards with grace and wit.
An actor, director and playwright for La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, he later found an even more distinct role: curating its vast archive.
Realizing a childhood dream, he created scenery that was highly conceptual yet playful for the Glimmerglass Festival, New York City Opera and other companies.
A former basketball standout with no formal dance training, he came to provide moves for rappers like Bow Wow and dance-battle films like "You Got Served."
A burly, easygoing Chicago native, he became a staple of living rooms across the country for more than a decade as one of America's favorite barflies.
He brought his elegance and power to boundary-pushing ballets in the 1960s and '70s, and he was a presence at the storied company for 13 years.
He and his wife, Vy Higginsen, poured all they had into "Mama, I Want to Sing," a long-shot musical that became an enduring staple of Black theater.
His designs for Jimi Hendrix, the Who and others embodied the spirit of the psychedelic era. He also created images for stage shows like "Godspell."
Striving to widen the audience of dance, she brought vitality to Broadway musicals like "Swing!" as well as ballets and Hollywood films.
Best known for his star turn in the cult film about a flesh-eating plant, he was a go-to member of the low-budget auteur Roger Corman's repertory company.
She was best known as half of a comedy team with her husband, Phil Ford, until her hall-filling voice earned her raves in a role made famous by Barbra Streisand.
He challenged racial barriers in Hollywood, was a producer of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and earned a Tony nomination for "Home," a paean to his Southern roots.
A founding dancer with the groundbreaking company, she served not only as a principal dancer but also as its first ballet mistress.
He brought worldwide attention to a radical yet elemental form of contemporary dance that emerged in the wake of wartime destruction.
As the principal writer for the Obie-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe, she created iconoclastic left-wing satire that courted both chuckles and outrage.
At the Circle Repertory Company, where she said her goal was to "confuse people," she nurtured a new generation of writers and actors in the 1980s and '90s.
She got her start on Broadway at 15. But after finding a dearth of roles for Black women, she ultimately turned to one-woman shows that addressed racism and sexism.
After establishing herself as a teacher, she started a prolific screen acting career in her 50s that included roles in "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos."
A former boxer from the streets of Queens, he became a scene stealer with his portrayals of mobsters, cops and working men with soul.
Best known internationally for her breakout performance in the 1959 film "Black Orpheus," she challenged racial stereotypes over a seven-decade career.
A former railroad clerk, he didn't became a full-time actor until his 40s, but he made up for lost time in films like "Rudy" and TV shows like "Everwood."
A playwright, novelist and poet, she was a leading African writer who explored the complexities faced by modern women living in the shadow of colonialism.
