Colman Domingo, actor, director, and playwright to present Burian Lecture, February 4, 2013

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Colman Domingo, Tony Award-nominated actor, director and playwright

ALBANY, NY (01/14/2013)(readMedia)-- Colman Domingo, rising star of Broadway, Tony Award-nominated actor for "The Scottsboro Boys," and author of the award-winning play, "A Boy and His Soul," about his boyhood in African American West Philadelphia, will speak about his life and career as part of the annual Burian Lecture, Monday, February 4, 2013 at 8 p.m. in the Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, on the University at Albany's uptown campus. Earlier that same day at 4:15 p.m., the author will present an informal seminar in the Assembly Hall, Campus Center, on the uptown campus. The events are free and open to the public, and are cosponsored by the New York State Writers Institute and UAlbany's Theatre Department, and funded by the Jarka and Grayce Burian Endowment.

Colman Domingo is a rising star of the American stage, "a blazingly charismatic performer [with] a voice of remarkable range and dexterity" (New York Times). He received a 2011 Tony Award nomination for Best Performance in a Broadway Musical for "The Scottsboro Boys," based on the true story of nine African American teenagers falsely accused of raping two white girls in Alabama in 1931. Domingo also earned a nomination for the Fred Astaire Award for Best Principal Dancer on Broadway for that same production.

He wrote and starred in the play, "Wild With Happy" (2012), a comedy about a gay man coping simultaneously with his mother's recent death and a romantic break-up, which was presented at New York's Public Theater in fall 2012. The New York Daily News reviewer said that Domingo is "a compelling storyteller who is unafraid to get a little sugary. He's also generous, allowing other characters occasionally to outshine his own." New York Times reviewer Charles Isherwood said, "the play leaves behind a warm, pleasurable glow...."

Domingo also wrote and starred in the autobiographical off-Broadway play about his boyhood in African American West Philadelphia in the 1970s, "A Boy and His Soul" (2009), winner of the GLAAD and Lucille Lortel awards. Writing in Newsday, Linda Winer called it, "A marvelous tragicomedy, told by one astonishing actor.... Wicked, tender, outrageous and profound!"

From 2010-11, Domingo played the role of Billy Flynn in "Chicago," the longest running revival on Broadway. He also shared a 2008 ensemble Obie for the rock musical, "Passing Strange," in which he portrayed three strikingly different characters. He went on to star in both the 2008 Broadway production of "Passing Strange" and in Spike Lee's 2009 film version.

His other film credits include Spielberg's LINCOLN (2012), in which he plays "Private Harold Green"; Spike Lee's RED HOOK SUMMER (2012) and MIRACLE AT SAINT ANNA (2008); Joe Roth's FREEDOMLAND (2006) with Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore; and Clint Eastwood's TRUE CRIME (1999). Domingo will also appear in a number of films forthcoming in 2013, including THE BUTLER, starring Robin Williams and John Cusack; ALMOST CHRISTMAS, starring Paul Giamatti and Paul Rudd; HAIRBRAINED, starring Alex Wolff and Brendan Fraser; Shaka King's NEWLYWEEDS; and 42, starring Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford.

His TV credits include a number of appearances on Nash Bridges and the Law & Order franchise, as well as recurring impersonations of Maya Angelou on Logo TV's The Big Gay Sketch Show.

Prior to many of his triumphs on stage and screen, Colman Domingo visited Albany in February of 2007 in order to direct excerpts from "Underground" and other plays by UAlbany professor Lisa Thompson for the New York State Writers Institute's Authors Theatre program.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

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