Leslie Uggams to Headline The First Breeze of Summer at Signature

Tony Award winner Leslie Uggams will star in Leslie Lee's The First Breeze of Summer, the first production of Signature Theatre Company's 2008-2009 season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company NEC. Performances of the play, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, begin August 5 at the Peter Norton Space. The show will officially open on August 21 and close September 28.

The First Breeze of Summer takes place over the course of one sweltering weekend in June, as the struggles of three generations of the Edwards family collide. Gremmar Uggams, the family matriarch, looks back on her past and considers its legacy for her children and grandchildren as they confront the choices that will define their futures. The original production, directed by NEC founder Douglas Turner Ward, received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play during its 1975 run at Palace Theatre. Additional casting and a design team for the Signature production will be announced soon.

Uggams most recently played Ethel Thayer opposite James Earl Jones in the Broadway revival of Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond and Muzzy Van Hossmere in the Tony-winning musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. She won a Tony Award in 1968 for her performance in Hallelujah, Baby! and appeared on Broadway in King Hedley II, Anything Goes, Jerry's Girls and Blues in the Night. The actress has had many memorable television performances, most notably in Alex Haley's Roots.

Signature's 2008-2009 season will be an examination of a body of work from the Negro Ensemble Company's collective of writers. Santiago-Hudson will serve as Associate Artist for the season, which will also include Samm-Art Williams' Home, Charles Fuller's Zooman and the Sign, and a staged reading of Douglas Turner Ward's Day of Absence.